Coturnix Quail mom successfully hatches chicks...now what!?!

[Berkshirebird]

So I have a coturnix quail female in my colony pen who went broody about three weeks ago and sat on a clutch off eggs in a quiet corner of the enclosure. Fast forward to two days ago I go out to my pen and I have a dead adult female... she wasn't showing any signs of being sick just up and dead.... so I took her out and then went back to the pen only to notice a small fuzz ball that from a distance looked liked a half eaten mouse and when i went to pick it up LOW AND BEHOLD it was a dead baby quail.

At this point i began to piece together what happened, this female likely attacked the chick and the mother in a rage killed the other female. So I immediately divided my pen with a panel i use for cleaning, getting all the other quail away from mom.

and Today... i come home 48 hours after finding the dead chick...... to see a LIVE baby quail scamper out of sight back under his mother.... WHAT DO I DO NOW??... any input is welcome, from what i understand this does not happen often and i want to offer mom every chance of success rearing her chicks.

 

[Kiki]

Can you get a picture of your set up and one of this bird and chick?
How many other eggs are under her?

 

[FloorCandy]

So I have a coturnix quail female in my colony pen who went broody about three weeks ago and sat on a clutch off eggs in a quiet corner of the enclosure. Fast forward to two days ago I go out to my pen and I have a dead adult female... she wasn't showing any signs of being sick just up and dead.... so I took her out and then went back to the pen only to notice a small fuzz ball that from a distance looked liked a half eaten mouse and when i went to pick it up LOW AND BEHOLD it was a dead baby quail.

At this point i began to piece together what happened, this female likely attacked the chick and the mother in a rage killed the other female. So I immediately divided my pen with a panel i use for cleaning, getting all the other quail away from mom.

and Today... i come home 48 hours after finding the dead chick...... to see a LIVE baby quail scamper out of sight back under his mother.... WHAT DO I DO NOW??... any input is welcome, from what i understand this does not happen often and i want to offer mom every chance of success rearing her chicks.

Make sure there is powdered feed and a shallow waterer with pebbles so the chicks can eat and drink. I would give them as small an area as possible, the chicks wander and the mom calls them, but she won’t leave the nest to get them in most cases and they can chill quickly. I had a broody raise chicks and I brought her in to brood in a bin cage indoors alone, and still she struggled a bit getting the chicks to return to get warm and it really distressed her when she called and the chicks ignored her and wandered anyway.

 

[Berkshirebird]

thanks for the reply and ive done the food and water. Ive brooded coturnix several times myself so i've got the basic needs covered. Do you think i should bring her, the chick and the remaining eggs to a tub brooder? the heating pad she's by is on and there is now i dish of crushed food and a quail chick waterer in the box with her

 

[Berkshirebird]

i got rid of any eggs shes seemed to kick out and removed the one the chick came out of as she kicked it out after it hatched. let me go try to taker a few more pictures

 

[Berkshirebird]

also i can block her into just the box as you can see from the pic i can block the entryway to the left of the image.

 

[Berkshirebird]

here's some of her just a few minutes ago chick is underneath.

 

[Berkshirebird]

Can you get a picture of your set up and one of this bird and chick?
How many other eggs are under her?

There's 16 eggs I would say, i feel like its a lot and most wont hatch but I'm hesitant as to when to pull them.

 

[Azavatone]

Not all adults or even hens love the appearance of these little micro quail. Block the offending hen from the area. I made a mistake on introduction a while back assuming that "if the big ones can't get to the little ones, it might be OK to let little ones enter the adult part of the cage since they could always run back to their safe part of the cage."

Well, that was completely wrong and I lost two chicks that got pecked to death by some adult(s) in the adult side of the cage.

It's partially a size thing but I've just hatched 40+ quail chicks and decided to test which of the adults may be "child friendly". Surprisingly, it was the male who was comfortable with the week+ olds. One hen wanted nothing to do with the chicks and pecked at them enough to hurt them if left around them and another hen was astounded that small quail exist and her mind was blown. So, the male gets a little time with the kids on a daily basis. The hens have their own child free zone and the male spends most of his time with them for now. We'll see how things go as the kids mature. I'll be adding 1-2 tux chicks to the nursery most every day as the hens' eggs hatch and will need to set up a separate small nursery for the continual influx of chicks.

 

[FloorCandy]

Not all adults or even hens love the appearance of these little micro quail. Block the offending hen from the area. I made a mistake on introduction a while back assuming that "if the big ones can't get to the little ones, it might be OK to let little ones enter the adult part of the cage since they could always run back to their safe part of the cage."

Well, that was completely wrong and I lost two chicks that got pecked to death by some adult(s) in the adult side of the cage.

It's partially a size thing but I've just hatched 40+ quail chicks and decided to test which of the adults may be "child friendly". Surprisingly, it was the male who was comfortable with the week+ olds. One hen wanted nothing to do with the chicks and pecked at them enough to hurt them if left around them and another hen was astounded that small quail exist and her mind was blown. So, the male gets a little time with the kids on a daily basis. The hens have their own child free zone and the male spends most of his time with them for now. We'll see how things go as the kids mature. I'll be adding 1-2 tux chicks to the nursery most every day as the hens' eggs hatch and will need to set up a separate small nursery for the continual influx of chicks.

It’s very common for certain birds to like chicks and certain ones not to. It seems more common that the adults will either attack the chicks, or will accidentally trample them, but some make wonderful parents, and I’ve had several birds that eagerly accepted chicks. The funny thing is, when my mommy bird layed, brooded and hatched her own chicks, at maybe 2-3 weeks she started to chase them away and not let them get into her feathers, and if they kept trying she pulled their feathers and some of the more persistent mamas boys had bald patches. But my adults who love babies would accept them right out of the incubator, just like newly hatched chicks, and would let them stay at home as long as they wanted, even when the babies would be way too big to get in the feathers they would still try to snuggle under the wings and the adoptive parents welcomed them.