Baby Quail News!

[MageofMist]

I'd have put Speckles in her own cage and allowed mummy to raise the chicks, but the choice is yours of course. Speckles definitely wouldn't like being in her own cage, but I've had the same problem once - a hen that pecked at the chicks' feet. This was in my aviary, so I simply put a modified (with extra small mesh at the bottom) birdcage top over her and let her stay in the aviary with the others so she didn't feel too alone. A week or so later, I removed the birdcage top. She was still interested in the toes, but the chicks were a lot stronger by then and simply stepped back to se what she'd found under them that was so interesting. They also tried to hide under her. At first, she ran away. But eventually she tired of running and realized it wasn't so bad to cuddle with them. By the next day, she was taking care of them as much as the parents ^^

Speckles was pecking at the chicks as if they were blueberries, not just at the feet. I honestly think she was intending to eat them. The chicks are doing well and their legs have become quite strong, some even trying to hop out of the brooder when I open it to get to me.

The main reason I took them out was because Speckles is Rex's main mate, and he'd get depressed if I removed her from the cage. The eggs that hatched are also from Speckles, but she had no interest in them unlike Fluffy who went broody so I just stuck the eggs under her. Speckles did show some interest, joining her sister for the last 3 days of incubation, but lost interest again after the babies hatched and apparently deemed them to look yummy. I will introduce the chicks back when they are a little bigger and more able to defend themselves.

Though they did keep me up all night, I put the babies in the brooder for the night... And they just kept crying, wanting me to hold them more. Even though it was the right temp for them, all they wanted was cuddles. I have no regrets with cuddling the little fuzzballs pretty much all night however. I did put some tomato in the brooder for them to nibble on as they didn't show much interest in the water and wanted something to hydrate them, and in the... Hour of sleep I got, I woke up seeing the thin tomato slices being seedless and the chicks still pecking at it.

I am weak to the tiny quail peeps!

 

[MageofMist]

The babies have been drinking their water and eating their food, but seem to ADORE tomato while their parents were rather meh about it. ^^

As I put it in, they all zoomed over and I thought they were gonna eat my hand too! XD

 

[DK newbie]

I will introduce the chicks back when they are a little bigger and more able to defend themselves.

I'd reconsider that. Any male chicks won't be able to live with their parents past ~8 weeks and they'd ned to be out of the brooder (~4 weeks) before they can live in the parents' cage without a broody mom to take care of them + ~1 week of being separated from the parents by a single layer of wire to minimize the risk of territorial behavior from the parents. That gives you around 3 weeks where the males might be able to live with the parents. The female chicks might be able to live with the parents forever, but if you keep letting them hatch eggs, that could lead to inbreeding.
If you are thinking along the lines of popping the chicks back in there when they are a couple of weeks old and don't look like a snack anymore, I would not expect that to work. The parents won't be broody anymore and they will likely see the chicks as intruders and charge them with murder in their eyes.

 

[MageofMist]

I'd reconsider that. Any male chicks won't be able to live with their parents past ~8 weeks and they'd ned to be out of the brooder (~4 weeks) before they can live in the parents' cage without a broody mom to take care of them + ~1 week of being separated from the parents by a single layer of wire to minimize the risk of territorial behavior from the parents. That gives you around 3 weeks where the males might be able to live with the parents. The female chicks might be able to live with the parents forever, but if you keep letting them hatch eggs, that could lead to inbreeding.
If you are thinking along the lines of popping the chicks back in there when they are a couple of weeks old and don't look like a snack anymore, I would not expect that to work. The parents won't be broody anymore and they will likely see the chicks as intruders and charge them with murder in their eyes.

I wasn't gonna just plop them in the cage when they get bigger, I was gonna try gradually introducing them again as I know there'd likely be problems if I just tossed them in and let the quails decide. And from what I can tell with my babies, though it is still a guess at this point, is that we have one boy and three girls as one of them has a brighter throat patch than the others, but it is still a guess and could just be their colouration. The adult females have the neck bibs that males usually have, so I dunno if that trait also passed onto the chicks to make telling the genders even more confusing.
I hear Fluffy making the calls that hens make to call her chicks every now and then when she is eating, so I am pretty sure she still is in the broody mood but don't know if it'd last long enough for when the chicks can fend for themselves better. Rex also responds to the chicks when he hears them calling, crowing in response but I am unsure if he'd accept them. He is fairly docile, but I wouldn't trust him alone with the chicks unless I am sure he accepted them back.

