It'll be fine... I said.

[IZZYBELLA]

That must be absolutely adorable! I had no idea roosters were so sweet with chicks!

 

[MageofMist]

That must be absolutely adorable! I had no idea roosters were so sweet with chicks!

With button/king/Chinese Painted quail, due to their monogamous natures, sometimes the males help out with the incubation and chick rearing. Rex wasn't so interested in the incubation part compared to the last 3 times... But he sat with Speckles when the eggs started to hatch and has been a wonderful father to them. Whenever he loses track of one and hears the hen chirping in worry over it, he crows and the lost chick comes running. He also tucks them under himself when I am nearby, 'protecting' them from the scary hooman.

Rex and Speckles have a bit of history also... I originally just had two males, a Blue Faced and a Golden Pearl, though sadly the Golden Pearl male passed away from choking on something in the cage, I am not sure on what, which led to Rex becoming depressed. He crowed for an entire night, and then just went silent and sulked in a corner, not eating or drinking... So I got him some lady friends to try and cheer him up.

I was worried it'd end badly with the females bullying him, but the moment Speckles saw Rex, she was GLUED to him. She refused to leave his side and kept peeping to him and snuggling him no matter how much he avoided her and kept silent. Eventually he started tolerating her cuddling and peeped back, and then he started accepting her as a mate as he recovered. He was quite clumsy at first when mounting, often falling off the hen, which led to frustration in Speckles as she'd keep trying to get him to mate with her, and eventually it all led to her going insane and jumping up suddenly in frustration!

As one may be able to tell with the amount of baby quail I have had recently... He has improved greatly in his mounting abilities. He did have another female in with him also, and while he did mate with her every now and then, him and Speckles were the closest.

The second hen sadly died while brooding eggs due to her not eating and drinking during the process, which led to me being rightfully paranoid of any birds of mine who go broody. I monitor them to ensure they are taking breaks if needed, and if they don't, I'll try and make them do so.

 

[MageofMist]

The quail are so silly...
I put my hand in to put in food as it was getting low, mama does a warning call telling the babies to hide... A baby ran into my hand to hide from the thing mama was telling it to hide from.

 

[MamaChick74]

Omg sooo cute! Congrats !

 

[MageofMist]

Omg! Apparently Rex and Speckles are saying the babies need more greens in their diet. I got some mixed salad leaves, softened them up in the mortar and pestle, then offered it with my hand... Rex RIPPED them out of my hand and him and Speckles started shredding it like a pack of starving dogs! Giving the little pieces to the babies.

One baby got cheeky and tried to run off with a whole leaf, but Rex dragged the leaf back with the baby in tow.

 

[IZZYBELLA]

How precious and hilarious!

 

[MageofMist]

Also, my male diamond dove seems to be a godfather to them. He is from the same store as my male quail, Rex and even though they are from different cages, they are very close, as I often see them cuddling together. I think they must have been from the same breeder. He sadly never fathered any children of his own despite really wanting to, and his mate passed away from a prolapse despite us taking her to the vets to try and save her... I just caught him on the cage floor with 3 baby quail snuggled under him. I'll try and get a pic of it when I can.

 

[DK newbie]

Like this guy:

He decided to build a 'nest' (all the dark feathers at the back) at the bottom of the cage and when mother quail hatched chicks 10 inches from his nest, they obviously had to be his ^^
His girlfriend is not quite as convinced, but at least they are not aggressive towards the chicks - they do chase the adult quail away from their 'nest'.

 

[MageofMist]

Like this guy:
View attachment 1028485
He decided to build a 'nest' (all the dark feathers at the back) at the bottom of the cage and when mother quail hatched chicks 10 inches from his nest, they obviously had to be his ^^
His girlfriend is not quite as convinced, but at least they are not aggressive towards the chicks - they do chase the adult quail away from their 'nest'.

Pretty much, yeah.
Well, I will know for sure if I see my male dove starts trying to feed them his pigeon milk, or if the chicks happen to grow waaaay faster than they should, he is probably to blame. XP I did spot one with some white on it's head, but am unsure if it was the 'milk' the doves feed their own young or, well, poop.

 

[Binki]

Haha congrats to them and to you, quail TV time! Love hearing about them haha the godfather pigeon ^^