Can you get quail to hatch their own eggs?

[Babyquail]

I currently have 9 female coturnix and 3 boys (but I plan to buy a few more girls) and two bobwhite females (Its a long story- but they get along fine. The bobs are even laying now despite having awful conditions before and only being moved two weeks ago!) and have a few projects I want to undertake! One of which is trying to get one of my girls to hatch some eggs herself. They have an indoor part of their coop where their food and water is that has a wood floor, and a completely wire much bigger run area with mostly dead grass at the bottom, although some has been growing as of late. They like to lay in small ditches they have dug behind the door to enter the indoor part, and they also take dust baths there. They also lay behind their water in the very corner of the indoor part. I have heard that coturnix quail are almost impossible to get to hatch their own eggs, but I would like to try! They already really like to sit in the ditch, and I have seen some stay their for quite a long while, not taking a bath, not laying, just... sitting. Anyways, anyone have any ideas for a nest box/area? I have plenty of time and space and would like to hear some ideas! While we are at it, has anyone here ever managed this before, and if so what did you do? Not life or death for me to hatch some, just a fun project. Thanks! (Also I have heard a bit about bobwhite coturnix hybrids, and so far the eggs don't seem fertile- but can someone educate me about those?)

 

[Tammy N]

Yes. first you need some grass and then a Plastic Bed i use a 6 x 6 bed put in a flat of grass the same size and put it in cage your hen will auto lay in it after trimming the grass and once she gets around 8 eggs she will or should go broody. you need to just have 1 hen and 1 roo in the cage or it wont go well. how are you raising your Quail ?

 

[Babyquail]

Yes. first you need some grass and then a Plastic Bed i use a 6 x 6 bed put in a flat of grass the same size and put it in cage your hen will auto lay in it after trimming the grass and once she gets around 8 eggs she will or should go broody. you need to just have 1 hen and 1 roo in the cage or it wont go well. how are you raising your Quail ?

All 14 of them are in the coop, but its pretty big and they all have quite a lot of space. I watch whenever I can to make sure they are getting along, and before I got rid of some of my males I had problems with overbreeding but now they all seem happy and healthy. And what do you mean by "Plastic bed?"

 

[Nabiki]

While coturnix are unlikely to hatch their own chicks, it is not impossible. The more space and the closer to natural you can make their environment, the better.

Make sure they have plenty of hiding places, and watch closely. Even if a hen starts off broody, she may abandon the eggs before they hatch. If they do hatch, she may or may not be a good mother and the other birds may pick on the chicks.

 

[Babyquail]

While coturnix are unlikely to hatch their own chicks, it is not impossible. The more space and the closer to natural you can make their environment, the better.

Make sure they have plenty of hiding places, and watch closely. Even if a hen starts off broody, she may abandon the eggs before they hatch. If they do hatch, she may or may not be a good mother and the other birds may pick on the chicks.

Yeah, I planned to watch closely and take the chicks anyways so my boys didn’t hurt them. That is if I can get any to go broody! I might look up what a natural nest environment would look like and start from there

 

[sleepycat]

I currently have 9 female coturnix and 3 boys (but I plan to buy a few more girls) and two bobwhite females (Its a long story- but they get along fine. The bobs are even laying now despite having awful conditions before and only being moved two weeks ago!) and have a few projects I want to undertake! One of which is trying to get one of my girls to hatch some eggs herself. They have an indoor part of their coop where their food and water is that has a wood floor, and a completely wire much bigger run area with mostly dead grass at the bottom, although some has been growing as of late. They like to lay in small ditches they have dug behind the door to enter the indoor part, and they also take dust baths there. They also lay behind their water in the very corner of the indoor part. I have heard that coturnix quail are almost impossible to get to hatch their own eggs, but I would like to try! They already really like to sit in the ditch, and I have seen some stay their for quite a long while, not taking a bath, not laying, just... sitting. Anyways, anyone have any ideas for a nest box/area? I have plenty of time and space and would like to hear some ideas! While we are at it, has anyone here ever managed this before, and if so what did you do? Not life or death for me to hatch some, just a fun project. Thanks! (Also I have heard a bit about bobwhite coturnix hybrids, and so far the eggs don't seem fertile- but can someone educate me about those?)

i havent had a broody yet, but i have done quite a bit of research on it. so first, you should probably have more than just 1 hide. i find that broodies enjoy areas with a low ceiling, so maybe a storage bin lid held up by some bricks. you also should make sure they arent stressed at all. so try to just leave them alone without handling or bothering them. to actually get them to go broody i've noticed a lot of people have had success with just ignoring the aviary besides changing food and water and leaving the eggs in there. within a few days you may see someone building a nest. as for the hybrid thing, I honestly wouldnt recommend trying it because there are a lot of things that can go wrong when it comes to cross breeding

 

[Tammy N]

i havent had a broody yet, but i have done quite a bit of research on it. so first, you should probably have more than just 1 hide. i find that broodies enjoy areas with a low ceiling, so maybe a storage bin lid held up by some bricks. you also should make sure they arent stressed at all. so try to just leave them alone without handling or bothering them. to actually get them to go broody i've noticed a lot of people have had success with just ignoring the aviary besides changing food and water and leaving the eggs in there. within a few days you may see someone building a nest. as for the hybrid thing, I honestly wouldnt recommend trying it because there are a lot of things that can go wrong when it comes to cross breeding

Can you post a pic of coop so i can get an idea ?

 

[le_bwah]

My hens go broody given enough "furniture" cluttering their cage. One just hatched out five chicks under a guinea pig hut, another is currently sitting some eggs under a juvenile muhly grass. Since I planted the "garden side," they only ever go broody out there, in the full elements.

Here's the first third of the pen, with one hen and five chicks hiding in the grass. Those muhly grasses, by the way, started at a bout a fifth their current volume, and don't take long to get big so long as they have enough water.

This is the second third. More barren, but they seem to prefer the open spots as sunbathing areas. You can see the broody hen under the small left grass. Overall, having stuff in their cage that breaks up line of sight has cut down tremendously on hen-to-hen bickering, especially when one is broody in a communal space. TBH, having no males also helps cut down on stress for both the hens and me, personally.

Big ol' broody on 12 eggs. Even that little bit of cover made her feel safe enough to commit to motherhood.

 

[WoDia]

I haven’t had any of my Bobwhite hens fully incubate their own eggs.… yet. I have taken them to finish incubation if a hen abandoned them halfway through. My Coturnix hens never really showed broodiness beyond the first few days (on rare occasions), but my Gambels and Buttons were successful mothers.

 

[Tammy N]

While coturnix are unlikely to hatch their own chicks, it is not impossible. The more space and the closer to natural you can make their environment, the better.

Make sure they have plenty of hiding places, and watch closely. Even if a hen starts off broody, she may abandon the eggs before they hatch. If they do hatch, she may or may not be a good mother and the other birds may pick on the chicks.

Mine hatch their own eggs . they do go broody