Viability of letting "free range" quails breed

[Aussie92]

By free range, I mean my quail I have I'm my large walk-in aviary.

I was wondering what the viability would be of letting them breed and lay, and then just not collecting eggs until they nest (if they do)?

I live in Australia, and it's the tail-end of summer, so it gets fairly warm here.

If I leave eggs, will the unfertilized ones go off quickly? And if so, will the quail know and selectively eat those eggs?

If I do leave them, should I mark 12 to make a nest, and then collect any extras?

Really wanting to maybe see if a few chicks make it, before I go ahead and get a fancy incubator. I know that these quail (jumbo Japanese) are notoriously bad parents when it comes to nesting, but I wanted to know the possible outcomes of just letting them do their own thing, as it were.

Thanks in advance!

 

[007Sean]

Howdy Aussie92,
It's worth a try! If they don't go broody, then I guess nothing's loss? If they start to nest, I would mark the eggs I wanted them to try and hatch and collect the rest to do whatever you want to with the eggs.

 

[Plip]

I think it depends on your goals. Are you just hoping to get to experience it once? Or are you think this could take the place of an incubator in an ongoing breeding program?

If you just want to get to watch a hen hatch some eggs in your aviary, then you've got nothing to lose except a few eggs. And any chance that it works is worth it (because it'd be really cool if it does work).

But if you hope to have ongoing hatches to supply meat to the table or anything else, I don't think it's going to be anywhere near consistent enough for that.

But good luck with it if you give it a go!

 

[JaeG]

The odd times peoples Coturnix have gone broody they've not been the best mothers so be prepared that you may have to brood the chicks yourself. In a large aviary it will also be difficult for the hen to keep track of all her babies and if they wander too far they will get cold and die (even when it's hot out). So if you do have a hen successfully sit and hatch eggs I'd put her in a smaller area/cage to ensure she can't lose any babies.