When to remove a male

[nchls school]

I have a Japanese quail hen that just finished raising ten chicks she had hatched. She now has a new nest with 3 eggs so far. I would like to find out if the hen will brood again. The problem is that the male keeps messing up the nest and burying the eggs in the litter. Can someone tell me how soon the male can be removed from the cage and still have the complete clutch fertilized? I know that many bird's eggs are fertile long after the male is gone.

 

[Erkenstein]

Yes she could be fertile up to two weeks after removing the male, so she has time to put together a good clutch.

 

[nchls school]

Thank you for your response. I removed the male today. Having a hen quail brood and raise chicks is quite interesting. The hen weaned the chicks when they were just 9 days old; they sure grow fast!

 

[Erkenstein]

Yeah that sounds amazing. Great that you could witness that.

 

[nchls school]

I've decided to put the male in with the hen to mate and then remove him; takes less than 60 seconds to do.

 

[nchls school]

16 eggs in the nest. Looking like she isn't going to brood again.

 

[nchls school]

The hen did not go broody with the second nest. I returned everything back to like it was with the first nest. The Japanese hen is now brooding again. Apparently the cage environment must be correct for brooding to occur.

 

[bhaugh]

We are talking about Cots right?

 

[nchls school]

Cots?? I'm talking of Japanese quail. A specie not known for going broody in captivity.

 

[007Sean]

Cots?? I'm talking of Japanese quail. A specie not known for going broody in captivity.

Cot's is the abreviation for Coturnix same thing as Japanese quail. Some people also call them Pharoah quail.