Broody signs in quail/button quail?

[ButtonNomies]

The only real solution is to remove the eggs altogether and not let her sit, incubate them urself and maybe get her some dummy eggs? Xx

 

[The Birb King]

The only real solution is to remove the eggs altogether and not let her sit, incubate them urself and maybe get her some dummy eggs? Xx

Hmm I was hoping I would not need to do that. I would rather they be hatched naturally and raised by the mother. Honestly I think I will just leave the eggs in there for now and whatever happens happens.

 

[jak2002003]

Hi OP.

I have 3 male and 2 female Chinese Painted (Button) Quail. My 2 females regularly go broody, hatch and raise their chicks with no problems. I did not realise that it is the exception rather than the norm, until I read about them on here.

My group all live together and there is no fighting and they all (even the females) have perfect feather condition with no plucking.

They do live in a large outdoor aviary through, although its not planted because my budgies destroy the plants, even plastic ones! But, there are a few logs and flower pots about, and a hiding places too.

I use plastic flower pots turned onto their sides for the quail to nest in. The bedding I used is coconut fibre.

Your quail are acting as mine do. When they are young they lay the eggs in random places and are not interested in them. When they get older they start to lay the eggs all in the same places.

When she goes broody she will stay on the eggs all the time and rarely leave the nest. She will flatten herself out over them. They can easily cover 10 to 12 eggs. Having more eggs keeps them all warmer too. Just a few eggs loose heat fast when the hen leaves to feed.

Don't disturb them. Perhaps cover the area of the cage front near the nest with something so she can't see out. They will leave the nest if they feel danger is near or get distracted by you walking past, and if they leave the nest too much the eggs will chill.

Mine don't seem bothered about the other quails, which often like to all squash into the nest to 'help' the mother out, but if that other female keeps laying her eggs in the nest after your other female has gone broody you better take her out or it will mess up the hatching dates and you won't know where you are with it all.

However, you might find they both go broody at about the same time and both brood the same nest, which is OK though.

I use a soft pencil to mark the eggs, then every few days I check the eggs when the hen is off feeding or dust bathing, and take out any that another quail has added to the nest.

Good luck with your quails. I hope the hen goes broody for you and all goes well. Its so interesting to watch it all happening.

PS, as they are new to it all, once the chicks hatch, make sure the other quails are not attacking them. You might need to just take them out and leave the hen (and her mate maybe) with the chicks. I was lucky that mine all get alone OK so did not have this problem.

Oh, and they need more protein then chicken chicks. I use the normal chicken starter mixed in with canary egg food and mashed up hard boiled eggs.

I was horrified to see a You Tube video of someone feeding the chicks on just dry bird seeds....they will die if you do that!

 

[NewfoundMamaBird]

She will probably mate and lay to replace the ones you take I swear they cam count

I am now convinced they can count!!

 

[NewfoundMamaBird]

Hi OP.

I have 3 male and 2 female Chinese Painted (Button) Quail. My 2 females regularly go broody, hatch and raise their chicks with no problems. I did not realise that it is the exception rather than the norm, until I read about them on here.

My group all live together and there is no fighting and they all (even the females) have perfect feather condition with no plucking.

They do live in a large outdoor aviary through, although its not planted because my budgies destroy the plants, even plastic ones! But, there are a few logs and flower pots about, and a hiding places too.

I use plastic flower pots turned onto their sides for the quail to nest in. The bedding I used is coconut fibre.

Your quail are acting as mine do. When they are young they lay the eggs in random places and are not interested in them. When they get older they start to lay the eggs all in the same places.

When she goes broody she will stay on the eggs all the time and rarely leave the nest. She will flatten herself out over them. They can easily cover 10 to 12 eggs. Having more eggs keeps them all warmer too. Just a few eggs loose heat fast when the hen leaves to feed.

Don't disturb them. Perhaps cover the area of the cage front near the nest with something so she can't see out. They will leave the nest if they feel danger is near or get distracted by you walking past, and if they leave the nest too much the eggs will chill.

Mine don't seem bothered about the other quails, which often like to all squash into the nest to 'help' the mother out, but if that other female keeps laying her eggs in the nest after your other female has gone broody you better take her out or it will mess up the hatching dates and you won't know where you are with it all.

