Babies!

[mz.candiz]

I am pretty new to button quail; I had bought a pair from a local bird show fairly recently. Since then I have been reading up as much as I can about them. I had thought about trying my hand at incubation, but then decided against it figuring I would rather see the momma quail raise the babies if she decided to go broody. I stopped taking the eggs away from the parents, and after 12 were laid Priscilla went broody. I was very excited, but held my breath because I had read of quails going broody and then getting off the eggs before incubation was finished.

On day 17 (yesterday) I checked them probably every hour to see if any had hatched. Nothing for awhile; then I went downstairs and saw both the male and female sitting on the nest. It was too cute so I had to take some pictures. All my picture taking startled the male off the nest, and sure enough, BABIES! I could see 4 tiny little damp babies. It wasn't long after that until 10 of the 12 eggs had hatched and were little fuzzballs running around with the mom. The male seemed like he wanted to help with the babies, but he was being abit rough for my liking, so I decided to put him in his own cage temporarily. I removed all of the egg shells, and the last two eggs which I candled. They appeared as though the embryo had passed early on in incubation.

I thought I would share some pictures with all of you, since you have been delighting me with pictures of your adorable babies and quail while I waited for mine! But unfortunately, as I am new here, I am unable to post any yet.

Today, they are scooting around like crazy after Momma! They seems so much more coordinated already. I will keep everyone updated as everything progresses, and get pics up as soon as I can.

 

[mochicken]

awwww that is too cute, cant wait to see some pictures

You must have a really good comfortable setup for them to get them to go broody, it seems that they have been bred out of brooding their own babies, its great to hear you have some winners

 

[mhwc56]

my understanding is that the males Can get rough with the chicks. You did the right thing in separating him from them.
Congratulaions btw!

 

[Orange Ribbon]

That is a wonderful experience you are having. Can't wait to see the pictures.

 

[mz.candiz]

Yes, I am very excited they decided to hatch their own eggs. I had read that they don't do that as often now due to them being hatched out of incubators. It's so much fun to watch the female take care of them. I love when they are all huddled under her and you can see their little heads pop out from behind her wings. Or when they fall asleep on their food dish with their legs all stretched out. I'm getting behind on my household chores because I get so distracted watching them all the time haha.

 

[shelleyd2008]

The males should help raise the babies but they can be mean to them sometimes. Another person on here had a male who hatched the babies himself, though they've not been back to tell us how the little family is fairing.

 

[TheRealTimShady]

Quote:
I remember this person and they had to separate ide sie female because she was not acting nice about a week later she put the female back in and had photos of the female and male both raising the checks I cannot remember who wit it is but I will look

 

[mz.candiz]

Do you think it would be safe to try the male back in with the chicks? Or should I wait until they are abit bigger?

 

[mz.candiz]

Some pics as promised. The pics are of the first few days, I will take some more this weekend. They are now progressing through the porcupine stage lol.

Mom and Dad keeping the babies warm.

 

[navasima]