I have just had my first hatch of button quail. Mum laid 6 eggs, 1 of which hatched under her. She then stopped sitting on the eggs, so I took them to make sure they hatched (they were cold)..one hatched tonight while sitting on my hot water bottle. Can I put baby back in with mum or will she kill it because she didnt hatch it? Both her and dad seem very loving of the one they have and I dont want it to die by doing something wrong myself. Any help would be great.
Farming Friends Forum » Quail
button quails
(10 posts)-
Posted 1 year ago #
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hello sorry I can't offer any real help as never had quail, I know with chickens and ducks most would say try putting it back and see what happens, I have contacted Sara the admin for you as she has kept quail, in the meantime maybe you can find some help in one of these previous posts
http://farmingfriends.com/forums/tags.php?tag=quailmo xPosted 1 year ago # -
Hi, Pinksavvy. i have been breeding quail for a long time and would like to offer some advice. firstly the chick that is not with its mother must be kept warm or it will simply give up, it also needs water. I would feed the mother quail her favourite food, maybe thats crushed mealworm, not only will she feed but she will encourage the chicks to feed also, and then while she is doing this introduce the new chick close to her. you must stay and watch the situation for atleat half hour and keep a very close eye on the male because he will be in protection mode. i remove mother and chicks to a new pen when they incubate on the nest...the mail is not needed!
Posted 1 year ago # -
Thanks for that. got some meal worms (live ones) and fed mum and dad. put new baby in, and either they didnt notice, or didnt care. either way, mum now has 2 babies, with dad proudly looking over. It worked out really well, better than expected, (I did expect a little protesting from dad at least) and baby has been in now for about 4 hours. Now, just to hatch the last 3 eggs - going to be hard, all I have is a hot water bottle, which was good enough for the last one mind you.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Well done. nice ending.
Posted 1 year ago # -
What happened? Keen to know how it worked out.
KTNo holidays, too many birds.Posted 1 year ago # -
Baby's and family were doing fine up untill tonight. Mum is sitting on 6 more eggs, 5 of her own and 1 other one. 2 Baby's nearly look like adult now. How ever, went down tonight and dad was doing a regular chirp type thing and streching his neck out like he was trying to swallow something. I picked him up and he just died, in about 30 seconds. What could have caused this? So sad because he was a good dad, and babies were still snuggling up to him. I dont know how old he was, he was pet shop brought. Would anyone have any ideas? Should I change all their dirt? I gave them parsley for dinner, could that have been it? Any help would be great. I dont want to lose any more through something preventable. :C
Posted 1 year ago # -
Oh how very sad you lost him .Lovely to read you have the babies and hope Sara or Wolf can help .Se feel for you as such a caring mum you are . Mama
Goose GirlPosted 1 year ago # -
Very sad and puzzling as to what happened to the poor guy. If you think he was choking or having proplems digesting his food he may not have been able to find any fine grit which quail eat to help grind their food, but im only 2nd guessing on on this. also, if you are going to breed your hen in the again i would not advise that you breed her with one of the male chicks as they are the same blood line and will cause problems in their chicks.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Hi Pinksavvy,
So sorry to hear about your male. I am not sure whther parsley is ok to give them or not, would have thought it was ok but will look it up. I went through a phase of giving my quail clover from the grass but some of the quail started to die, wasn't sure if it was the clover or the fact that I have hens that free range and I have heard that you shouldn't mix quail and hens so if the hens had done droppings on the clover as they walked past and I then picked the clover and gave it to the quail it could have been that. I stopped giving the clover and the quail stopped dying.
Sorry I can't be more help. Hope the others will be ok.
Kind regards
sara @ farmingfriendsPosted 1 year ago #
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