However, you might find they both go broody at about the same time and both brood the same nest, which is OK though.

I use a soft pencil to mark the eggs, then every few days I check the eggs when the hen is off feeding or dust bathing, and take out any that another quail has added to the nest.

Good luck with your quails. I hope the hen goes broody for you and all goes well. Its so interesting to watch it all happening.

PS, as they are new to it all, once the chicks hatch, make sure the other quails are not attacking them. You might need to just take them out and leave the hen (and her mate maybe) with the chicks. I was lucky that mine all get alone OK so did not have this problem.

Oh, and they need more protein then chicken chicks. I use the normal chicken starter mixed in with canary egg food and mashed up hard boiled eggs.

I was horrified to see a You Tube video of someone feeding the chicks on just dry bird seeds....they will die if you do that!

I kind of have the same question. I have 7 button quail that are a year and a half old and they stopped laying eggs over the middle of winter but started laying again a couple weeks ago. When they first started laying again they would kinda just randomly lay eggs all over the cage but now I noticed they had made a nest in the dust bathing area , I gave them plenty of other nesting places idk why they lay in the dust bath but whatever. Anyway, when I discovered it yesterday there were like 6 eggs and today there were even more! I took some out because I thought there were too many there I left like 5. Yesterday I noticed one of the females kept going in there and sitting on the eggs. It seems like she is off the eggs for a long time though. Yesterday when she got off them, I could have sworn I saw one of the males take her place and sit on the eggs. Is she broody? I have had the her and 1 other hen I think go broody before but they abandon the nest after like 2 days. Will the same thing happen again? Is it normal she is up off the eggs for so long? And how do I keep the other quail from disturbing the nest? Today some of the males came in and tried to mate with her so that made her get up, and also how do I stop the other 2 hens from just laying more and more eggs in there? I only want her incubating those 5 because if more are laid they would hatch at different times and she would not be able to sit on them all anyway. Any tips?

She gave up last time for me. But it looks like she is trying again. She has been in her house on the eggs pretty consistently since yesterday. I see her out to eat and drink quickly, so I am hoping she sticks with it this time. I don't even know how many eggs are in there now. A few days ago I put in some live meal worms to distract her and pulled out 3 or 4 before she saw me. I suspect she replaced those. Lol. I am guessing there is probably 10 or 11 in there now!

 

[The Birb King]

She gave up last time for me. But it looks like she is trying again. She has been in her house on the eggs pretty consistently since yesterday. I see her out to eat and drink quickly, so I am hoping she sticks with it this time. I don't even know how many eggs are in there now. A few days ago I put in some live meal worms to distract her and pulled out 3 or 4 before she saw me. I suspect she replaced those. Lol. I am guessing there is probably 10 or 11 in there now!

Mine stopped being broody weeks ago her eggs didnt even develop

 

[NewfoundMamaBird]

Mine stopped being broody weeks ago her eggs didnt even develop

I'm hoping she sticks with it this time. I'm new to buttons and birds in general. I hatched my little ones with a cheap incubator and shipped eggs in November, so they are all only 4 months old. The other 3 girls aren't serious about their eggs at all and seem to just lay and walk away. This sweet little red breast couple are the only ones that are showing signs of wanting to be parents. She actually only lays in her house and they seem to go in and roll them around daily. When she goes in daily to lay, he stands and guards the doorway. And now that she is in sitting on them again, because she seems not to be able to cover all at once, she seems to shift position often so that they all get love. And her mate goes in and lies on them with her. It's really very sweet to see.

 

[Huntmaster]

because she seems not to be able to cover all at once, she seems to shift position often so that they all get love.

That can make for a bad hatch even if she does stay broody and sit them. The eggs on outside cool and die off then get moved in and covered then another good egg replaces it and is not covered, and it can go bad. Always best to only let them have enough eggs that they can fully cover.

 

[Cookiee]

None of my buttons have ever been committed enough to stay broody they sit for a day and then give up and they are all paired off and living alone. I have given up the idea of hatching them naturally, strange really as they mate constantly but never stay.

 

[NewfoundMamaBird]

None of my buttons have ever been committed enough to stay broody they sit for a day and then give up and they are all paired off and living alone. I have given up the idea of hatching them naturally, strange really as they mate constantly but never stay.

Looks a bit like mine will be the same sadly.