No Fertile Eggs... HELP?

[Griffin Nest]

Hello, I have 3 button quail. 2 female and one male and they are all in the same cage. the cage is 4' by 2' and 2' tall. they have been together all spring. the hens both lay one egg per day. button quail dont sit on their own eggs, but i have an incubator. i keep trying to incubate their eggs but none of them are fertile!! i feed them game-bird crumble with 22% protein. i also provide oyster shell and an extra bowl of finch seeds and mealworms for extra nutrients. why am i not getting any fertile eggs? im thinking that its just because the male is just not mating. i think he was born with something wrong with him because when he hatched, he was very weak. his down actually took 2 days to dry off and he couldnt walk for his first week. i thought he was going to die. every time he tried to walk he would roll over on his back and not try to get back up. he also has an eye problem. but now he walks and cares for himself normally, and he's the ONLY one who's NOT afraid of me. even if he DID have some problems, why is he not mating??

(my one wild type female, one blue faced female, and the male is slate. im POSITIVE he is male because he doesnt lay eggs, and im sure the other 2 are female because ive seen both of them lay an egg with my own eyes)

 

[Nikkumz]

Maybe 'HE' is a female and doesnt lay eggs because of a birth defect? Maybe you can post some pics of him and people can try to see if they can tell the gender?

 

[92caddy]

Buttons will sit on their own eggs, Ive seen it done. There have been threads on here bout it also..........good luck

 

[shelleyd2008]

Button quail DO set on their own eggs, more so than any other species of domesticated quail. Have you seen him breeding either hen? Do you ever hear his 'crow'?

The wind sound is the male's crow. It is possible that he has decided YOU are his mate since he is so friendly towards you. They normally take one mate so he's probably ignoring the girls if that has happened.

 

[Griffin Nest]

Quote:
yes, he crows and ive heard him crow. at first he does about 3 or 4 low growls and then he crows loudly 4 times. yes, i have seen them set on their own eggs many times, but they dont stay. they will sit for a day or two and then get off for 2-3 days, then sit back on again.

 

[Griffin Nest]

Quote:
no, i know he's a male because he crows and he has pink-ish vent feathers which indicates that he's a male...

 

[shelleyd2008]

Quote:
yes, he crows and ive heard him crow. at first he does about 3 or 4 low growls and then he crows loudly 4 times. yes, i have seen them set on their own eggs many times, but they dont stay. they will sit for a day or two and then get off for 2-3 days, then sit back on again.

The 'loudly' sound is NOT the crow. View the youtube video. The sound that bird is making that sounds like wind blowing is the crow that only the males make. The loud 'hehehe' sound is NOT the crow.

As far as setting, what you meant to say is YOURS don't set the eggs

Have you ever seen them breeding?

 

[Griffin Nest]

Quote:
yes, he crows and ive heard him crow. at first he does about 3 or 4 low growls and then he crows loudly 4 times. yes, i have seen them set on their own eggs many times, but they dont stay. they will sit for a day or two and then get off for 2-3 days, then sit back on again.

The 'loudly' sound is NOT the crow. View the youtube video. The sound that bird is making that sounds like wind blowing is the crow that only the males make. The loud 'hehehe' sound is NOT the crow.

As far as setting, what you meant to say is YOURS don't set the eggs

Have you ever seen them breeding?

no, ive never seen them breeding. do they do it often? im new to breeding quail. and also, the crow in the video is exactly like the noise he makes, but sometimes, after mine does that growling noise he crows really loud. i never see my females make that noise, only him.
yeah, i meant MINE dont. i try to make their pen look natural by adding plants and places to hide.

 

[shelleyd2008]

Yes, but that really loud noise is not the crow and the females do make that sound too regardless of whether or not you've heard it.

I don't really know how often they breed, but if you watch them a while you should see it. Have they always been together? The males don't normally crow and buttons in general don't make this sound-->

---unless they are looking for their mates. So if your's is making this sound then he's looking for others.

The quieter one in the beginning is the female making that same sound.

 

[Griffin Nest]

Quote:
yes, he makes that sound in the video when i separate him, and so do my females. but sometimes when he's alone he makes the low crowing sound in that other video.
yes they have always been together, but they are not related.