egg eater

[funsized72]

I am new to raising quail and am wondering if anyone has had quails that eat their own eggs? My family have had chickens before that used to do that and I'm worried that that might happen again except with quails.

 

[ChickenLover172]

It is normal for birds to eat their own eggs. Once they discover that their eggs actually taste good, they'll want to eat them all the time. You need to break her of this habit. Place a fake egg for her to sit on while she lays her other egg. She will try to peck at the fake egg and will have no success. Hopefully, this will discourage her to eat any more of her own eggs.

 

[farmerjane65]

i have not had this happen i do however have a hen that wants to sit on her eggs and the eggs of others but only for a few hrs ...then she leaves them .... i was worried that she was trying to start eating and a friend of mine that has raised quail for yrs. said that it is rare for them to eat the eggs and also says if they do they are usually missing something in their diet .... sorry hope this helps .. im new to raising quail i only know what others tell me or i read ...

 

[ChickenLover172]

Oh, okay. The reason that the hen likes to sit on other's eggs and then leaves them is because she had gone broody. It's like when the mothering instincts kick in. If the eggs are not fertilized, then it's good that she left them. However, if the eggs are fertilized, it's not good that she left them. You might have to have a different hen raise the eggs if she won't sit on them.

 

[dc3085]

Quail will often break their eggs accidentally and then consume them. I have never seen or heard of a quail that will intentionally break eggs to consume them.

ETA: about 99% of cage raised quail will not go broody and only a small percentage of those that do will actually figure out how hatch their eggs. When you encounter a cage raised quail that will brood eggs I would recommend doing anything you can to promote that behavior.

 

[farmerjane65]

oh wow i didnt know that cage raised quail would not go broody ... how would i begin to encourage her ... any ideas

 

[dc3085]

As much space as possible, natural seeming environment (branches, leaves, rocks, etc) and try not to disturb them when possible. Even then your chances of it happening are the proverbial one in a million. In the 5-6 years I've been raising and researching them I've seen one coturnix hen that actually hatched eggs, and that was someone's from here on BYC. Coturnix have been bred in captivity for over a 1000 years we can prove, but there is evidence they have been raised in captivity for as much as 4000 years. More than enough time for humans to foul things up (which we did of course) so these days finding a broody quail is quite a mission.

 

[Ntsees]

The trade-off for a quail species that has been selected to lay a lot of eggs is that you have less-than adequate brooding instincts. If you're referring to coturnix, the probability of you having one sit on her eggs full term is slim. The bobwhite is a species that I see is becoming more like the coturnix unfortunately (e.g. jumbo bobwhites, etc.). As for those species that will brood, dc3085 is correct that you need to give them lots of room and less disturbance. My valley quail chicks this year all hatched out via their mother brooding them. And for the quail eating their own eggs, I haven't experienced it yet and have only noticed that they'll break them for reasons I have no idea (perhaps by another hen to reduce competition? I don't know).