She is doing great. I just can't seem to get her to understand she is not goose. She tries to cover all her eggs, which we are down to 7 from 8, plus all the others that she finds between her nest and the feed and water. I guess she thinks they are all strays and need to be brought home. I'm sure she will manage to get at least 3 or 4. I don't care as long as she hatches and raises a few.
Broody Button
Getting some OJT is the key this time around, eh?
I can just see little button trying to cover all those eggs.
OJT?
On the Job Training I think tf ^_^
MollyD
Well, all four babies are still alive and fine. I think this marks a milestone. I have two who's legs are still spraddled but they are doing just fine. As long as they eat, drink, and stay warm then what does it hurt to let them keep going? They seem happy and they don't know any different. They may walk like ducks, but they still chirp like quail. I will get a pic tomorrow, promise.
Okey dokey, Talley. I hope they do well.
My button hen has gained some nerve today. I got her off the nest to check that she didn't have more eggs than she was supposed to. I thought she was just kind of thrashing around trying to get away from me at first, but I noticed that it only takes a sec to run away and when she came back towards the door again I noticed she was puffed up. They are supposed to hatch tomorrow or Saturday so I guess she is getting all motherly. Oh, and my white hen has decided to set now. She was on her nest when I went down this afternoon. She isn't sitting tight yet, but she's getting in the mood. As if that isn't enough, all four of my babies are still alive and doing good. I had the two with spraddled legs. One I managed to get tied yesterday and the other I used the bandaid trick today, his tie didn't hold. They are doing so good. I think I'm going to be quail poor. I was told it was rather rare to have a button hen set, let alone two hens. Does anyone know if that's so? Am I really that special? Thanks guys for everything. I plan on letting them calm down a bit and then I will go back out and get some more pics. One last thing, I will have puppies in 64 days, my wiener dogs have been lovin each other, I'm so excited. SPRING IS IN THE AIR!!!
Yea, Tally! Go quail, go quail! Yes, you must be just
that special. I don't know how broody button tend to
be, but for you they must be very happy. It must seem
like you are a proud grandparent about now. You sound
so excited about the little peepers on the way. I hope
she has a great hatch. How long do button incubate?
I received my new batch of 12 mountain quail eggs 2 days
ago. I will be very happy if I just get a trio or 2 pair. These
take 25 days!
Can't wait to see your pics.
I've had them hatch from 14-18 days, but I think the norm is 16. I went back down and checked my hen a few times as I walked by the flight and she was off the nest for some time. I hope she got back on last nite. I was running late for work this morning so I didn't get a chance to go check on her. They could already be here. I just hope they all make it ok till I get home and move them to their own cage. I have it all ready so I can move them as soon as I find them. I was hoping to remodel their flight after she hatched, but it looks like I will have to wait out the white hen's term. I would love to have other breeds of quail, but I have no luck with the incubator and I feel so bad when things go wrong. The Mountain quail are so pretty. I love pheasants too, but the same goes for hatching them. I'm thinking about getting a couple bantam hens to set some quail and phes eggs for me. That should work shouldn't it?
Bantam cochins are supposed to be the absolute
best broody's.
Wonder what your incubator luck is due to. Are you having
bad luck with shipped eggs? What kind of bator do you
have? Do you let the eggs sit, turning several times, for
24 hours after you get them before putting them in the bator?
I would like to see that you could overcome your bator
issues and plow ahead.
The only main issue I have seen with mountain quail is
they tend toward picking, a lot. I have read that if they
are brooded under extremely low light conditions, as in
perhaps a heat coil and not a brooder light, that you can
eliminate picking. I read at another site that a fellow from
Amarillo had raised them without too much difficulty at all.
Still others would recommend experience with the less
expensive quail first. I think they're a beautiful bird, and I
hope this hatch goes well. A fellow in Ca. has his in a
12x12x8h flight pen, and his are very happy and really
producing for him.
Cochins are my all time favorite, both bantams and standard. I have a hova-bator. It doesn't matter if they are ordered or home layed eggs, the hatch rate is horrible. I know I need a better bator, but at the same time I hate to spend so much on one if I can't ever get them to work out. It breaks my heart to throw out all those eggs when I know at least some have babies that didn't make it. I love bobwhite quail but have never tried my luck at them. I ordered several contourix quail, button quail, and a some bobwhite eggs a few years ago and hatched about 20 babies for over 200 eggs. I just want a trio or a couple of pairs of them, I don't care much about raising them. The only reason I set any button eggs is because there were so many and I though I would try it. I bought a new hova, but it didn't do any better then my old one. I have found that they make great brooders for baby buttons for the first few days. I have looked in to ordeing mature birds, but like the diamond doves, finch, and all the other birds I want the shipping is just so high from most breeders. I bought a pair of reeves pheasants and my original 5 pair of buttons from ovabid.com and the shipping was resonable.
The expense and stress on the birds is very high for
shipped, I agree. What kind of experience with the hova
bator and resultant unhatched chicks did you have?
