HELP!!! nest with eggs but no broody hen!!!

[Majak5]

I’ve noticed that all the eggs that are layer in my quail coop are being put in a nest but I haven’t noticed any of my quail sitting on them or even seem interested, I also haven’t seen who it is that is putting the eggs there. Do I have a broody hen that is waiting for the amount she wants for the clutch or are they just doing it for fun coz there are about 18 eggs there and no hen on them. Should I leave the eggs and remove some if a hen decides to sit on them or should I just remove them all and see if she sits on the next chutch they make?

 

[casportpony]

Welcome to BYC! Maybe @TwoCrows and @JaeG can comment.

 

[JaeG]

It's very rare to have a Coturnix decide to sit. My girls often all lay in the same spot (the male will make a nest and encourage his girls to deposit their lovely eggs there) but I've never had one go broody no matter how I let the eggs pile up. It's unfortunately very easy to breed broodiness out of quail.

I'd just collect their eggs daily and enjoy them for your own consumption as they are yummy.

 

[Majak5]

Ok thank you, will do that. I was hoping that I did have a broody quail

 

[jvls1942]

I had quail for awhile. to see eggs in a nest was a big surprise for me.. mine laid their eggs on the ground wherever they happened to be when they felt the urge to lay an egg.
I just collected them and put them into the incubator..
I believe that if you started with just a pair of quail and hatched every egg they and their offspring, and their offspring etc etc woul lay, you would have about 2 million quail by the end of the first year..

........jiminwisc........

 

[TwoCrows]

My Bobwhites would communal lay in nests all the time. I once found 32 eggs in an elaborate grass hay nest. Quail occasionally go broody but its rare. The ones that do are usually kept alone without others around, many times older hens will go broody.

Enjoy!