How do I encourage my Coturnix quail to go Broody? (Spring Brooding Project, draft page)

[Cool-breeze7]

I admire your ambition and wish you the best of luck.

Despite challenging odds, consider what you’ll do if successful. How/ where will you house the new chicks. If you hatch out 3 eggs and they are all male, how will you handle that? Etc…

Sort of like in the first Jurassic park, it’s easy to focus so much on if you can you don’t stop to consider if you should.

Not a lot of people to discuss broody quail with. My few encounters about 4sqft/ bird was the highest density I’ve heard about someone getting a broody hen. So if you’re successful, give us some good notes!

 

[Oob Child]

I admire your ambition and wish you the best of luck.

Despite challenging odds, consider what you’ll do if successful. How/ where will you house the new chicks. If you hatch out 3 eggs and they are all male, how will you handle that? Etc…

Sort of like in the first Jurassic park, it’s easy to focus so much on if you can you don’t stop to consider if you should.

Not a lot of people to discuss broody quail with. My few encounters about 4sqft/ bird was the highest density I’ve heard about someone getting a broody hen. So if you’re successful, give us some good notes!

I'd give the babies to my nan & pop. They've been wanting quail for ages, but my pop hates technology so they can't use an incubator. They only have one chicken because all their others were attacked, but that chicken is a 'bad mum'.

Even if it doesn't work, my quail love their new cage.

 

[Oob Child]

Is this a nest? Spot and George have both been laying here and hanging around this spot as well as the male. I can't see the nest unless I put my phone over the plant, so I can't tell how many eggs are in there.

 

[Nabiki]

I wouldn't call that a nest. You will often get a bird that will gather all of the eggs in one place without ever going broody. You'll know it's a nest when you see a hen pancaked over the eggs.

 

[Oob Child]

I wouldn't call that a nest. You will often get a bird that will gather all of the eggs in one place without ever going broody. You'll know it's a nest when you see a hen pancaked over the eggs.

Ok. Does it make a difference that they've gotten all the feathers in the cage and are now dragging dirt around it?

 

[Nabiki]

Ok. Does it make a difference that they've gotten all the feathers in the cage and are now dragging dirt around it?

They may be making a hollow to lay eggs in. By some definition that could be called a nest, but I'll find something like that in all of my pens. It's nice because it makes it easier to collect eggs rather than doing an easter egg hunt.

I know that you're hoping that you're going to have a broody hen. I'm just letting you know that laying their eggs in one spot or collecting them does not mean that they're going to go broody.

 

[jargon777]

If you want to check, you could try feeling the eggs. If a hen has been sitting on them, they will feel noticeably warm to the touch. If they feel cold, or only one feels warm, they are just "laying" in that spot.

My hens also like to lay in 2-3 specific spots in the coop, without necessarily setting to brood. They'll make "dirt" nests too in those spots for the eggs, it is nicer than getting eggs in random spots. It is a good sign though, it does mean they are comfortable in the spot, and the hen will typically lay 3-5 eggs before actually starting to sit on them, but not all laying spots turn into a brooding spot.

FYI if one of them does go broody, the other will probably still lay in that spot.

 

[Oob Child]

If you want to check, you could try feeling the eggs. If a hen has been sitting on them, they will feel noticeably warm to the touch. If they feel cold, or only one feels warm, they are just "laying" in that spot.

My hens also like to lay in 2-3 specific spots in the coop, without necessarily setting to brood. They'll make "dirt" nests too in those spots for the eggs, it is nicer than getting eggs in random spots. It is a good sign though, it does mean they are comfortable in the spot, and the hen will typically lay 3-5 eggs before actually starting to sit on them, but not all laying spots turn into a brooding spot.

FYI if one of them does go broody, the other will probably still lay in that spot.

I don't want to disturb it, especially if Spot is the one that has been collecting eggs. She's scared of me after I had to treat her for bumblefoot.

 

[Oob Child]

The cage is now almost completely natural, there is dirt, sand and some fake plants as well as a real one.
One of my Quail, George, has been collecting all of the eggs in the corner. I tested this by putting a pink dot on an egg just laid by another quail. I found the egg in the nest an hour later.
George has definitely got a brood patch, she has plucked a large amount of feathers from her belly and lower chest.
I read hope she ends up going broody

 

[Gigachad poultry]

The cage is now almost completely natural, there is dirt, sand and some fake plants as well as a real one.
One of my Quail, George, has been collecting all of the eggs in the corner. I tested this by putting a pink dot on an egg just laid by another quail. I found the egg in the nest an hour later.
George has definitely got a brood patch, she has plucked a large amount of feathers from her belly and lower chest.
I read hope she ends up going broody

That's a great sign!!! Make sure to only let her have fresh eggs and not too many, quail eggs with explode when bad from being failed during incubation. So checking eggs on the regular is good idea