Mama quail sitting on 2 silkie eggs.

[GardenGreen]

This is bizarre bc I was always told quail don't go broody but mine sure did as spring hits. Maybe because they were hatched out by my bantam silkie and they learned the behavior? Idk.
So I have one quail left who has gone nuts with being broody. She is alone so they will never be fertile and hatch. (Her flock died, long story)

So I put 2 bantam silkie eggs under her bc it's a cross we are interested in seeing the result of anyway. I figured why not?

I didn't think she would sit on them...
She lays massive eggs but not THIS massive... (compared to her size)

I don't know quail broody behavior like I know chicken broody behavior.

I saw her on and off of them A LOT. To the point where we were CERTAIN they were not going to be viable.

Also every time I opened the hatch for to check on her she BOLTS and leaves them.

I would feel the eggs and they were warmish ... but it's also hot outside...
So i wasnt sure.

It's been about 5 days.

I candled one just now.

Super strong delineation between air sac and the darker rest of the egg.

VEINS! Lots of thick strong veins!

And a SUPER strong heartbeat looking thing with strong movement!

My broody quail is actually doing it! Lol

I am shocked lol

I will be there if she rejected them or if they aren't getting the care they need but dang lol

My quail might be hatching silkies!

 

[GodLovesU]

I’ve seen chickens hatch other birds, but never vice versa!

 

[Zenmonkey]

Is she also on them at night?

I've seen posts about this elsewhere. It isn't common, but it can happen. I believe it is at least partially genetic, so you could possibly breed a line of quail with a tendency to go broody.

I mean not with silkie eggs, but you get the idea.

 

[GardenGreen]

I’ve seen chickens hatch other birds, but never vice versa!

I felt bad for her but I noticed she went SUPER BROODY but she's a loner. I really didn't think it was possible. I have a bantam silkie's egg and her daughter's egg. Her daughter is half bantam half regular sized silkie. So one egg is a little smaller than the other.

Her mother (the bantam silkie) hatched out a bunch of quail so that's why I think this quail has a tendency to go broody.

 

[GardenGreen]

Is she also on them at night?

I've seen posts about this elsewhere. It isn't common, but it can happen. I believe it is at least partially genetic, so you could possibly breed a line of quail with a tendency to go broody.

I mean not with silkie eggs, but you get the idea.

She would have to be bc they are growing. They were rocket hot at one point. I'll candle them again in a few days to see what she does

 

[GA DUCK]

This is bizarre bc I was always told quail don't go broody but mine sure did as spring hits. Maybe because they were hatched out by my bantam silkie and they learned the behavior? Idk.
So I have one quail left who has gone nuts with being broody. She is alone so they will never be fertile and hatch. (Her flock died, long story)

So I put 2 bantam silkie eggs under her bc it's a cross we are interested in seeing the result of anyway. I figured why not?

I didn't think she would sit on them...
She lays massive eggs but not THIS massive... (compared to her size)

I don't know quail broody behavior like I know chicken broody behavior.

I saw her on and off of them A LOT. To the point where we were CERTAIN they were not going to be viable.

Also every time I opened the hatch for to check on her she BOLTS and leaves them.

I would feel the eggs and they were warmish ... but it's also hot outside...
So i wasnt sure.

It's been about 5 days.

I candled one just now.

Super strong delineation between air sac and the darker rest of the egg.

VEINS! Lots of thick strong veins!

And a SUPER strong heartbeat looking thing with strong movement!

My broody quail is actually doing it! Lol

I am shocked lol

I will be there if she rejected them or if they aren't getting the care they need but dang lol

My quail might be hatching silkies!

Congrats! I hope both eggs hatch! What kind of quail is it? I recently had a bobwhite quail to go broody and hatch out four chicks. She was hatched by a game hen so I think there is something to it that they're likely to get more maternal instincts from a real "mom" vs. an incubator. One other trait that they picked up from their game-hen mom, is they aren't sleeping on the ground. There are 7 other adult quail in the pen with the new mom and none of those 7 are sleeping on the ground. Of course, the mom is (sleeping on the ground) but she has the chicks. When they were a few weeks old, the game-hen mom started going to a roost and i guess the quail picked that up. Now sleeping 'off' the ground wouldn't work when it came time for nesting but think how much safer a bobwhite would be in the wild if they didn't sleep on the ground. I believe that 'sleeping on the ground' is the number one reason that it is so hard for them to make it in the wild because they are so vulnerable at night. Again, i don't know what it would do for nesting but think how much more success there would be when releasing pen-raised birds into the wild if they have "learned/seen" to go up into a tree to sleep vs. sleeping on the ground!! Makes me wonder if this is possible on a large scale....??? I'd love to hear others' thoughts.