Broody coturnix with her babies

[KrisandLuna]

I cannot believe that my girl hatched her own babies and 5 of them!

 

[crimsonmama]

Hiya! What a nice start to the new year!

Can I ask some questions? I got a pair of coturnix quail about 6 weeks ago. Thought I was getting two girls but one is male. They are mating frequently and the female is laying her eggs in a box of hay. Looking online comes up with tons of posts saying they won't hatch their own eggs even though YouTube vids prove otherwise!
They seem to care alot about the eggs! The male checks on them and the female seems to count them checking they are still there after we have gone in to change food/water. They are currently living in my kitchen as it's frosty outside and my mum visited at Xmas with her dogs which startled them in their outdoor aviary and the male cut his head on the mesh so i brought them indoors. They seem very happy and although not like being touched are not scared of me. They are in a cordened off section of the kitchen on newspaper with sandbox and a hay box I put in for comfort. The female laid her first egg in there and is laying them all together. She has three at mo. I feel the male is being quite supportive so am wondering if they will both help brood the eggs?
How many eggs will she lay before sitting if she does?
Will I have to not clean them out for two and half weeks when she starts sitting so as not to disturb?

 

[KrisandLuna]

I found the male will protect the eggs but he won't do anything else. My female stared at eggs and was obsessed for months. Then one day she decided to sit and not get up. She's 9months old now. I think the winner was peace and quiet. I have them in a bedroom and dog crates and bushes everywhere.

 

[crimsonmama]

Thanks for the reply! I will have to try keep the kids away so she has peace! She laid her fourth egg tonight. I put hay in another corner to see if she only laid them together out of comfort but she still laid her fourth with the other eggs. Hope she sits! But she's very young.

 

[KrisandLuna]

My girl acted like that when she was young, so perhaps. I have no idea what triggered it, one day she just decided to sit and not get up even though birds were bugging her and stepping all over.