Eggs

[Sanzhin]

Hi all
So a few weeks ago we got three young button quails from a friend (two females and one male)
Today i went out to refill their feed and i found an egg in the coop

The quails are constantly checking on the egg every 5 or 10 seconds but none of them are laying on it
Should i just leave it or take it away to incubate it???


Thanks in advance
Sanzhin

 

[eHuman]

If they just started laying, I would give it a week or so to make sure the male is doing his business.

 

[DK newbie]

They don't start laying on the eggs, till they have a full clutch, which is usually 5-12 eggs. And even then, some people have buttons for years and never have one go broody. I think it has a lot to do with the enclosure they are in - they need good hiding places to feel safe enough to go broody.
If you want to have the best chances of getting chicks - then yes, I'd remove the egg and store it in a cool place for a week or so, till you have some more, and then incubate them together. But if you want your buttons to hatch their own eggs, leave it there and see what happens. If they have more than 12 eggs in a nest, they probably won't be able to cover all eggs even if they do go broody (and the oldest ones will be less likely to hatch), so I'd remove the eggs if they get above that number.