Momma quail!

[Snazz18]

I just wanted to take a minute to thank everyone for all the information they post. I started raising quail in 2023, and this forum has been a huge help!
I would also like to share that one of my hens went broody and hatched out some babies! I am excited because I have them in a wire bottom cage, and from what I read this is rare. I have 17 quail (3 boys). My enclosure is about 50sq feet. 30sq ft inside shed, and 20sq ft outside. I use empty cat litter containers for sand and nesting boxes. I have 4 or 5 nesting boxes, and 4 or 5 sand boxes. I also have movable dividers, so once I decided to let momma go all in on her brood, I divided her off.

 

[Kiki]

Awww how cute!
How many eggs is she sitting on?

 

[Snazz18]

Awww how cute!
How many eggs is she sitting on?

Regretfully there were 11 eggs. If I were to let her hatch again I'd probably do 8 or 9 eggs. She could cover all 11, but not always. Before I split her off, other hens kept laying in her nest and she had almost 20 eggs ... I split her off and thought I got it down to 9 or 10, but there must have been one hiding in the nest paper . Live and learn. She hatched out 4 chicks so far. I think she abandoned the rest of the eggs, but I'll let them go a few more days to see!

 

[Susan Skylark]

Cool! How much of quail non-broodiness is housing management and how much is we have bred it out of them (general philosophical question)? Modern Holsteins (dairy cattle) get all ‘motherly’ as calving approaches but they aren’t very particular, licking other cows’ calves or even just the straw nearby and once the hormones wear off they couldn’t care less about the calf they just want to eat. Whereas beef cattle (say angus) are bred partially for their mothering instincts and get pretty upset if you want to mess with the calf or she thinks it is missing. And in a world without incubators broodiness would be a trait highly selected for but in the modern world we don’t worry much about it or it is actually a negative trait (stops egg production). That’s awesome!

 

[Snazz18]

Cool! How much of quail non-broodiness is housing management and how much is we have bred it out of them (general philosophical question)? Modern Holsteins (dairy cattle) get all ‘motherly’ as calving approaches but they aren’t very particular, licking other cows’ calves or even just the straw nearby and once the hormones wear off they couldn’t care less about the calf they just want to eat. Whereas beef cattle (say angus) are bred partially for their mothering instincts and get pretty upset if you want to mess with the calf or she thinks it is missing. And in a world without incubators broodiness would be a trait highly selected for but in the modern world we don’t worry much about it or it is actually a negative trait (stops egg production). That’s awesome!

This is a good question! I think I just got lucky with this one. She is a good mother too. She takes them "foraging", has led them to water, and she's protective. She makes little clucks to lure them along