We do have another cage to keep them in when they get bigger and if the adult quails refuse to accept them back, and we are also planning on making an aviary at some point for them in the near future. We kinda were planning it anyways but we weren't expecting the eggs the hen was sitting on to even hatch due to it not being that long after we got the hens and the season we are in, we just kinda thought it'd be cool if they did. So kinda surprise babies. XD

 

[lena_]

Button quail hatching eggs! Brought, 6 home today any tips on incubating them?

 

[MageofMist]

I don't really know much on incubating them myself as the mother hen incubated them, but I do know that for sure the chicks when hatched need to be brooded at around 30-35 degrees C and kept away from cold drafts as chills are deadly to them, so far my 4 little babies are doing well in the brooder we made with a cricket box lined with tissue and by an electric fire, with a thermometer ontop for me to monitor the temp. Depending on the room temp, I need to move it closer or further away from the fire and from my experience, they are most comfortable at 32 C.

Button quail eggs take around 18-20 days to hatch, and I heard they need to be kept at around 38.8 C - 39 C. You turn them 3 times a day, morning, afternoon and late evening, but go on 'lockdown' on the 15th day so the babies can get into hatching position. As for humidity, there is a lot of conflicting info, some saying to not add any at all or that it is needed, so I sadly am not much help with the humidity part. ^^; Hopefully someone else can help you with advice on that part of incubation. This is all I got online so I am not sure if it is all correct or not.

 

[MageofMist]

A short little vid of the babies in their brooder, they were curious about the camera. ^^

 

[LoveInNature]

I love getting my teeth into something and researching as much as I can. Unfortunately this wonderful aspect of my personality drives others to distraction. So if you are new and have read all the comments you can find on humidity for your Japanese quail and have discovered, like I have, that there is more variations than spots on a Dalmatian, then you may find this article interesting.

For me it consolidated every opinion and advice column that I have read. Thank-you to everyone that has shared their knowledge and experience which I have found invaluable. This article has also provided me with the technical data I needed to make an informed choice about my path over the next few days with my eggs.

http://www.lrrd.org/lrrd21/3/roma21038.htm

I may never have found this if I hadn't got it into my head to weigh my eggs as they progressed in my incubator.

I hope you enjoy the read. I found the results fascinating!

I don't really know much on incubating them myself as the mother hen incubated them, but I do know that for sure the chicks when hatched need to be brooded at around 30-35 degrees C and kept away from cold drafts as chills are deadly to them, so far my 4 little babies are doing well in the brooder we made with a cricket box lined with tissue and by an electric fire, with a thermometer ontop for me to monitor the temp. Depending on the room temp, I need to move it closer or further away from the fire and from my experience, they are most comfortable at 32 C.


Button quail eggs take around 18-20 days to hatch, and I heard they need to be kept at around 38.8 C - 39 C. You turn them 3 times a day, morning, afternoon and late evening, but go on 'lockdown' on the 15th day so the babies can get into hatching position. As for humidity, there is a lot of conflicting info, some saying to not add any at all or that it is needed, so I sadly am not much help with the humidity part. ^^; Hopefully someone else can help you with advice on that part of incubation. This is all I got online so I am not sure if it is all correct or not.

 

[Q QUAIL S]

OHHHH!!! They are so adorable I love little baby quail!!!!!!!

 

[MageofMist]

I love getting my teeth into something and researching as much as I can. Unfortunately this wonderful aspect of my personality drives others to distraction. So if you are new and have read all the comments you can find on humidity for your Japanese quail and have discovered, like I have, that there is more variations than spots on a Dalmatian, then you may find this article interesting.

For me it consolidated every opinion and advice column that I have read. Thank-you to everyone that has shared their knowledge and experience which I have found invaluable. This article has also provided me with the technical data I needed to make an informed choice about my path over the next few days with my eggs.

http://www.lrrd.org/lrrd21/3/roma21038.htm

I may never have found this if I hadn't got it into my head to weigh my eggs as they progressed in my incubator.

I hope you enjoy the read. I found the results fascinating!

A very interesting read. ^^ I enjoyed it!

Also, I had a realization... The babies look like little black bear cubs.

The light beaks and the chest patch with the almost black fuzzy body. I got little tiny peeping bears it seems!