Broody Hen!

[JayZay]

Wow, very cool JackBaker, thanks for sharing that information, that's very helpful!

I have a couple questions:
If it is relatively chilly at night would the hen be likely to keep the chicks warm enough, or should we add a heat lamp to the aviary above her where her nest is? We were thinking of bringing them in so it would be warm and isolated, do you think it would be better to do that, or to leave them in the aviary?
Also, we have 6 other quail present in the aviary, and concerned they might not welcome the chicks or trample them - do you think that would be likely to happen?

Thanks!
-Jason

I have had two broody Japanese quail hens, my first one who raised her chicks fine and the second one who got spooked off her eggs by my dog . When they actually want to they make superb mothers and teach the chicks so well. When I was looking for information there was none on what to do with a broody quail but all on raising them yourself. So this is what I learnt.

Mum will not take kindly to your interference so minimum contact should be made until the chicks hatch. Depending on where she lays the eggs the chicks may struggle to get to the nest once they have hatched and start to follow mum. If you notice the chicks cannot get back to the nest for what ever reason you will need to find a way of keeping them there as for about the first few days mum will return to the area where she incubated the eggs and leave the chicks if they can not get their. I would also recommend getting mini mealworms or some other very small insect and putting it in as the mother will gather them and teach the chicks to eat better with live insects. When the chicks start to hatch mum will be getting off and back on the other eggs, and I believe this is to get the young ones walking. Do not remove the other eggs as she is still sitting on them and will return to them shortly.

I hope this helped and please keep us updated. I love quail baby's and broody mommas. I do not brood the chicks myself and only let the hens do it if they want to. It is so rewarding to watch and great experience. Good luck.

 

[JackBaker]

Wow, very cool JackBaker, thanks for sharing that information, that's very helpful!

I have a couple questions:
If it is relatively chilly at night would the hen be likely to keep the chicks warm enough, or should we add a heat lamp to the aviary above her where her nest is? We were thinking of bringing them in so it would be warm and isolated, do you think it would be better to do that, or to leave them in the aviary?
Also, we have 6 other quail present in the aviary, and concerned they might not welcome the chicks or trample them - do you think that would be likely to happen?

Thanks!
-Jason

No problem and glad I could help.

So quail hens really don't like to be over fussed. It would entirely be up to you if you wanted to bring them in, but personally mine were fine and she wouldn't be hatching them if she thought it was the wrong time of year. I actually did my specialist project in college on broody quail and found some very interesting things out. If it got very icy or snowed then sure, bring them inside but other than that mum knows best and I think a heat lamp would cause her to overheat. As for the other quail they can be a little weird with them. The big problem that you will face is the other quail will mistake their toes for worms. You'd be better isolating them but still keeping them in the aviary somewhere the other quail can watch them grow up. That's what I did with mine and reintroduction was then relativity easy.
Hope that helped and please ask anything else if you feel concerned or just want to know .
Keep us updated with pictures please.

 

[JayZay]

Thanks again for the useful information!
The other day my wife noticed that Pajamas had left the eggs for a little while to stretch and eat, and so she took a look at the eggs from outside the aviary, and noticed that one egg looked like it had a chip out of it, but Pajamas eventually came back to sit on the eggs and we haven't had another opportunity to see it again. We keep wondering if we're going to be seeing chicks any day now, that would be crazy! We're a little freaked out about the chicks being left outside especially at night because of the cold, and wonder if Pajamas has the knowledge to know to keep the chicks warm etc, which I'm sure she does, we just think it would be hard for us to sleep at night haha. I think we'll take your good advice and just make a bit of a divider from the rest of the quail and just let her do her thing.
I've just uploaded a short video clip onto Youtube of Pajamas on the eggs, please check it out anyone that's interested

Cheers,
-Jason

No problem and glad I could help.

So quail hens really don't like to be over fussed. It would entirely be up to you if you wanted to bring them in, but personally mine were fine and she wouldn't be hatching them if she thought it was the wrong time of year. I actually did my specialist project in college on broody quail and found some very interesting things out. If it got very icy or snowed then sure, bring them inside but other than that mum knows best and I think a heat lamp would cause her to overheat. As for the other quail they can be a little weird with them. The big problem that you will face is the other quail will mistake their toes for worms. You'd be better isolating them but still keeping them in the aviary somewhere the other quail can watch them grow up. That's what I did with mine and reintroduction was then relativity easy.
Hope that helped and please ask anything else if you feel concerned or just want to know .
Keep us updated with pictures please.

 

[wildone]

wow, she has a lot of eggs. im sure thats fun to sit on 24/7

 

[le_bwah]

How exciting! Lovely that you've given her a spot she feels safe/comfy enough to brood in. I hope you see chicks soon.

 

[Erkenstein]

Wow she's turning and rotating the eggs. Good mama!

 

[JayZay]

Hey everyone,
So I have a lot to update on here. Over the last couple of days there have been some hatchers, but unfortunately we had about 4 chicks that didn't make it, one was still mostly in the shell and seemed like it was removed from the nest, and then 3 others were found around the nest but were not alive.
Yesterday we found two alive that were in the nest, one was still half in the shell and was pretty surrounded by eggs and had a dot of blood on it's head, (maybe it was partially squished by the other eggs?) so we decided to intervene especially because none of the other chicks had survived yet, the other chick looked good and we brought them both inside into the brooder box.
This morning I checked on pajamas and found another hatcher, this one looked healthy but cold, so I decided to bring it inside as well. This younger one doesn't quite have the same level of energy as the others, but the other two were kind of the same when we found them.
So far all of the chicks are doing really well, I've introduced them to the waterer and have seen the two older chicks drink on their own, and have seen them all eat.

I'll definitely be keeping a close eye on Pajamas and the eggs over the next few days and hopefully there won't be any more losses.
I'll keep everyone posted!
Here's a picture of the two older chicks - more pictures to follow