How likely will Coturnix become extinct?

[le_bwah]

I’m guessing the concern comes from the fact that in their domesticated form they generally cannot go broody or otherwise take care of themselves in the wild?

I've had at least two hens go broody in every hatch I've ever had (I don't always let them try and have to break them out of it). This will be my third natural hatch coming up in a couple weeks. So I don't get why people say they don't go broody.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

I've had at least two hens go broody in every hatch I've ever had (I don't always let them try and have to break them out of it). This will be my third natural hatch coming up in a couple weeks. So I don't get why people say they don't go broody.

Do they raise the chicks?

 

[The Birb King]

I've had at least two hens go broody in every hatch I've ever had (I don't always let them try and have to break them out of it). This will be my third natural hatch coming up in a couple weeks. So I don't get why people say they don't go broody.

Probably because most people cram their quail in wire bottom cages where they physically can't go broody then they say " WhY aRe ThEy NoT gOiNg BrOodY?"

 

[The Birb King]

Do they raise the chicks?

They can. Apparently with quail they are more likely to go broody and raise chicks if they were raised by a mother themselves. Of course it also has to do with their diet and habitat as well

 

[le_bwah]

Do they raise the chicks?

So far, yes. Mama makes noises I never hear any other time of the year, can call her chicks to her, and tidbits for them. At over a week old, they're still snuggling under her at night. This is the way it was for the last hatch, too. Hoping it goes this way for the next one!

 

[007Sean]

I've had at least two hens go broody in every hatch I've ever had (I don't always let them try and have to break them out of it). This will be my third natural hatch coming up in a couple weeks. So I don't get why people say they don't go broody.

Your the exception!....like with any animal, there are always exceptions. The fact that your's are consistently broody, is probably due to genetics....I mean, if you keep hens from the broody's year after year, their instincts to be broody will be greater than those that haven't or those that may never go broody.

 

[le_bwah]

Your the exception!....like with any animal, there are always exceptions. The fact that your's are consistently broody, is probably due to genetics....I mean, if you keep hens from the broody's year after year, their instincts to be broody will be greater than those that haven't or those that may never go broody.

None of my hens are related—I keep no males, so each hatch starts when I swap a clutch of empties for fertile eggs I buy online. I would bet it's environmental—big space, lots of cover, no males, and I basically leave them be except to clean up and sneak a camera in there once in a while.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

Apparently World War II caused a massive loss of coturnix, and our current population is based upon just a few surviving individuals.

Puts the OP’s question in a different light.

 

[007Sean]

None of my hens are related—I keep no males, so each hatch starts when I swap a clutch of empties for fertile eggs I buy online. I would bet it's environmental—big space, lots of cover, no males, and I basically leave them be except to clean up and sneak a camera in there once in a while.

Ok, did not know that's how your doing it! How often do you switch out the hens?

 

[le_bwah]

Ok, did not know that's how your doing it! How often do you switch out the hens?

Switch them out? Since I'm in it for "looking pets" and eating eggs, I just let them go as long as they can. They nest anywhere they want and I just screen them off with garden netting so they don't go chasing the other girls once they get to the territorial phase. My oldest hen is over 5 years, but she's my oldest by a year—last of my first hatch. My oldest broody is over 3 (my dear Wilma).