Will Coturnix hatch out their own eggs?

[JJMR794]

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I put in the big hint to my hubby for my birthday. If I have to turn the big 4-0! Then I want something GOOD!!! Heck, make it the EX...

GO BIG OIR STAY HOME!

 

[dachshundlady]

Hmmmm....................I'm not sure, have heard conflicting things myself so hoping for an answer too. My girls are about 5months old & the only reason I got a male was to stop them fighting. Anyway I now have a cute little nest with 5 eggs, which one of them sits on then leaves so don't think they'll be any good but I'm letting her try to see what happens. I believe it is about 17 days for japanese quail so I'll post again in a few weeks & let you know. Fingers x'd

 

[frithseraph]

This is a pretty old thread, but I thought I'd put my 2c in...

I mixed covey of about 30+ coturnix quail in a large outside aviary (used to be a greenhouse, which was converted) in the backyard and for the past year I have been having multiple females sitting off and on hatching out babies. The girls sitting actually occurred after a series of large storms over several days hit my area of Queensland and have they have continued to do so since. Interestingly, my favorite 10 females plus two favorite males (one for his looks, the other has a gimp leg) kept in a smaller aviary in the front yard (along with a female lorikeet and a male budgie) have never hatched out any babies.

The lowest hatch count I've had was 2, the highest was 10. The average is about 5. It's a rather hit and miss way of increasing the numbers (and inbreeding can be a problem), but I don't have the time for large incubated batches at the moment, so each new group of babies is a surprise. I still have to occasionally cull extraneous males, but family members and friends are always happy for a nice quail meal.

I've found that if the chicks are left in the aviary for too long the adult females (that aren't the mother) and males will attempt to kill the chicks, either outright or through neglect (such as them getting stepped on repeatedly). I've lost several this way, including 2 out of the 6 hatched this morning... I found 2 int he early morning and then Murphy's Law kicked in when I had to go out for a few hours, during which time 4 more hatched, of which 2 died (it's so sad to find their little bodies).

The babies I bring inside are raised in large brooders with heat lamps and it helps if I put in either part of a feather boa or a bird shaped toy (snaffled from my daughter's toy box) which they can snuggle up with, otherwise they spend their first few days incessantly cheeping because they can't find the mother they remember sitting under after hatching out in the aviary.

Also worth noting is I've had unexplained deaths after hatching and a fair few with spaddle leg when using an incubator, but I've never had either of these problems among those naturally hatched outside. There has been no change in diet routine, but the natural babies have all ended up larger and stronger than the small batches out of the incubator. Some of the sitting females at the moment are those that were naturally hatched out themselves!

So, I guess naturally hatched out babies can happen, but it is usually a surprise rather than a given.

--frith

 

[frithseraph]

Okay... add 3 more babies to today's count so far (7 alive in the brooder now, 2 killed by the adults).

 

[Hlandels]

Well in answer to you question, one of our ginger coloured coturnix? has been sitting on three eggs and one of them hatched today. She is incredibly protective and beat the hell out of the male when he came near. Not sure whether chick will survive but so far so good.

 

[ChickenGuppy]

No. Not usually. On rare occasions a coturnix quail will go broody. This is not common, though. It's pretty much a necessity to hatch coturnix eggs in an incubator.

Mine did but she wasn't a good mom. I found them all over the driveway lol.

 

[Mantisquailman]

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This brings me 2 wonder, if they do not go broody, how do they raise their young in the wild ?? That's if there R any left in the wild ~~ Thank U

Their are quail in wild [ at least CA quail ] I think they just have a wild instinct or something.

 

[Mantisquailman]

Yep. I am pretty sure!!

I disagree, in all my experience not one of my quail go broken

Quote:

This brings me 2 wonder, if they do not go broody, how do they raise their young in the wild ?? That's if there R any left in the wild ~~ Thank U

 

[Mantisquailman]

I disagree, in all my experience not one of my quail go broody

 

[Mantisquailman]

I think it's a wild instinct or something.