Broody coturnix on infertile eggs, should I switch them out?

[Binki]

Hey there

I had a coturnix quail who went broody last year in my aviary and ended up hatching several chicks and raising them for a few days until I feared she was losing interest so I took over. (First picture)

This year, she hasn't been out to the aviary much but is mainly in a floor of a rabbit hutch with another female.

I've been watching her the past few days and it seems since yesterday she's set on a clutch of eggs, tucked away in one of the back corners behind their sand box. (Second picture)

I don't know how to handle this because the eggs aren't fertile - should I risk switching them with fertile ones because she's already spent a couple of days on them, like would that make her abandon the fertile ones a few days early?

Any advice from people with broody birds? I don't know how broody works - is it a set time or does she know if the eggs are developing and stays as per that?

 

[Ming Ming]

you should always let your birds hatch out babies, when they sit, they are determined to be a mum and she won't abandon until they are hatched

 

[DesertBird]

It should be okay to replace them, but make sure you replace them with eggs that are all on the same day, otherwise she could ignore the chicks that hatch a day or two earlier than the others, or ignore the eggs for the chicks that already hatched.

 

[Binki]

you should always let your birds hatch out babies, when they sit, they are determined to be a mum and she won't abandon until they are hatched

Thanks, wasn't sure if hens brooded for a set time, if she will do it until they hatch then that's great!

She's a good brooder, she'll get up every few hours and have a feed and a drink, flap her wings hard a bunch of times and whistle like a gineau pig (guess she's releasing some pent up energy lol!) then have a dustbath for several minutes.

It's just like last year so I'm not scared she will brood herself to death so sitting a few extra days shouldn't hurt

It should be okay to replace them, but make sure you replace them with eggs that are all on the same day, otherwise she could ignore the chicks that hatch a day or two earlier than the others, or ignore the eggs for the chicks that already hatched.

Good idea! I was thinking about that, because last year the girls kept laying in her nest until I had to mark the eggs and remove new ones since she couldn't cover them all, that seems to be what's happening here so I'll be sure to mark the fertile ones and remove the others.

Well I don't have the best eggs haha I had put them all together two days ago, fertile and infertile so I'm left with two eggs from the aviary that sat for two days on wet ground in a storm, two from the hutch where the quail spent the storm and I should get two this afternoon making six.

I think I'll wait for tomorrow afternoon to get two more making a total of eight hopefully fertile eggs and mark them then switch them out.. Hope she won't abandon the nest, last time she didn't even with me messing with the eggs so she could cover them all so here's hoping !

It seems a large number of eggs piled up (8-12) triggered her to go broody again so I'll probably put 8 fertile and 2 infertile in the nest so she feels it's full

 

[DesertBird]

Thanks, wasn't sure if hens brooded for a set time, if she will do it until they hatch then that's great!

She's a good brooder, she'll get up every few hours and have a feed and a drink, flap her wings hard a bunch of times and whistle like a gineau pig (guess she's releasing some pent up energy lol!) then have a dustbath for several minutes.

It's just like last year so I'm not scared she will brood herself to death so sitting a few extra days shouldn't hurt



Good idea! I was thinking about that, because last year the girls kept laying in her nest until I had to mark the eggs and remove new ones since she couldn't cover them all, that seems to be what's happening here so I'll be sure to mark the fertile ones and remove the others.

Well I don't have the best eggs haha I had put them all together two days ago, fertile and infertile so I'm left with two eggs from the aviary that sat for two days on wet ground in a storm, two from the hutch where the quail spent the storm and I should get two this afternoon making six.

I think I'll wait for tomorrow afternoon to get two more making a total of eight hopefully fertile eggs and mark them then switch them out.. Hope she won't abandon the nest, last time she didn't even with me messing with the eggs so she could cover them all so here's hoping !

It seems a large number of eggs piled up (8-12) triggered her to go broody again so I'll probably put 8 fertile and 2 infertile in the nest so she feels it's full

Good luck with her and her babies!

 

[JaeG]

How exciting! Can you fence her off from the others so that nobody adds any more eggs to the pile and you don't have to disturb her taking out the extras? Hopefully this time around she's got a better idea of what she should be doing and will take care of the babies a bit better.

 

[Binki]

How exciting! Can you fence her off from the others so that nobody adds any more eggs to the pile and you don't have to disturb her taking out the extras? Hopefully this time around she's got a better idea of what she should be doing and will take care of the babies a bit better.

Thanks! ^^ and great suggestion.. I have taken her out to the aviary, if she doesn't intergrate well with the group I will partition the broody hen cage because I did her her bugging her earlier, the broody hen was making her woop whistle gineau pig sounds, different from the usual whizzed off hen "chittering" sound.

I've marked ten eggs but I haven't seen her take a break today (I could of missed it), I now see two eggs she can't cover so I wonder if she thinks she has to brood overtime??

I have ten marked hopefully fertile eggs to switch out, tried showing her some seed but that didn't get her off the nest lol should I bother her or just wait? Maybe take away the extra eggs I can see?

 

[JaeG]

View attachment 1104172

Thanks! ^^ and great suggestion.. I have taken her out to the aviary, if she doesn't intergrate well with the group I will partition the broody hen cage because I did her her bugging her earlier, the broody hen was making her woop whistle gineau pig sounds, different from the usual whizzed off hen "chittering" sound.

I've marked ten eggs but I haven't seen her take a break today (I could of missed it), I now see two eggs she can't cover so I wonder if she thinks she has to brood overtime??

I have ten marked hopefully fertile eggs to switch out, tried showing her some seed but that didn't get her off the nest lol should I bother her or just wait? Maybe take away the extra eggs I can see?

If she can't cover all of the eggs sufficiently it's likely that random ones will be exposed to the cold and not develop, so removing two will ensure all of the rest get enough warmth to develop properly.

She'll take a break when she needs to. Maybe just put some food and water close by so she doesn't have to go far.

They are funny with the noises they make. I've got one that chitters at me for being late to feed them! Then she proceeds to falls out of the cage as I open the door!

 

[Binki]

Ahhh so I managed to switch them out yesterday.. I watched for half a day but didn't catch her taking a break so I tried to lure her out with seed and corn - nope, she would only eat it out of my hand, not get up for it lol.

So I put a marked fertile egg in front of her and she grabbed it and stuck it under her, revealing a bunch of eggs, I took one and repeated this "process" about six times until I was reaching behind her and I think I whizzed her off after a few eggs because she started gineau pigging and then went to feed and water herself, then did that big wing flap woop, but the door was ajar on the other side of my hutch and she blew it open and jumped/fell out!!

I was like "oh damn this might have been too much excitement for her to settle down on the eggs again" but after a dustbath and another feed and water she went back and has sat on them since yesterday afternoon

It doesn't matter to me whether she wants to brood or not, I dont know what she's going to do to feed them because in the aviary she ignored the quail feed and would hunt bugs for them. We would actually hunt together with me digging up the ground with a hand shovel and her grabbing these tiny white curled up grubs and whooping/tidbitting for the babies

So hope she gives them the quail feed! Will have to watch her super closely...

 

[JaeG]

The broody instinct is strong once it's set in. We have a disabled Button quail who has decided to sit and hatch eggs. I had to replace hers, which weren't fertile, with her sisters so hopefully she'll get to be a mum. They are super skittish little things but she was raised inside so she is at least used to the general chaos of our house! But she puts up with me candling her eggs every now and then. She doesn't like it but always returns to her nest.

I've noticed our Buttons in the aviary hunt bugs as much as possible especially when raising babies.

If your girl is successful maybe you could tap the proper quail food and the babies might copy you and check it out.