*UPDATE* She's Broody!!! My button quail has been moving her eggs to one location...?

[maggienchamp]

Hi everyone

Recently, I've noticed that one of my buttons quails, Caridee (who shares a cage with Winston, her mate), has been moving her eggs to a dark corner of the cage. As of right now, she has a total of 4 eggs there.
At first, I thought I was just going crazy. A couple of days ago I looked around the cage for eggs, and found two out in the open and one in the corner. That same night, I checked again, and saw that the two eggs originally in the open were in the corner. Is this normal button quail behavior? Is it possible that she's going broody? I know it's pretty uncommon for button quails to go broody, which is why I'm so doubtful of the fact that she is making a nest.
Caridee has done this before in the past, whether she moved the eggs or just laid them in the corner, however, I had orders for hatching eggs which needed to be shipped, so I reluctantly ended up taking the eggs away and never got to see if she was interested in incubating them.
Currently, I have another order that is supposed to be shipped tomorrow. But if there's a chance she is broody I will contact the buyer and see if they are willing to wait a bit. Only if you guys think there's a chance she's broody - I'm sort of new to button quail, so if this is completely normal behavior then please forgive me!

Thank you

 

[GrandmaBird]

I would go ahead and ship these ones then let her keep the next batch. Mine lays about 8-10 eggs then gets all broody. She has not had a successful hatch but this will only be the 4 time I am letting her keep the eggs.One time one chick tried to hatch but was stuck in the shell, I figured she had abandoned the nest and before I got to them they were all dead, now if she leaves the nest for more than a few hours I check them.

I like to leave the eggs in the nest as at least she gets a break from laying. She will sit okay for 9-10 days then just gives up. Not sure why but not worried as I do not really want more right now.
Your female will have a better chance of hatching if she is completely left alone except for her mate and to do a quick water and food change. no cleaning!
Good luck!

 

[maggienchamp]

I would go ahead and ship these ones then let her keep the next batch. Mine lays about 8-10 eggs then gets all broody. She has not had a successful hatch but this will only be the 4 time I am letting her keep the eggs.One time one chick tried to hatch but was stuck in the shell, I figured she had abandoned the nest and before I got to them they were all dead, now if she leaves the nest for more than a few hours I check them.

I like to leave the eggs in the nest as at least she gets a break from laying. She will sit okay for 9-10 days then just gives up. Not sure why but not worried as I do not really want more right now.
Your female will have a better chance of hatching if she is completely left alone except for her mate and to do a quick water and food change. no cleaning!
Good luck!

Alright, thanks for the advice! I'll ship these eggs and hopefully she'll be interested in making another nest ;D

That's sad how your button abandoned her nest so late in the incubation Hopefully she'll have a successful hatch soon!

 

[maggienchamp]

* UPDATE * Caridee is, in fact, broody! She only has 2 eggs in her tiny little nest, but tonight I went down to check on them and she & Winston were huddled together on their nest

So sweet!

 

[blueeyeddemon]

Oh so cute!!!!

 

[maggienchamp]

Haha, yeah it is pretty cute!! I just feel bad for taking her eggs ;( If I had known she really was trying to hatch them I wouldn't have sold any!

 

[Sians quails]

That's great to hear

how many days into it is she?

So correct me if I'm wrong... if they huddle togehter on the nest they are broody? Mine do. Super cute!

My little cinnamon CPQ stayed on her nest for 5 days last time an then just got off..

Then I took the next batch of eggs and incubated them. only one of them hatched and it was teriibly cute but died after 6 days ( I think it got too cold, the night before I let it choose between being under the lamp or not and it looks like it fell asleep outside the lamp area) very sad.

So I thought since I already had Japanese eggs ready for the incubator I would let her do her own and she has now been on her eggs for over a week ( I can't actually remember which night she started).

Do they still take 16days under a hen? Assuming she stays on them (she has about 10 under her).

 

[maggienchamp]

That's great to hear

how many days into it is she?

So correct me if I'm wrong... if they huddle togehter on the nest they are broody? Mine do. Super cute!

My little cinnamon CPQ stayed on her nest for 5 days last time an then just got off..

Then I took the next batch of eggs and incubated them. only one of them hatched and it was teriibly cute but died after 6 days ( I think it got too cold, the night before I let it choose between being under the lamp or not and it looks like it fell asleep outside the lamp area) very sad.

So I thought since I already had Japanese eggs ready for the incubator I would let her do her own and she has now been on her eggs for over a week ( I can't actually remember which night she started).

Do they still take 16days under a hen? Assuming she stays on them (she has about 10 under her).

I went down this morning and they were both off the nest + the eggs were rolled out of the nest Could she be starting over so-to-speak by laying a new, larger clutch?

If they huddle together on the nest then I would assume that means they're broody! But I'm no expert

I wonder why they choose to just stop incubating the eggs

I thought about putting a couple of their eggs in the bator, but decided against it because I really want to see it happen naturally

That's great that she's been on the eggs for over a week! Maybe she'll have a successful hatch this time

I think with natural incubation from the mother it can be a bit over 16 days.

 

[GrandmaBird]

Sounds like she is quitting this batch. give her a day then clean the cage and remove the eggs. they may or may not start anew as the seasons are changing and without light she may stop laying...which is normal. If you want them to keep going you must increase the lighting and use a full spectrum light bulb, GE makes one.
The male will sleep with the female no matter where she is sleeping. The best way to tell if she is truly broody is to look at her breast feathers they will be puffed out and she will look larger in that area and will try cooling by taking more dust baths. Do NOT give her extra dust baths as she will cool herself and not sit tight on the eggs.
It should take about the same amount of time to hatch, 16-20 days. The only thing to watch is that the humidity is high enough that the chicks do not get stuck in the shell. I had one that did that and I did not see it before it died. the others in the batch never hatched so I opened them and they were in different degrees of growth but none ready to hatch so I am not sure if she just had too many to sit correctly or what. Any way I am just letting nature take its course until spring then I may incubate some or not. lol
good luck with yours.

 

[maggienchamp]

Sounds like she is quitting this batch. give her a day then clean the cage and remove the eggs. they may or may not start anew as the seasons are changing and without light she may stop laying...which is normal. If you want them to keep going you must increase the lighting and use a full spectrum light bulb, GE makes one.
The male will sleep with the female no matter where she is sleeping. The best way to tell if she is truly broody is to look at her breast feathers they will be puffed out and she will look larger in that area and will try cooling by taking more dust baths. Do NOT give her extra dust baths as she will cool herself and not sit tight on the eggs.
It should take about the same amount of time to hatch, 16-20 days. The only thing to watch is that the humidity is high enough that the chicks do not get stuck in the shell. I had one that did that and I did not see it before it died. the others in the batch never hatched so I opened them and they were in different degrees of growth but none ready to hatch so I am not sure if she just had too many to sit correctly or what. Any way I am just letting nature take its course until spring then I may incubate some or not. lol
good luck with yours.

Hmm...that's what I thought until I went down this afternoon and found both eggs back in the nest & Caridee sitting on them! What the heck is going on?? Did she just change her mind lol? I guess I'll just wait and see what happens

Her breast feathers have been very puffy the past two days. It's the most noticeable when she gets off the nest and walks around...it's actually kind of funny

I'll make sure to keep you guys updated!