Finch Egg Incubation!

[Coturnix Quail]

I had the same problem! I don't know if it was Pikachu or Poot but one of them (supposedly Pikachu because I've seen him leaning over the nest doing something) nipped at all of the babies toes and both tips of the wings, and then they threw it out! You'd expect birds to know better than to do that to their babies, but I suppose it takes time to learn.

 

[Coturnix Quail]

6 eggs! Hope she wont lay anymore. Pikachu seems to be the more dedicated one now. He's always sitting on them, its so cute! Hopefully we wont mess up this time, both me and my pair

 

[Coturnix Quail]

They're doing well so far! Do you think it would be too late to add a rag or something over the top of the area where the nest is? I always find myself peeking inside.

 

[JaeG]

I'd leave them be as adding something might stress them. I do hope they do better this time round. I have a society finch pair who have failed twice as the male never helped out. He seems to be taking a leading role this time around so hopefully it's third time lucky. But it's so cold where I am at the moment and they are out in my aviary I hope the eggs don't get chilled. My daughter's silly button quail pair have started a nest too! Crazy birds!

 

[Coturnix Quail]

Ha, okay! Also, could I have a piece of advice from you? My first batch of quail are gone, so I was thinking of buying more, but this time, instead of getting coturnix, should I get buttons? Also, where did you get yours from? Last time I got 50 online, but I only want a few buttons this time, and the breeder I know only breeds coturnix, but maybe if I buy her some eggs she might hatch them out for me, any suggestions?

 

[JaeG]

I'm in New Zealand and here you can buy button quail at pet shops or from someone who breeds them. It's unusual for someone to sell hatching eggs. Quail lose the ability to brood very quickly and artificially raising one generation can mean those chicks lose their ability to raise chicks naturally.

Button quail are best kept in pairs. Males will fight over females, females will fight over territory. You can keep them in same sex groups peacefully though. They need a friend and can die from loneliness. They are also still pretty wild, some more than others, so don't like to be held but they are happy to eat treats from your hand. Ours love silverbeet (I think you guys call that Swiss chard).

They are very cute and the males are quieter than Japanese quail males. It just depends on whether you want something you can handle and pick up like the Japanese quail, or something you are happy to just admire.

 

[Coturnix Quail]

Oh yes, news on the finches, 8 eggs! Does she not know when to stop As for the quail, yeah, I live in America and you wouldn't be able to find quail at pet stores. I'm looking for quail that I can handle, so I guess Coturnix would be the option. Coturnix males are super loud though, and I don't want to irritate my neighbors, so hopefully I'll just get females, but thats unlikely. I've been looking for somewhere to buy baby Buttons but nobody sells Button chicks, only eggs. Probably because of how small they are. Have you owned Coturnix? Males are very vicious with each other, and I didn't know that until they started picking at each others eyes... Is it possible to keep 2 males together with no females? Well, guess this turned into a quail thread now

 

[JaeG]

Yes we have Japanese quail too. You can keep boys together but they need a bit more space as they are rough on each other. I know what a pain it is having too many boys. We hatched some as someone my Dad works with wanted some. Out of 26 birds, 4 were girls! So frustrating! And nobody wants boys (and we are far too soft to kill them and eat them despite the fact that it makes sense to grow and harvest food yourself).

Birds are addictive!

 

[Coturnix Quail]

26 and only 4 girls?! Wow, what are the chances?! Me being the one obsessed with all types of birds wanting to get a few quail as pets, but couldn't because there had to be 50 in one order decided that I would get 50, and only keep a few, keeping the rest as meat birds. But I couldn't! I just clung to them for so long, I didn't want to eat them! They're so jumpy, active, and cute, but I couldn't keep that many birds, they could rip through a 50lb bag within 2-3 weeks! It was devastating for me because my parents had to do it behind my back, and it really upset me when I found out, but the job had to be done eventually. (I never ended up eating them though.) So, now I've fallen back in love through my rough experience and I'm going to try again, and this time hopefully be more successful. I had so much trouble, but then again, it was my first time raising poultry. About 11 chicks died. This is how they gave me a hard time: they managed to knock the water dispenser I made all over themselves and I had to blow-dry them until they were almost completely dry. I think the first attack was from a raccoon because it pulled my birds through chicken wire. (I had no idea what I was doing so I used chicken wire along with a more tough wire before the chicken wire to secure the coop.) Quail being quail, they decided to sleep right against the edge of the coop. The second attack was from a fox that crawled into the coop from the top and finished off the rest of my quail. Now the fox is eyeing my chickens, but I lock them up at night and make sure the coop is secure in every way. I do miss my quail very much, and hope to try it again soon. Maybe we can talk about quail too! As for birds being addictive, yes, yes they are very addictive, but for some reason people choose dogs and cats over them! Their loss

 

[Coturnix Quail]

Since I'm going to be trying again soon hoping they'll be more tame, do you have any good tips on how to tame them?