will coturnix chicks imprint on a dove?

[broody rooster]

im planning on getting a single fertile quail egg and sneaking it into my ringneck doves nest for them to hatch , my question is after it hatches will it be imprinted on the dove and later on only accept doves as mates or will it still breed with quail if i did so also would the doves try to feed it and would this harm him ?

 

[DK newbie]

You might be able to get the doves to hatch the egg, but I think the chick will die pretty quickly if you don't remove it when it's hatched. The doves might try to feed it, I don't know - could be they'll just toss it from the nest. But if the chick can get out of the nest, it probably will, and then it'll get cold and die. And if it can't, well, it still needs to eat and drink and not the way the doves will try to feed it. And if you were to remove it from the doves right after it's hatched, you'll have a lot of trouble for just one chick - provided the egg even hatches - and they usually do best when several chicks are together.
So, to sum up - I don't think you need to worry about imprinting at all, as the chick will probably die if you leave it with the doves for so long that it will actually remember it as an adult.

 

[chickenslave2]

The chick will take food if the doves try to feed it, because poultry survive on adapting, so a chic would adapt to eating from a pigeon, and it might live underneath the doves till it has it's feathers but then it's time to remove it. Just to be on the safe side, I would take the quail chick from the doves the day it hatches, otherwise it will think it's parents are doves and it's a dove, and might reject other quail.

 

[broody rooster]

i was planning on removing it after it hatches anyway and putting it in a brooder of some sort i just dont have an incubator to hatch it in