Quail babies with a serama chicken mother?

[AnimlCrakrAcres]

I am going to pick up some day old coturnix quail chicks and I was going to hand raise them in the house but I have a small serama hen (she weighs about a pound) who has suddenly gone all broody, and she doesn't lay eggs just wants to sit on golf balls all day. She has been doing this for a week. Any comments on trying to stick the baby coutrnix under her to see if she will raise them as her own. I wanted to raise them my self but I feel bad for her since she cannot hatch the golf balls despite all her efforts

. I know the baby quail are microscopic but she is a small hen herself, maybe only a little larger than an adult quail.

 

[AnimlCrakrAcres]

 

[mochicken]

PLEASE DONT, Coturnix Quail can get some nasty illnesses from chickens and should be kept totally separate from chickens.

You dont need a chicken to brood coturnix, you just need a tote, bedding, feed, water, and a heat light, its that easy and they will be feathered out and laying eggs before you know it

 

[bingrancher]

Chickens carry diseases that can kill quail so I wouldnt put them with her. maybe find some local hatching eggs to reward her.

 

[TheRealTimShady]

x2 on all that, its one thing to have a chicken hatch the quail eggs, its a whole other thing to put already hatched quail in with a chicken, i would highly advise against it.

as others have said there is the disease issue, alt ho at a young age its Less perceptible.

my idea is keep them separate.

 

[AnimlCrakrAcres]

Thank you to everyone who has responded. How about I get her to hatch the quail eggs, then hand raise the babies? If I do that, when should I separate them? Right after they pip? Wait 24hr?
Will she be very upset for long when I take the babies, like a post par tum depression?

 

[TheRealTimShady]

I've seen threads about people using chickens to hatch quails, its been done before. Honestly i'd let her do the whole thing. when the chicks fluff up, about a day old, i'd remove them and put them in a brooder.

One way to kinda break her habit might be to change something drastic, like her nest box or something. Just something to make her know something has changed, might break the broody

 

[novanod1966]

i would suggest getting her some small bantam eggs and let her raise them to adulthood.