buttons and broodeyness?

[silkydragon]

i just got button quail last night for the 1st time i ordered chicks from a private breeder we met him and he gave us adults (not a problem i just had a brooder rdy not a cage) but anyway he saide they should start laying anyday lol today was that day and i was wondering if buttons would just go broody or if i have to let so many eggs pile up? and if so how many eggs can 1 set on at a time?

 

[Prettiest Frog]

If you want to hatch your own, you are better off just getting an incubator. It's rare for mine to go broody, and with my previous batch, most of the females never went broody during their entire lifespan.

 

[Teach97]

I agree...they are not known for broodiness...never seen it in mine

 

[silkydragon]

lol ok i guess theres alot of wrong info out there on the internet i read that they are very likely to go broody and that you should let them becouse there eggs are so big compared to there body size it takes alot of proteine and calcium out of there bodys the guy that sold them to me saide the males take care of the eggs so maybe thats why you guys havent had a "hen" go broody but im not gonna argue a few hrs of experience compared to a few yrs

just pointing out what ive heard so you can tell me if its true or not

 

[quailbrain]

Chinese Blue Breasted Quail or "Button Quail" are from a tropical climate where they don't live in groups but as single pairs. Males do not brood the eggs although they are very active in parenting chicks. In captivity these quail are not usually kept in an enviroment that entices them to go broody. If you have the proper enviroment you can have all your hens brood despite their parentage. They see in life in UV not like us humans do. If you use full spectrum lighting with increased UV or an added black light many hens who never brooded before will. They also will not brood in most colony settings as they don't live in colonies like other quail do in the wild. If you have proper lighting, a pair caged seperately, adequate food and water I have been able to have all my hens brood.

Although I think they are wrong about males brooding they are right about calcium and being hard for them to lay so much. In the wild they would have one and sometimes two clutches a year of up to 13 eggs. In captivity they have so much lighting in most cases that they will lay year around as they can not distinguish the seasons. Some breeders will house them in an area where the lighting can be dimmed to 11 hours or less a day to discourage the hen from laying for a season.

 

[citalk2much]

Quote:
I for the most part agree with this on the level of broody buttons I have had several pairs hatch and raise chicks without the expence of high UV light, I use a natural setting and only ONE pair per cage, I can not stress that enough. other then that I completly 100% agree with Quailbrian

 

[quailbrain]

Uv doesn't neccesarily have to come from expensive lights either it's just that indoor lighting usually lacks UV. If you use full spectrum bird lights you are getting some UV too. Sunlight is full of UV. It's just making their enviroment brooding friendly not that the birds wont. Same with parakkets. Some wont have babies or eggs for years.... give them a box and it's instant brooding.

 

[Barred Rocks forever]

i read about somone who let her pet doves hatch the eggs

 

[quailbrain]

Doves will do it but quail are precocial (feed themselves when born) where as doves ar Altricial (parents feed them) and the doves may turn on the chicks if not removed soon as they may feel something is wrong with them.

 

[Barred Rocks forever]

agreed thats why yu should keep record when the eggs are about to hatch