My buttons are incubation eggs!

[Red Squirrel]

Tomorrow is day 16. Momma quail is not getting off her eggs now. Daddy is helping her by sitting with her on the eggs sometimes. She is sitting on 6 eggs. Hopefully I get some tiny fluffs tomorrow-can't wait! Will post some pics.

 

[Nichrome]

Very nice to see a little chinese quail sitting on the eggs with the male on guard.

A point of caution, the newly hatched chicks are incredible escapees! I never manage to keep all of them in the cage and one of every brood perishes to my cots.

 

[Red Squirrel]

They are all hatching-4 so far. The first one i found out of the nest this morning. Thought it was dead, but put in it my incubator to warm up then put back in the nest. Mumma is being such a good girl-she let me take out the shells then hopped right back on. She is being really grumpy to her mate but that seems normal-poor guy is just standing near and watching and does not do anything when she scolds him. I have them in an Acrylic aviary-no way any bird can get out, so they are safe. Hoping she lets the Daddy stay and he can help out with the chicks. They are so active already-much more than chicken babies. Will take a pic later if i can.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Ok, so Mom and dad quail are sitting on all the hatched babies but not letting them out of the nest-is this normal? They just hatched this morning. The Dad seemed harsh in how he pushed, pecked the baby to go back into the nest and under him. Is this normal or do I need to take him out? Thanks for your help-Not taking any pics till they start walking around, away from the nest. Mum is very protective and she actually rushed out at me when I put food in the aviary and almost trampled her chicks.
Thanks for your advise

 

[mariska]

Ok, so Mom and dad quail are sitting on all the hatched babies but not letting them out of the nest-is this normal? They just hatched this morning. The Dad seemed harsh in how he pushed, pecked the baby to go back into the nest and under him. Is this normal or do I need to take him out? Thanks for your help-Not taking any pics till they start walking around, away from the nest. Mum is very protective and she actually rushed out at me when I put food in the aviary and almost trampled her chicks.
Thanks for your advise

I am new to this site, our pair has also just hatched chicks in our indoor aviary I wanted to see how your's are doing. I have a video that I took 2 days ago, the day the chicks were hatched... I to have many questions ?? Let me know how things are going for you ok.

Click on HD for better focus.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=501025523319511

 

[Red Squirrel]

Hi Mariska,

So far so good. Daddy is helping the Mom with the chicks. It is funny but they scold them for leaving the nest without them coming with. They are showing them where the food and water is and being very protective. Which is great as there are other birds in the aviary-which pretty much leave them alone. But it shows they will watch over them. I put down the ground up game bird feed, some egg food and chopped greens (mainly for mom and dad) on a lid and a shallow dish with pebbles for water.(vitamins added). They are mostly sticking to the nest and going on short walks to the food/water. Then sitting all snuggled in the nest again. So precious to watch them. I have 2 dark colored ones and 4 light. Dad is a tuxedo and mum is a silver. I just want to take a picture but mum hides them if I go near lol

 

[Red Squirrel]

OMGosh-your babies look wonderful! You know-they LOVE straw! Mine started sitting on eggs when I put in the straw-they went crazy over it! Wow-your mum must trust you as mine would not let me near. I will post a pic if I ever get one! hehe My aviary floor looks horrible as I have not cleaned it for 3 weeks! not wanting to disturb them. I want to put down more straw on the floor-but probably they need to find the food well first. May sure there was no where they could get stuck too.

 

[Red Squirrel]

OMGosh-your babies look wonderful! You know-they LOVE straw! Mine started sitting on eggs when I put in the straw-they went crazy over it! Wow-your mum must trust you as mine would not let me near. I will post a pic if I ever get one! hehe My aviary floor looks horrible as I have not cleaned it for 3 weeks! not wanting to disturb them. I want to put down more straw on the floor-but probably they need to find the food well first. May sure there was no where they could get stuck too.

My name is Darlene btw-I asked for friendship on fb

 

[Red Squirrel]

Here are some pics.

 

[GrandmaBird]

You are lucky. My female only hatched one little chick and she is so overly protective that I can not hardly get by the cage that she starts acting aggressive and scares the poor little one to pieces. She had it so excited yesterday as I was adding some food and water that the little one jumped and went right through the cage bars and thank God it headed to the bathroom where it was dark and safer. I quickly had my husband get in with me and we shut the door and he got on the floor and caught the little bugger but boy was he fast. And he was screaming as loud as he could too! poor mom and dad were going nutz! After putting the chick back in the cage we just left them for several hours, I was afraid the chick got hurt in the fall to the floor but it is doing fine. Silly birds!
And they do grow so fast. I raised a batch last spring, of 7 and it seemed like just a short time before they were ready for new homes. at 7 weeks a guy offered to take them all for new breeding stock so I sold them all to him. Super cheap, like $30 but it okay I did not want them. I decide not to hatch anymore but the female had other ideas! I figure from now on I will remove the good eggs and replace with an old one I know is old and wont hatch. Maybe she will take a break from laying now that fall is here. anyway congrats on your little ones and keep posting photos. You should join us on our face book page, button quail, great bunch of people and learning stuff everyday almost! see ya there.