Am I crazy or is this possible?

[_-Captain BRM-_]

I had this idea that when I get a broody hen, to hatch some chicks with her and some quail chicks. The quail will follow her at first and she will take them in as her own, she will have a handful of regular chicken chicks as well. After she takes them out of the coop everyday and then back in, will the quail continue to do that, or will they fly away? I really want to try and see but if it's a bogus idea and I'm just risking quail lives, please tell me! Thanks in advance.

 

[Silkie Princess]

Quail chicks need a different starter feed, hatch quicker and unless your hen is a very small bantam, she will smash the eggs. So I’d say no. It’s not a good idea

 

[NatJ]

Quail chicks are much smaller than chicken chicks. They also hatch in a different number of days. I strongly recommend that you not mix the two kinds of chicks with one hen.

For whether to have a hen hatch & raise quail, I have no personal experience. I've seen a few accounts of hens successfully hatching quail chicks, and I've seen many people ask for advice and get told not to try. If it were me, I would not try with a standard size hen, and I would think really hard before trying with a bantam hen.

 

[Skyle]

I wouldn't keep regular sized chicks with quail chicks, too much size difference, chickens will grow very quickly and the quails will remain much more smaller (an adult quail is about the size of a two-weeks old chicken)
Plus, unless the broody is very small, she will break the quail eggs.

 

[Nabiki]

Probably not a good idea.

 

[lost-duckling]

here lies you problem yes they would hatch first but that would also give them time to get closer in size to the chicks when they hatch that and the feed aren't really that big of problems but from all my research the real issue is that they speak a different language. say you have a Japanese silky and it hatches some Chinese quail. When the hen calls them back and to come under her wing @ night to be warm they wont know what she is asking and will just freeze to death. or at least that whet i have read and i also think there is a high chance of them getting crushed as babies(that i have had happen). I have never gotten quail eggs to hatch from another bird (silky, muscovy, other chicken).

The language barrier theory has not been tested with new world quail such as blue scale which share the incubation time as chickens. crushing would still be a problem but just using game bird feed wont hurt the baby chickens.

 

[lost-duckling]

I would love to see how you experiment goes, however free range quail are a thing and if given at least 100 sq feet of actual ground per pair of quail 2-3 quail per cage. then they can go broody on their own.

 

[MGG]

If you were going to do it, you'd want to separate the broody and only give her quail eggs.
If the broody were a tiny breed like a serama or OEGB, she could successfully rayse quail chicks. I believe @FortCluck did it.
So with just quail chicks it could work, but never quail and chicken chicks.

 

[FloorCandy]

The chicks won’t understand the hen when she calls, quail males chase the chicks back to the nest when they go too far. Also, quail chicks don’t get under the hen or the wing, they enter the feathers, usually from the area of the belly and vent, and they climb into and thru the feathers,like Scrooge mcduck in his money pit. The hen may not be gentle enough for the quail, and if the hen is silky, the chicks can get injured in the feathers. Many people use a hen to brood the eggs, and then put them into a brooder after hatch.