Broody Button

Well my incubator luck may run low but I've got something better, a setting hen. I have a little "fort" built in their cage that is around the heat light so they can get in there to stay warm and hide. I noticed a pile of eggs accumulating in the corner rather than scattered throughout the cage. I left them in hopes one would set. Sure enough I went to feed and water tonight and she made a nest and was setting. Right on the other side of a piece of wood is another group of eggs. I hope one of the other hens are planning on sitting. Does anyone know if I need to seperate these hens and their chicks from the other birds? I've seen some pics of a pair with chicks, but never in a flock setting. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I was just reading last night that you should always separate setting hens--sometimes they all gang up on one nest and break eggs. It also suggested worse things could happen---but didn't really specify what. I do think the other hens will hurt the new chicks if they can get to them. Mamma can't be everywhere at once. Others here have had real experience with this and give give you a definitve answer:0).

What about leaving more than one hen with chicks with them, did it mention that?

From what I understand Hens love their chicks--or what they perceive as their chicks. So I think a hen with chicks will not necessarily be kind to another hen's chicks. Somebody out there will know!

i don't know but look forward to SOMEBODY who does!

i have two hens sitting under the chick brooder next to each other. no one seems to bother them, but this is a small flock, two years of age, who grew up togheter.... except for a few new pullets.

also, today i let the chicks out of the brooder onto the floor. i was concerned they would bother the broody hens or the onlooking hens. they just all got along fine! i was quite pleased, and chalk part of it up to the motherly disposition of heritage breeds...

The other hens won't stop laying in her nest and I'm worried that there will be too many to get a good hatch. I guess I will have to mark the eggs that belong to her so I will know which ones to throw out.

that is a good idea, wish i had done it. my broodies ended up with three nests, then pushed them all over into two. some got broken, others were intentionally pushed out. but once they truly started setting, no one attempted to lay more eggs there, they went back to their nesting boxes...

I have raised many of chicks but these button quail are a whole new lesson to be learned. I just can't wait till I get to see the little hen with her tiny little babies. It will be so cute.

I've read through this whole thread and think I have missed something. (I'm also very new to this.) Tally, you have one 'sitting' hen, so you're going to mark her eggs and throw the rest out? Am I understanding correctly? Also, what do you mark them with...a permanent marker?

Thanks,
Jody

TW, are you sure she is already setting? she may just be keeping the eggs from getting cool enough to die off... and letting the others add to her bunch.

did another hen take ofver the other nest, or did she scoot them under her?

my two are setting, and get up during the warmest part of the day to eat, drink,a nd take care of business. i don't think i will have problems with the other hens or bator-hatched chicks, but have the means to block them off if necessary...

Jody, i think he would use some sort of pen or pencil and put a big X on the eggs that are already laid and beginning to incubate. then whenever she is off the nest remove any extras that have been added. this way, when the first ones hatch, they may be up to a day or two apart, but after that she will leave the nest to care for the chicks and any peeps that weren't ready would perish ... make better sense?

I am so excited for you! A broody little quail. She is
definately a keeper! I hope she has a good hatch.
Please keep us posted. How long do button quail
incubate?

I think it is another hen laying in there because there is two other hens and only one other nest (the amount of eggs and up that way). I do have one that lays two per day but that is the one who has the other nest. There isn't any way for her to roll others in there because her nest is in the corner of two boards behind a piece of wood that is about four or five inches tall. Even if she was still laying, we would be getting close to twenty eggs, way too many for her to cover. When I went out there last nite there were eleven, and even being as puffed up as she could I counted four eggs that weren't even under her.

Yes, I mark them with a pencil or a non toxic marker.

2 eggs a day! Wow! What are you feeding your
quail? I have 48 coturnix that are nearing maturity,
and 2 that are grown. Of those, I believe I have 1
female, and 1 male, (for sure). Those are between
8 and 9 weeks old, and no egg yet.

I don't know what her deal is or if it is normal. I have four birds and I thought they were all hens but one had a bib. I did a little experiment and split them up into cages. Sure enough, I tracked down the hen laying two eggs a day. They eat chick starter and chicken scratch. I supplement it daily with grass, veggies, boiled egg yolk and anything else I can find.

