120 Button Quail Eggs

[Hot Pepper Man]

Wanted a half dozen pairs of button quail, ordered 50 eggs to cover losses and unfriendly birds, got 120, incubated them all (of course), borrowed a crappy styro bator that wouldn't hold temp, lost power twice, and of course they are all popping like fluffy little corn kernels exactly on schedule.

I think I am going to have a lot of birds now. Luckily I have a few people who want some. I'm looking forward to seeing them grow. I've had adults before but never hatched any. They're adorable. So much smaller than chickens or even bobwhites.

 

[DK newbie]

Quail eggs are remarkably resilient ^^ Pics or it didn't happen!

 

[Hot Pepper Man]

Pics or it didn't happen!

First set that dried off:

And the only little guy whose color I can pick out for sure. He was pretty uncoordinated after he hatched to the point it looked like there was something wrong but he's pretty much okay after some hours learning to walk.

I thought the chicks were supposed to be wilder like the adults? They don't really have much fear of my hands and when I tap on things they run right up to my finger.

 

[ButtonquailGirl14]

First set that dried off:
View attachment 1403105

And the only little guy whose color I can pick out for sure. He was pretty uncoordinated after he hatched to the point it looked like there was something wrong but he's pretty much okay after some hours learning to walk.
View attachment 1403102

I thought the chicks were supposed to be wilder like the adults? They don't really have much fear of my hands and when I tap on things they run right up to my finger.

once they age a little they may get more frightend. as long as you handle often they should be good!

 

[ButtonquailGirl14]

You are going to have a BEAUTIFUL FLOCK!!!

 

[DK newbie]

Looks like you've got a lot of interesting colors ^^
My buttons raise their own chicks, so I don't have personal experience, but I think I recall people on here saying the chicks begin to get wild when they are around 3 days old.

 

[Hot Pepper Man]

once they age a little they may get more frightend. as long as you handle often they should be good!

My buttons raise their own chicks, so I don't have personal experience, but I think I recall people on here saying the chicks begin to get wild when they are around 3 days old.

If you both are right, hopefully I can bypass them going wild by handling them a lot in the first week.

 

[ButtonquailGirl14]

If you both are right, hopefully I can bypass them going wild by handling them a lot in the first week.

yeah! i raised my, but they were at my neighbors house and i was a newbie so they told me not to touch them or they will die of stress..... i wish i hadn't listened to them!!! they actually usually do not know what they are talking about, but that was a little over a year ago and since then i have become very Poultry savvy! but.. it is VERY hard to tame them now, because they were not handled for the first 8 weeks of their life thanks to false info

 

[Fishkeeper]

You're gonna need a whole lot of little separate pens! They're adorable, though.

 

[ButtonquailGirl14]

yup!