How likely will Coturnix become extinct?

[Kiki]

Do you think there is any likelihood that Coturnix quails will become extinct in the next decade?

No.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Do you think there is any likelihood that Coturnix quails will become extinct in the next decade?

Not unless something specifically targeted wipes them out.

 

[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.

 

[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.

 

[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).

 

[Climax]

View attachment 3519620

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.

Yeah, 2 Nuclear bombs would probably be enough to do that, apparently.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

Yeah, 2 Nuclear bombs would probably be enough to do that, apparently.

Not unless the bulk of corturnix were concentrated around the epicenters of those two bombs.

It was probably the constant conventional bombing and a general lack of food for them. Food production facilities were fair game for bombing runs and Japan was functionally blockaded with no trade by the end of the war.

Many European chicken and dog breeds suffered similar fates.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

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?

Supposing a calamity dries up the worldwide supply of affordable, mass produced, feed, there are still wild Corturnix that will likely live on even if all the domestic ones were to hypothetically die off.

That's a good point. But if that were to happen, people could always use broody chickens to hatch them, worst comes to worst. I had a pheonix hatch and raise one, and I'm sure smaller birds like serama, silkies and cochins could do a better job due to their typical broody behavior

 

[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?

 

[romea]

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?"

A happy quail in an enriched, spacious environment will go broody. It’s as simple as that..