I have been reading about how to care for my hens and chicks. Everyone is saying to feed them egg food. What is that and where do I get it? Will boiled eggs work? That is what I feed other baby chicks. Thanks guys, you've all been a great help. I can't wait for them to hatch. My other hen is getting close to setting. She has started covering her eggs and kind of guarding the nest. FUN FUN.

Hope you are feeding your button quail game
starter. They need the extra protien. They also
need seed that is high in natural oils and vitamin E.
When you say hens and chicks, are you talking quail
or chickens? For either, I start them on boiled egg
yolk for just a couple days, very high protien, and then
switch them to either chick or game starter. If the chicks
are less than 2-3 weeks old, I would not give them any
scratch, as this will fill their crop with not much nutrition.
I give it to my chicks as just something to keep them
busy.
As far as the quail, and especially little button quail, I
would grind the game starter with a rolling pin in a ziplock
baggie so it is really tiny. When the quail are 2 weeks old,
I mix budgie seed, ground up with pecans and craisins
and mix that with their food. The quail love to have an
apple slice or orange slice to pick at, as well. I will also
grind up grapes with apple and mix that with peanut
butter and budgie seed, and 'serve' it on a fruit slice.
All of this of course with a base supply of game starter.
Some people think that too much fruit can affect fertility
or laying, but I don't know this for sure.
I think it's awesome you have a broody quail, I hope
she has a great hatch, and I will be following her progress,
so be sure to keep us posted!

Thank you for the list of foods, I'm printing it out. I am when I mention hen and chicks I'm talking about quail. That is all I have now. I had read how the hens just scatter their eggs and it is very hard to get them to set, but mine have always laid in "piles" and kept them covered. After my incubator attempts came out horrible I decided to just leave the eggs and see what happens. It didn't take a week for her to start setting, now I have a second one that is about to start. I was thrilled when I found her on the nest. I use a food grinder to get the starter small enough for them to work. We don't have gamebird starter at our store, but I don add a powdered protein and calcium additive to their feed.

That's awesome. The best incubator is the mama,
right? They must be happy and content in their environment
to go broody. Did you say you had them separated in
pairs or trios? Or, are they in a colony? I am trying to
find what works best all around, for fertility, competetion
and going broody. Are they on wire, and if so, do you
provide anything as a nest box/material?
You can use turkey starter, if your feed store
has that. Sounds like you are doing the right things for
them, giving a variety of foods. My fruit offering is not
the largest portion of their foods. In quail necropsies,
the biggest find were seeds and grasses, and very
little if any fruit, as you could imagine it not being a big
part of available natural foods to them, with bugs being
a very small amount, as well. This is a post from another
forum from a knowledgeable quail breeder as to what he
offeres his mountain quail. Not everyone would want to
go to the expense of this custom mix, but it does give
a good idea of the kinds of nutrients they could use.
"New Shoot Slurry

take two whole tangerines peel and all in throw them in a food processer.
add an entire cup of fennel seed
1/2 cup coriander seed
1/2 cup whole unhulled sesame seed
1/2 cup pecans
three tablespoons crushed black pepper
two sticks of artifical crab meat
two tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil "

He freeezes this in ice cube trays and feeds it in
a small melon half- he mentions only once a week
or so.

Also, he speaks of a general diet that enhances
fertility:
Callipepla species here with me generally lay around 80 eggs per year per pair for comparison. People doubt or even disbelieve the egg production figures as many people struggle to get anything near them, so you can believe them or not yourself. The "secret" is sound diet - a crumble or mini-pellet of 22% protein or higher and containing fish and/or meat meal, and a seed mix high in oil seeds (which are high in protein and essential amino-acids too), a very basic multi-vit/mineral in the water is probably a good idea too - I tell people that and they also disbelieve that too, and get few eggs which turn-out to have poor viability. "

I have 4 mountain quail eggs in the bator now, and I am
hoping in a big way I get the opportunity to try some of these
feed options.

