Broody Coturnix hen(s)

[Lilyofsalen]

It all started with my smaller wildtype hen . . . I noticed her building a nest and sitting on eggs in the "hen cave" but she was leaving for too long and too often for me to take her seriously. Then I opened an egg that had developed somewhere between days 2 and 3 while making omelets one morning. I decided to take her more seriously. I marked some eggs and took all the newly laid ones out twice a day since it was a community nest. I candled about five days later and found that the eggs were five days in development, however, she still left the nest more often than I liked. I hoped that another, more determined hen, would take her place. One did.

One of my tamest (if not THE tamest) hens took over and showed some very promising signs. She refused to leave the nest until I removed most of the eggs from under her (to sort the marked eggs from the newly laid eggs) and then she would get up and roll them back inside! One time she just gave up on rolling them, fluffed herself up like a broody chicken, and plopped herself on where I moved them! She is constantly building/maintaining the nest and stays on the nest for most of the day (but she still gets up to eat, drink, poop, and dust bathe for short periods). I watched her behavior for four days before deciding that I was confident in the consistency of her broody behavior (and I was also tired of disturbing her nest to pull out the new eggs), so I put up a barrier so other hens wouldn't disturb her nest. She has food and water in her little area and I let her out at least once a day so she can run around and stretch.

I candled her eggs again tonight and I believe they are on day 13, which means they are due to hatch soon. Does anyone have any advice on what to do when the chicks hatch? I'm unsure whether it would be a good idea to let my broody hen and her future chicks to mingle with the flock. I just looked at the forecast and it looks like it will be rainy when the chicks hatch so I think I will move them inside but I am unsure how to do so without really upsetting them. On another note, I just saw some mice prancing around the aviary two nights ago. I am working on getting rid of them but does anyone think they pose a special threat to my broody hen and her newly hatched chicks? I would hate to come out one morning and find a chick murder scene.

Also for those who think it's ridiculous that a Coturnix hen is interested in hatching eggs in January--I live in one of the mildest climates in SoCal. The days are pretty warm (but not too warm right now--70s) and the nights are cool (40s-50s). It almost never reaches freezing temperatures around here.

 

[Quailobsessed]

Is it working? Particularly the raising their own young?

Yeah, she has had a lot of success with quail parents. I bought one of her males and he has encouraged two hens to go broody by nest building for them.

 

[Lilyofsalen]

Here is a video for your enjoyment where I feed the hen and her babies some mealworms. I normally don't feed young quail mealworms out of fear that they will go after each other's toes but with my broody hen showing them toes aren't food I've never had a problem. There was one case where one chick grabbed another's toe but it was quickly diffused by the hen picking up a mealworm in her beak and showing the offending chick actual food.

 

[shrimpsilkies]

OK, sort of random question . . . Why does there seem to be so much more genetic diversity in chickens than in quail? silkie feathers, a lot more colors, and patterns, many different egg colors, head feathers, cheek feathers, etc can be found in chickens.

Japanese quail, the only domestic quail species in captivity, have only been domesticated for about 1,000 years. Chickens have been domesticated for around or less than 10,000 years, so we’ve had a lot longer to mess with them all around the world and breed really different looking varieties from all the mutations that popped up over the thousands of years. Coturnix were also only kept in Japan—I’m fairly sure they’re all descended from the resident population of C. japonica there. They were first kept for their voice, and later for eggs and meat. Some varieties had special crows and were prized for their “singing”. In WWII most of the quail varieties such as the singers went extinct as people lost interest or their birds were destroyed. What we have today are the descendants of that population, a much smaller and less diverse gene pool.

 

[Lilyofsalen]

I caught five mice with the trap, I think I got all of them! Now to figure out how to keep them out . . .

 

[Lilyofsalen]

It didn't quite go the way I was hoping but she hatched some chicks. I candled the eggs more thoroughly and found that most had died during the late stages of incubation (It smelled and looked like infection). Only two looked good and only one of them had any movement. I exchanged the two good eggs for four eggs from the incubator. The four hatched beneath her overnight and after the hatch was done I brought her inside. She is a good mama. She talks to her chicks, shows them food, shows them water, calls them to her, etc. She has also adopted four more chicks from the incubator. Her chicks will join the aviary and since they have been raised naturally they will be more inclined to go broody.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

If your gal starts hatching eggs, I would take her, the nest and chicks and put them in a seperate space. I've heard the males can be either amazing or horrible towards chicks

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Hi I am really glad you started this thread, DH and I were just talking about expanding into quail. We already have chickens, were discussing how frequently quail go broody and what we would need to get started. I don't have a bator and have always hatched using a broody. I wish to continue with broodies. I am sorry I can't be much help to you, as I am just starting to amass info, but if you don't mind I have a question or two.
Are your male quails very loud? Do they crow like a rooster? Or is it a different sound? I am hoping to keep from having to buy hatching quail eggs to keep my flock going. But do not want the neighbors to complain. Thanks and good luck with your hatch, let us know in a few days how it goes.

Male quail will crow when upset or overwhelmed. They don't crow like a cock, but more of a "Whhat'eh'ell!!!" Sound.

Note broody coturnix are still incredibly rare. They're so bred out of it and domesticated the instinct is hardly ever shown

 

[JaeG]

How exciting!

Once the chicks hatch I would move them to their own space, but be prepared for the hen to not be a great mother. The stories of broody quail I've read on here usually end in the human raising the chicks as the mother doesn't seem to know what to do, so keep them in a small space (so chicks don't stray too far) and keep an eye on them. Usually it would be the male's job to round up stragglers, so any chick that gets too far from the hen won't be rescued by her.

Maybe try to include the nest in their new space as she'll want to return to that initially with her chicks.

Keep us updated. The mice probably won't go after the quail's nest/eggs. They'll be more interested in stealing seed and feed.

 

[Lilyofsalen]

Do you have holes in your aviary, in the ground I mean?
Can you place traps outside the aviary where the quail can't get to them?

Well, there was a mice den entrance on one side of the aviary . . . I dug it up and plan on putting a 1/4" skirt down. The little creatures are squeezing between the boards and the mesh on the sides of the aviary. I set a live trap that the Coturnix won't be harmed by and will wait and see. Unfortunately, mice have become a major problem on my property lately . . .