Broody button quail! Yay!!!!

[brandiskip]

Sascia has started to sit on her clutch of 9 eggs! I'm so excited. I always incubate the eggs I want to hatch but I have chicken eggs in the incubator right now so I've just been saving my button eggs. I moved Sascia and her mate to a larger area. I noticed she would go to the same spot in her hut to lay her egg each day. I would remove them daily as I usually do. When she laid the 4th egg, its like she buried it so I had the thought that she might be a rare button that will sit on her eggs. I added the first three back that i had removed and she continued to lay an egg a day. Once she reached 9 eggs, she got broody. I love watching her. It took her some time to get her nest the way she wanted it but as of now, she's sitting on her eggs. I hope she stays til they hatch. I will keep everyone posted. Yay!!!

 

[nchls school]

Sascia has started to sit on her clutch of 9 eggs! I'm so excited. I always incubate the eggs I want to hatch but I have chicken eggs in the incubator right now so I've just been saving my button eggs. I moved Sascia and her mate to a larger area. I noticed she would go to the same spot in her hut to lay her egg each day. I would remove them daily as I usually do. When she laid the 4th egg, its like she buried it so I had the thought that she might be a rare button that will sit on her eggs. I added the first three back that i had removed and she continued to lay an egg a day. Once she reached 9 eggs, she got broody. I love watching her. It took her some time to get her nest the way she wanted it but as of now, she's sitting on her eggs. I hope she stays til they hatch. I will keep everyone posted. Yay!!!

Watch the rooster carefully. Some make good dads and others will keep at the hen until she abandons the nest. When I had button quail I removed the male when the hen started brooding. Female button quail make great mothers.

 

[brandiskip]

Thanks for the advice. I will say that he has been calling(?) a lot more now that she's sitting. Maybe I should just go ahead and remove him.

 

[brandiskip]

I went ahead and removed the male just to be safe. She paced around for a few minutes but shortly returned to her nest.

 

[nchls school]

I went ahead and removed the male just to be safe. She paced around for a few minutes but shortly returned to her nest.

Good luck. I hope your button hatches you a nice batch of chicks. I always had better luck when the male was out of the picture; too many times the male would force the hen off the nest or kill the chicks when they hatched. I did, however, have males that were good at parenting. But by the time it was obvious that the rooster was not a good dad it was too late and the clutch was ruined.

 

[brandiskip]

I completely understand what you are saying. Earlier today, as she was going back to her nest, he leaned down and just nipped her at the back of her leg. I had never seen him do that before but I really didn't think much more about it until I read your post. With all the growling and phewing he's been doing, I think it's best to follow your advice. You probably saved my whole clutch! Thank you!

 

[nchls school]

I completely understand what you are saying. Earlier today, as she was going back to her nest, he leaned down and just nipped her at the back of her leg. I had never seen him do that before but I really didn't think much more about it until I read your post. With all the growling and phewing he's been doing, I think it's best to follow your advice. You probably saved my whole clutch! Thank you!

You're welcome. Almost always hatches were good, often 100%. Good luck!

 

[DK newbie]

My roo has been a good father, but he has 3 hens and lived in a small aviary when they were broody, so when the first hen got broody he still had the other two to keep him entertained. And she was a *****, if anyone came within a couple of feet from her nest, she started chirping, clearly telling them to get lost. She wouldn't be suited to brooding in a small cage with other quail around, but being together with two more hens, her high aggression levels were great, as it prevented the other hens from laying eggs in her nest and messing up her incubation. She hatched her own eggs twice this year. Once they are hatched, daddy is allowed to help keeping the chicks warm. At one point, all 3 hens were incubating at the same time, daddy seemed to get quite bored, but one of them let him spend the night beside her

I went and bought 2 new males a couple of days ago, to pair with 3 of the girls that came from all this broodiness. A nice tuxedo roo got 2 girls and a tiny little blueface got one (she is about twice as big as him, they look really cute when they sit beside each other). The tuxedo is already trying to mate with his girls, the blueface seems content just sitting beside his girl. I guess the blueface might not be quite mature yet, but the difference in behavior might also be caused by the fact that he lives outside with a current temperature range of -5 - +10 degrees Celsius, where as the tuxedo lives in my room with an average temperature of about 15 degrees Celsius (my radiator doesn't work so it's quite cold). I haven't seen daddy mating his girls either recently, and they also live outside.
But that brings me to 3 breeding groups, I hope the ones in my room will start laying soon - and possibly go broody, I don't own an incubator and don't want to use it anyway - the parents that live outside haven't been laying since august and I don't expect them to start doing so for the next 3-4 months.

Good luck with your girl!

 

[brandiskip]

My roo has been a good father, but he has 3 hens and lived in a small aviary when they were broody, so when the first hen got broody he still had the other two to keep him entertained. And she was a *****, if anyone came within a couple of feet from her nest, she started chirping, clearly telling them to get lost. She wouldn't be suited to brooding in a small cage with other quail around, but being together with two more hens, her high aggression levels were great, as it prevented the other hens from laying eggs in her nest and messing up her incubation. She hatched her own eggs twice this year. Once they are hatched, daddy is allowed to help keeping the chicks warm. At one point, all 3 hens were incubating at the same time, daddy seemed to get quite bored, but one of them let him spend the night beside her

I went and bought 2 new males a couple of days ago, to pair with 3 of the girls that came from all this broodiness. A nice tuxedo roo got 2 girls and a tiny little blueface got one (she is about twice as big as him, they look really cute when they sit beside each other). The tuxedo is already trying to mate with his girls, the blueface seems content just sitting beside his girl. I guess the blueface might not be quite mature yet, but the difference in behavior might also be caused by the fact that he lives outside with a current temperature range of -5 - +10 degrees Celsius, where as the tuxedo lives in my room with an average temperature of about 15 degrees Celsius (my radiator doesn't work so it's quite cold). I haven't seen daddy mating his girls either recently, and they also live outside.
But that brings me to 3 breeding groups, I hope the ones in my room will start laying soon - and possibly go broody, I don't own an incubator and don't want to use it anyway - the parents that live outside haven't been laying since august and I don't expect them to start doing so for the next 3-4 months.

Good luck with your girl! 

Thank you! I would love to see some pictures of your buttons if you have them. Especially the tuxedo. I've enjoyed incubating but I'm really looking forward to the natural process. I have 7 babies now that are 2 weeks old. They are a variety of colors. Many that I don't have and I love watching their feathers grow and change. I'm so fascinated by these little beauties. Thanks so much for all the great information.

 

[DK newbie]

There you have the tuxedo and one of his girls. He has color all the way below his tail so it's easy to tell by the color of his vent feathers that he is male.

And my tiny blueface with his girl.

The blueface's girl is somewhere in that group ^^

And the tuxedo's girls are there