anyone ever tried introducing chicks to a quail hen before?

[Kel60]

i have my pair that live in my room and im thinking im going to try and get my girl to adopt my newest batch when they hatch. theres only 6 eggs. so its a realistic number for her to have.

has anyone ever tried this before? its done with chickens all the time. just sneak some babies under them in the middle of the night and they just shrug and go 'well ok then'

she has a nest where she lays her eggs but shes not really broody, i figured id put the hatchings in the nest and see if she responds to them. she never sits on her eggs but the male with her is like desperate to be a dad, sitting on the nest whenever he can and throwing these hissy fits when she wont do it. its hilarious to watch i need to get it on camera. he'll got to the nest and sit on it for a while before starting to yell and thrash around. i may not speak quail but i get this distinct "ARE MY NEST BUILDING SKILLS NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU??? WHAT IF I PUT THIS PIECE OF HAY HERE? IS THAT GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU???" kinda impression, i can assure you, hes not dust bathing. he seems incredibly frustrated and angry when he does it.

he might very well adopt them himself the way he acts. my first batch i hatched were incredibly noisy. would either of them respond to the chirping do you think? i know ducks will just kinda adopt anything that floats by but would a quail do something like that?

 

[Nabiki]

I just put my oldest hen in with some two week olds who lost their heat, and she quite happily adopted them. I'm planning on seeing how Grandma does with the new chicks that will hatch in about 3 weeks. (The eggs are on their way but haven't arrived yet.)

 

[Quaicken108]

What species? I might’ve missed it but your pair sounds like my king/button pair! My male wants to be a dad at the moment and my female isn’t going broody! I tease her because of it and also because one of my chickens went broody recently. Love the stories, update us on what happens.

 

[FloorCandy]

I have given chicks to my 4 indoor coturnix quail, 3 hens and a roo, they happily cared for and raised them without issues. They make adorable sounds to each other and were just too cute.

 

[Kel60]

What species? I might’ve missed it but your pair sounds like my king/button pair! My male wants to be a dad at the moment and my female isn’t going broody! I tease her because of it and also because one of my chickens went broody recently. Love the stories, update us on what happens.

Just regular Coturnix. A Pharoah hen and a autumn amber male. The girl is very skittish but the male is my buddy.

He'll let me carry him around like hes a parrot sometimes.

 

[RosemaryDuck]

Be careful of the male when putting the chicks in. Male quails can be violent and he might go after them. So just supervise first and watch for any aggression before leaving them alone.

 

[Quaicken108]

Just regular Coturnix. A Pharoah hen and a autumn amber male. The girl is very skittish but the male is my buddy.

He'll let me carry him around like hes a parrot sometimes.
View attachment 2493425

Aww He’s adorable.

 

[FloorCandy]

I took this photo seconds ago, this is the male, Snowflake, brooding the current chicks. They are a week old and have been in there since Friday night. A word of caution, smaller chicks, <5 days old, are at risk of accidentally being injured if the birds get spooked and flush. I tried giving them 2 days olds, and they eagerly adopted them, but someone set off fireworks 1 street over, and the dogs barked like crazy, and the birds jumped and ground pounded a chick. It was fine, but mushed into the bedding and stunned. I took them out and waited a few more days.

 

[Quailobsessed]

I had a female king quail who would always go broody, but wasn't good at raising chicks. She rejected one of her chicks as soon as she hatched, so I hand raised her (my profile pic). The hen hatched and rejected other chicks too, some when they were a few weeks old though. Twice I've put a rejected chick with my hand raised hen and she's adopted them.