I had a great hatch with the 7 homegrown chicken eggs
in my new hovabator. All 7 went full term, and all but one
hatched, and those 6 are robust and healthy. Perhaps
the wafer is bad in your's. I also use a thermo/hygro unit
inside that gives a min/max temp reading. To start, I
put 2 of these in, plus a cheapo mercury type. Then I
adjust in the middle somewhere. For hatching quail, I
cover about 25-30% of the first water trough with foil
and tape, which gets the RH down to 50%, then remove
the foil for the last 3 days, for a hatching RH of 60%.
I never use the second water trough for quail. If your
quail eggs go full term, but fail to pip, it's usually that
they suffocate above 60% RH.
I think that is my main problem, the humidity. I can never seem to get it right. I know my wafer isn't bad because I have two bators and have the same problem no matter which one I'm using. I used to not have any problems with them, they worked great but now I can't seem to get any incubator to work with me. I can hatch chickens fairly easily but still not as good of a hatch rate as it should be. Maybe 75%.
I thought a 75% hatch rate with an incubator was suppose to be wonderful!
Really?
Have you noticed if the bator is new, the hatch rate
is better (a styro one), and after a couple hatches
your luck declines? Or is it new and old? Do you live
on a well? Successive hatches in styrofoam bators
can really hit the dumper, in that it becomes difficult
to sanitize them. 75% for chickens is pretty good.
I use a laundry detergent/bleach solution to scrub
mine, all surfaces except electrical. I then use a spray
disinfectant all over the same, and let it sun dry. Also,
letting it 'rest' for a couple weeks after your last hatch
helps. Another trick that works really well is have a
hatcher seperate from the bator. I haven't tried this,
but it makes a lot of sense. If you use well water, and
have no bio filter on it, boiling the water before putting
it in the water channel may help (letting it cool down
to luke warm, first). Leg problems and failure to pip are
usually RH related.
I may get some data on this. It will be my second incubation--actually a staggered hatch--in a styrofoam bator--but I have been using a separate one as the hatcher. And I put most of my energy into cleaning the hatcher--same idea as truest: detergent, bleach, disinfectant, sunshine and then disinfectant and washing again. Hopefull the last three days in the hatcher won't be enough to build up pathogens that harm the chicks.
I read somewhere that 60% is considered a good commercial hatch....
I haven't noticed a change in age of the bator. I read that you couldn't use soap on them because it would seperate the styro and it wouldn't hold a true temprature. Since I only have one turner, I use my new one as an incubator and my old one as a hatcher.
Now on to my news. That crazy button was supposed to hatch today or tomorrow and when I went out to check on her I found that she abandoned her nest and took the white hen's nest.
any sign of life from the eggs she left behind? Can you put them in the incubator?
MollyD
I stuck them in there but as far as I know she never got back on them after I fed yesterday around 6 or 7. I doubt they are alive. Maybe she will do better with this set, you know how first time mothers can be. I would rather her abandon the nest then wait till they hatch and leave them out to die. I guess you have to find the positive in it all.
Aw, shoot, Talley. So close- maybe someone didn't
tell her how long it takes, and to be patient. I too try
to see the positive as I learn from the birds. I see it as
just more experience for myself, as the birds are on
their own schedule, regardless of the outcome I am
hoping for.
None of her first batch hatched in the bator, but she seems more in business this time around. She doesn't like anybody or anything getting near her this time. She used to "fly the coop" when I would feed, now she's more like on old red hen ready for battle.
The saddest thing happened yesterday evening. I decided to hold one of my little buttons when in no time he leaped out of my hand and hit the floor in the barn. As soon as he hit he stated acting funny. His little head went back and his feet went straight out. I just knew he had broken his neck. Heartbroken and unsure what to do I just put him back in the brooder with the other baby. I figured I would just let him die in peace and would throw him out later. To my suprise, within twenty minutes or so he was back on his feet. He wasn't moving much but had made a little progress. He was just fine this morning. They may be tiny, but they are tough. That will be the last time I attempt to hold one of them little guys, they are just for looks now.
Oh my gosh, that must have been traumatic! Sounds
like a really hard blow to the head, and a kind of seizure.
I looked in my outside quail cages to find one of the
mature quail (the younglings are not in their outside
pen yet) was looking very poorly and eyes half closed.
When I reached in to touch it, it flipped over, started
flapping wildly, then went into the last breath, dying pose
you described above. It died right there. That was not
easy to watch, and I have no clue what made it ill or injured,
other than the heat from the day before (they are in full
shade) our thermometer read 100* in the shade on Saturday.
Or, when they fly up (like popcorn) sometimes they hit
their heads so hard they break their necks. (top of the
cage is wire and has some 'give') ?? I'll never know.
I'm glad to hear that it has recovered, and also that your
button is in the mood to set, again.
I've learnd that these quail are not easy to figure out. I've also decided to just let them do what they want, and to let nature take it's course. I'm so glad my little baby made it throug. I just knew he was dying right there in my hand, and came very close to just putting him down so he wouldn't suffer. He seems just fine tonight.