Bobwhite with just hatched chicks has gone broody? Should I be worried?

[JohnnyHarkerHts]

Recently thanks to a sociopath chicken I was on the brink of losing my last bobwhite. In order to prevent that, I had to take her inside to keep her warm while all her snapped and broken feathers grew back.

Since she was the last one, I decided to try and hatch a bunch of eggs she had laid all over the place just before her mate was murdered by the psycho chicken. If I didn't try she wasn't going to do it. It's the middle of winter, and she was only laying due to 24/7 warming lights. LOL She was also young herself, just at 6 months.

It was my first effort, and I made a lot of mistakes, but I ended up hatching out 4 very healthy chicks.

Originally I figured I'd have to hand raise them, but when it came time, I realized they were just too too small to handle safely. I felt like every time I had to feed them I was going to accidentally squash them.

The only solution I saw was giving her back her chicks, and lucky for me it worked.

Even though she had never set a nest or hatched a brood, and had no way of knowing they were her chicks, the moment she heard the chicks peeping she turned motherly.

It was especially cute, because they were afraid of her at first, but all it took was her fluffing her feather behind them for them to fall in to them. LOL

I figured my problem was solved and didn't think more of it until I noticed that she had suddenly become broody for the first time about 3 infertile eggs (no male for 2 months).

My question is this a bad thing?

Will she start to ignore the chicks in order to brood, or worse reject them to take care of the infertile eggs?

Right now all is ok. The chicks are able to eat just fine, and she is happy to keep them warm under her feather petticoat whenever they want.

Should I be prepared to take the chicks out, or is it normal for a quail to become broody while her oldest chick is just a week old?

Thanks all.

 

[sourland]

As long as the chicks are prospering, I wouldn't change a thing.

 

[Tony K T]

All you have to do for just hatched bobwhites are give them food,water and the right temp in their brooder and they will do the rest.You usually don't have to teach them to eat and drink.Once put in their brooder and they are over the catching they usually run to the water,but make sure they cannot get into the water and drownd.The brooder temp should be 95 degrees the 1st week and then drop 5 degrees a week for at least 6 weeks.When fully feathered they should be fine with no heat unless you are below 50 degrees.
In N.H.,Tony.