First hatchling today, HELP needed

[Harleysgirl]

Hi everyone.

I have a pair of silver button/king quails.

I got 6 healthy eggs with one hatching early this morning, another one died due to mum trying to help it out and it dried up wish i caught it earlier......

Baby (VERY cute ) has moved away from the nest and the mother has been following it around being very broody and keeping it warm.... the DRAMA is that she left the other eggs behind. she seems to have just ditched them.

I have taken them and put them in a temp incubator/brooder type box......... they were untouched for over and hour

are they already gone? i cant seem to see anything when i candle them.

im about to head and get a heat lamp (im only using a light bulb) etc or is it no point getting it?

 

[Harleysgirl]

Also its cold here at night, should i brood the baby?

Im worried it will get cold even with mum being broody

 

[LyrebirdJacki]

I have quite similar problems with my buttons, the mother leaving her clutch the moment she gets one or two chicks out of say 5-6 eggs or so. With that case, since I have an incubator, I just put them in there, but that can lead to them being unfamilar with their real mother. I tried putting them in with their mother after hatching in the incubator and most times the babies wont recognise her as "mum", other times it just works out fine. Spose you just have to be lucky with how it ends up.

Is she a first time mother? A few of my hens had to go through a clutch before they got it right....sometimes the fathers are the better parents as well. Is there a male with your hen? It's good to leave him with the chicks/mother if he is docile natured. I find they brood the chicks more often then the hens do, and he will feed them etc. Other males may kill them a week or so after hatching (a problem with one male I own, otherwise I've been lucky with the males being good daddies).

I wouldnt remove the baby from the mother, but perhaps bring the birds indoors where it's warmer, or add a heat lamp inside the cage so that even if the mother wont sit on them, the baby will head straight for the source of warmth by itself. They can become troublesome to handraise, especially if you have other commitments such as work or school. It is best to let the mother raise her own chick.

Hope you are having luck with your quails.