My broody quail hatched baby quails, now what? Help please.

[SFBayArea]

Hi guys,

I have about 55 quails in a rather large aviary set up.
Three of my quails went broody sometime mid-March.
I marked 15 eggs and let them sit on it. I have not been to the aviary for the last two days, but this morning when I went to collect the eggs and check if there is the possibility of new chicks, I was surprised to see that indeed there are three new chicks but all of them outside of the brooding box where the hens are still seating on the eggs. One of the chicks was about 10 feet from the brooding box and it was dead, though, I could tell that it had just recently died (was still very soft and flexible). The other two chicks were also outside of the brooding box and barely alive. I placed those two chicks back under one of the brooding hens, but doubt they will make it.
I understand that newborn quail chicks can go without food and water for 24-48 hours, however, in the last 24 hours we've had a rather cold snap in Georgia (at night down to 37, and during the day we are at 58). I am guessing that they got too cold when they climbed outside of the brooding box.
What do you think?

What should I do? Leave them with the hen? Separate them from the hen and put them under the heating plate in the separate brooder box?
Should I let the hen to try and hatch the rest of the eggs (I see another one is trying to hatch) or put all those unhatched eggs into the incubator for the next few days?

I will monitor now how they hatch every few hours or so. If more of them hatch, should I leave them with the hen or move them into a separate brooder box with the heat plate?

This is all new to me, never hatched quails and definitely never had to deal with the new born quails hatched by the hen.

All your help really appreciated.

Thank you.

 

[Nabiki]

I would get them into a brooder as soon as you can. The ones that got chilled may well bounce back. I've had a few that I thought were dead come back after getting warmed back up.

 

[SFBayArea]

As of now, I have pretty much separated the brooding box with hens from most of the flock in the enclosed quail coop. The temperature inside this coop is much higher when it is outside. I also provided water and crashed boiled quail eggs as food in the brooding box.
I was really hoping that mother quail knows what its doing better, especially introducing chicks later to the flock. However, now I am not so sure. The two chicks that were barely alive that I put under the hen died. I just removed them.
One chick that was picking through the egg shell in the morning did not hatch on its own, so I helped him a bit and now he is out.

So, even though, the hen hatched them, instead of keeping them with hen, move them into the brooder, is that the consensus?

Thank you.

 

[Nabiki]

Some hens are better mothers than others. The younger they are, the less likely they are to be good mothers. If the mother isn't doing her job, a brooder is definitely the best option.

Buttons tend to be better at taking care of their chicks than coturnix, but that is not always the case.

 

[SFBayArea]

I ended up helping one chick break through his egg. Came back in two hours and the chick was again about a foot from the hen (why the heck they are not staying with the hens, beats me). It was barely alive. I put it under the heating plate in the separate brooder. In few hours it became active, chirping, and even ate some of the hard-boiled crashed egg I gave him. However, this morning I found him on the outskirts of the heating plate again barely alive. I put it back under the heating plate, but I think it will not make it.
Man, I was not aware these little guys so dumb and fragile.

FYI., I gathered the remaining eggs from under the hen and placed them into the incubator.

Note to self, don't ever rely on the quail to properly hatch and raise their young ones.

 

[kabuky]

I have found some hens are wonderful brooders; others fail at motherhood (kinda like humans). I have my mountain quail eggs under 2 broody chickens. I stupidly thought I should put one egg in the incubator as it was day 22; it died in the incubator and didn't hatch (it was SO CLOSE). So now I am leaving the eggs under the hens to hatch out. BUT plan to put them in a brooder once hatched. Quail Chicks are dumb; amazing how they have survived. Mountain quail chicks are notorious for not knowing how/what to eat so plan to put them with bantam newly hatched chicks to teach them to survive. I have had luck with broody hens teaching their hatch to eat, etc, but I am not trusting these expensive babies to a hen that has not hatched out babies before. Thoughts?

 

[Jennyhen890]

I know this is an old post but how did you get on with your baby quails hatching? Have any of the females gone broody since? And if you don’t mind could you put some pics up of your aviary set up as I’m trying to get ideas on what to do for mine, although I only have two young quail at the moment.

 

[Jennyhen890]

I have found some hens are wonderful brooders; others fail at motherhood (kinda like humans). I have my mountain quail eggs under 2 broody chickens. I stupidly thought I should put one egg in the incubator as it was day 22; it died in the incubator and didn't hatch (it was SO CLOSE). So now I am leaving the eggs under the hens to hatch out. BUT plan to put them in a brooder once hatched. Quail Chicks are dumb; amazing how they have survived. Mountain quail chicks are notorious for not knowing how/what to eat so plan to put them with bantam newly hatched chicks to teach them to survive. I have had luck with broody hens teaching their hatch to eat, etc, but I am not trusting these expensive babies to a hen that has not hatched out babies before. Thoughts?

Hi Kabuky, did your bantams help your quail along? And how do you get on hatching quail eggs under broody chickens and bantams? I’m wanting to try it one day with quail eggs under one of my bantams but keep reading how you should keep quail away from the chickens/ bantams as they can catch diseases. What’s your experience? Many thanks

 

[Nabiki]

While bantams may hatch the quail, you want to get them into a brooder to raise them. Quail are not chickens.

 

[Jennyhen890]

While bantams may hatch the quail, you want to get them into a brooder to raise them. Quail are not chickens.

Yes I understand this. Just interested in peoples experience with hatching the eggs under the bantams.