how to hatch quail eggs with a broody chicken??

[firefowl]

I've had a broody hen for sometime now and I've been trying to get it to hatch quail eggs with no luck. I've got 4 quails and 1 is definitely a male as I've seen them mating and also the white stuff comes out when you squeeze him. my chicken sits on my other chickens sterile egg, when there is 2 I take 1 so it's always only sitting on 1. I've put quail eggs under it but they never hatch. I think it's not sitting on them properly because it knows that they aren't chicken eggs. how can I trick it into incubating the quail eggs?

 

[dc3085]

Chickens and quail should be kept separate. Chickens carry many diseases that they will show no symptoms of and can't be tested for or cured. Those same diseases are quite fatal to quail. Even if they survive disease transmission they will be disease carriers for the rest of their lives. It's just best to practice biosecurity between chickens and quail. Diseases like coryza, MG, and blackhead are no joke and should be taken seriously.

Here is picture of a quail from a person who didn't practice any biosecurity. The quail in the pic got Coryza from a normal healthy looking chicken. Chickens are very disease resistant so they can carry several diseases their entire lives and you never notice it. The same diseases would wipe out your quail.

I know know so and so does it all the time and never has any problems... People play russian roulette too, and they win sometimes. There is still a bullet in the gun while they play.

 

[dc3085]

If you want to have another bird hatch your quail use doves or pigeons. They make great parents are disease isn't an issue with those species in most cases.

 

[ChickenLegs13]

I did it last year and made a thread about it on this board. Short version: none of the quail survived 2 weeks; if you want to hatch quail use an incubator.

 

[firefowl]

Quote:
Originally Posted by dc3085

Chickens and quail should be kept separate. Chickens carry many diseases that they will show no symptoms of and can't be tested for or cured.
if the diseases can't be tested for and show no symptoms how do you even know they exist? my chickens and quail are kept seperate, the quail are tractored round the yard while the chicken free range. the quail are always in their cage so the chickens can't get access to them anyway

 

[Bryam]

Well, keep them separate. I wouldn't have them sharing the same grass, they eat each other's feces and they you will be spreading disease. Get an incubator and hatch all the quail you like.

Good luck!

 

[dc3085]

Quote:

if the diseases can't be tested for and show no symptoms how do you even know they exist? my chickens and quail are kept seperate, the quail are tractored round the yard while the chicken free range. the quail are always in their cage so the chickens can't get access to them anyway

ETA: there is no way to tell if your chickens have these diseases which is why they are so dangerous. The only solution is biosecurity.

Edited by Staff

 

[AClassicalLife]

What about purchasing quail or eggs from quail that HAVE been exposed to chickens carrying Coryza (if other diseases please let me know which ones so I can read more about them)? So that your quail breeding stock will have natural immunity? Is this a possibility somehow, at all? Just trying to figure out a way to raise quail and chickens at the same time, and allow the quail to "tractor" while the chickens free range. I don't have any yet, and am doing my research now. I certainly don't want to unnecessarily harm any quail. But I also want them to have access to bugs in the grass, fresh air, and sunshine instead of being on a wire floor all the time. No disrespect meant towards anyone that cages them all the time, it's just me and how I want them to be - everyone is different. Thanks for any answers. Unfortunately, everyone I know that keeps quail also keeps chickens and they've never once mentioned Coryza to me. I only started reading about it through threads like this one and others on BYC.

 

[dc3085]

What about purchasing quail or eggs from quail that HAVE been exposed to chickens carrying Coryza (if other diseases please let me know which ones so I can read more about them)? So that your quail breeding stock will have natural immunity? Is this a possibility somehow, at all? Just trying to figure out a way to raise quail and chickens at the same time, and allow the quail to "tractor" while the chickens free range. I don't have any yet, and am doing my research now. I certainly don't want to unnecessarily harm any quail. But I also want them to have access to bugs in the grass, fresh air, and sunshine instead of being on a wire floor all the time. No disrespect meant towards anyone that cages them all the time, it's just me and how I want them to be - everyone is different. Thanks for any answers. Unfortunately, everyone I know that keeps quail also keeps chickens and they've never once mentioned Coryza to me. I only started reading about it through threads like this one and others on BYC.

First off coryza is highly transmissible and once a quail has it, it freely transmit it to any other bird it contacts. Second quail have no resistance to the disease, so most will just die. There is no cure for corzya as well as the majority of other poultry diseases so once your birds get it, they will always have it. It doesn't just work like a flu shot either, you would have to intentionally infect many many generations of birds for them to even begin to build an immunity. Then of course there is the fact that coryza is only one of MANY diseases. Further, chickens are resistant to dozens of diseases, so you'd have to infect the quail with all of them for many generations. You have to realize that domestic breeding of poultry has been going on for thousands of years, you can't change something over night.

Again as I said, "so and so" will always tell you they do it and it's fine but they're playing a game where you gain nothing and only stand to lose big.

Free ranging or letting quail out of their cage is also a bad idea. They have none of the instinct to return or stay near their coop that chickens do and everything including black crows and blue jays will eat them.

Edited by Staff

 

[313759]

Is it a bantam? I heard bantams work.