Disappearing quail eggs!

[Nabiki]

while we're on the subject of quails hatching their own chicks, do you think a button quail could hatch coturnix and give the coturnix an instinct to hatch its own or not? just wanted to know your thoughts !

Thanks in advance
Josh

I think button quail would be too small to hatch a coturnix egg, but I might be wrong.

 

[Quailobsessed]

Update... the eggs are back
Maybe she buries then during the day because it’s so hot here?
Additional question. If I want her to hatch them out. Do I need to separate her from the rest of the flock? It’s 16 sqft pen with 9 birds. 2 are male at the rest female.

I would separate her. I had a broody hen who was with a male and another female. First few days, she was fine. Then one day, she started attacking them (to protect her nest). Even if she doesn't attack everyone else, if/when the eggs hatch, the other quails will probably kill the chicks. You can't move her nest, and I'm assuming you don't have a spare large pen to put the rest in while she's broody. If so, I'd suggest separating the section of it with her nest (that's what I did with mine). After a few days, you can move the broody hen and chicks to another enclosure.

 

[Ravenlover]

while we're on the subject of quails hatching their own chicks, do you think a button quail could hatch coturnix and give the coturnix an instinct to hatch its own or not? just wanted to know your thoughts !

Thanks in advance
Josh

If you try this let us all know how it goes

 

[Crestcrazy2]

If you try this let us all know how it goes

I wont be able to because I don't have any buttons

 

[Peristeria]

My quail have been laying eggs for awhile now, I noticed one acting broody and sitting on her eggs so I decided to leave her some. There were two. They were there for a couple days, one morning I checked, they were still there then I checked a couple hours later and they were gone. Without a trace. They are in an enclosed ground pen with no signs of entry (also I would have found egg shells if something ate their eggs I’m assuming). I thought maybe she buried them so I digged up some straw and dirt and nothing! Where did they go?

How did it go? Did she sit on them? We had one of our girls sitting on some a while back but someone cleaned the coop and disturbed her not knowing she might be sitting on the eggs.

 

[GreedySeedFeedy]

A broody cot hen is a rare and special event! Congratulations! I've only ever had it happen once before with a snowy hen named Measle. She hatched and raised 3 babies!

Unfortunately broodiness is an instinctive behavior and not one that is taught by the parents, same as sand bathing and crowing. They're just born knowing how. Coturnix japonica birds have been bred far from their original wild stock for egg and meat production traits for ages. When you strain a set of genes, you can inadvertently cause some other genes to turn off or on and give undesired traits as a result.
For example, Dmitri Belyaev bred foxes for friendliness and against agressive behavior, and as a result his friendly-strained foxes gained floppy ears and curly tails and were quite tame but no longer very foxlike, whether he wanted those traits or not. They just came with the 'tameness' package.
This same package-deal effect is why coturnix quail became more robust and productive, but as a result didn't brood their own young anymore. With domestic factory turkeys, the result of straining genes for maximum meat is that these birds have no ability to even mate anymore! As a result they have to be artificially inseminated. Thankfully coturnix quail haven't gotten that far out of hand.

 

[Candysmilez]

Update... the eggs are back
Maybe she buries then during the day because it’s so hot here?
Additional question. If I want her to hatch them out. Do I need to separate her from the rest of the flock? It’s 16 sqft pen with 9 birds. 2 are male at the rest female.

You don't need to sperate because the other hens help sit 9n the eggs when she eating and drinking... but when it's hatching time I'd separate