I have three females and one male. They are in a cage about 4 feet long and 3 feet wide and 2-3 feet high, built off the side of our barn. It has a wire bottom, but I have pine shavings about four to six inches thick on the floor. I have an old cypress stump in there, and a couple small limbs on the ground that are about four inches in diameter with a board on top of it. It provides a "fort" type shelter and the heat lamp is enclosed in that. That helps hold the heat in and traps the bugs that come to the light so the quail can catch them. I'm going to put a brighter light outside the cage to attract more bugs of an evening. I've been watching them and they seem to really enjoy bug hunting in the late afternoon. I've got some new plans for their cage. I'm going to provide a area with dirt (sterile potting mix is what I use), some shavings, and a "brushy" area with places to hide. I also have an all wire cage, about 14 in long by 6 in wide and 8 in tall that is attached to the outside of their cage. They can go out in it and be in the sunlight. That is where I usually place all their goodies.

Sounds like quail heaven, Talley. If you add very
fine wood ash to the soil, it helps keep critters off
them, too. My quail go nuts for a dust bath, and I have
wood ash in, they come out looking very dirty, but very
happy.

Just remember to make sure the wood ash is COLD!!! You don't want to bar-be-cue them till they're ready for it.

Especially if you put them on a steeeeeeeck.

GG

Granny I'm getting this mental picture of the quail popping all over the place like popcorn if the ashes are still hot LOL

MollyD

Hey, Molly, you gave me the same mental picture.

GG
^_^

ROFL

ROFLOL They pop like popcorn anyway!

My poor quail are popping. Where do I get the ash, make my own? I have always used chinchilla dust for such things. Would that work?

I really don't know...what is chinchilla dust? As for making your own wood ash, yes, you could, if you burn wood for anything. Or maybe you have a friend who heats with wood, or has an outdoor fireplace of some kind.

GG

I'm not sure exactly what it is. I'll just "make" some. Not I have another issue with my quail. Why is the only bird with the white bib, the male, the only bird sitting on the nest? I thought the ones with the white chins where the males? I have a sitting male and a hen that lays two eggs a day, my birds are confused.

I'm not sure, Talley. I do know that with mountain
quail, the males and females brood their eggs. A
hen will lay a nestfull, and the male will sit on it while
the female lays another nest and she sits on that.
I would be happy if some of my quail did that. Don't
be corn-fused! Be happy!LOL

Maybe that explains the nest of eggs right in the other side of the log. Maybe it's her laying another set?
Who know. I'll find out in another week and a half.

Does anybody know what you can do for spraddle legs? I feel so sorry for them.

yes, use a bandaid style bandage, cut in half lengthwise, and taper the ends around the legs. dpends on the size of the birdd and size of the bandage, but generally you want the non-sticky part between their legs. the legs should be right up under them. takes a little while to get used to walking agian, and the sooner you tape them up the better. also i add more protein for a few days. i used brewer's yeast mixed with a little conrstarch...

It won't work, they're button quail. In order to get it small enough to work it is impossible to get them to stay on. I tried a piece of string but it wouldn't work either. It was too hard to get that small of a piece tied at two ends. I don't know what to do. Thanks for the advice though, I will keep it in mind for larger babies.

Here is a pic of my hen on her nest. It's not real good but you can see her. She was facing away this time. I hope she will be facing me next time.

Here are my four new babies I found in the incubator this afternoon. All but one have spraddle legs. They are just too cute.

I haven't tried this, but I am thinking you could cut very thin strips from those Biore or Ponds type nose strips and make little braces. They have to put on wet and keep still to dry--which happens pretty fast, but they are super light weight and strong. And you can totally cut them to fit.

see if this helps... about the middle of the page...
http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/BRKRaisingChicks.html#pfeed

Aw, Talley, I'm sorry about the spraddle leg chicks.
I hope you can try the Biore strips or something.
Just get out that magnifying glass and work under it-
maybe then it will all look easier. I know what you mean,
I have looked at the quail legs from an orthopaedic
standpoint, and wonder how in the wolrd would I get
anything on them if they needed it? They are so tiny.
There's something that really tugs at your strings to see
a mama hen sitting on her clutch.

Just came in from checking on the babies and they all survived the nite. I gave them water yesterday and they all drank up. All but one seem to be walking so much better. The other just kinda sits around but does get to the water and feed well enough. They are just too small to tell if they don't feel well or are just sleeping. I know two of the four will be fine. Now if I could get my hen to hatch hers and get them out and running around. Thanks for all the help guys. More pics soon.

I often got nervous about the tiny babies. I would
purposely make a noise or something just to make
sure they were ok and not 'expired'. Hoping your hen
does a fantastic job.