My organically raised coturnix quail is broody and sitting eggs - Update

I should have remembered that nothing is ever that simple when keeping birds and in particular with our quail. Although I was very optimistic, I did have a nagging doubt about Ginger's choice of nest and nesting site,  seemingly rather makeshift, cramped and exposed. However, what eventually happened was totally unexpected.

Three freshly hatched eggs from Ginger's first nest!

On the eighth day of sitting, Ginger came out from behind the pallet shelving looking like she'd had a bad night, her feathers were ruffled and she seemed worried. If you have kept birds for any period of time and observed them closely, you will know that they are sentient beings and portray emotion vocally, facially, in body language and by behaviour. She ate her breakfast and remained out in the main area of the greenhouse and did not return to her nest after the usual 15 - 20 minutes. I decided to remain working in the greenhouse and observe her. After 30 minutes, I reached into the nest and removed four of the (presumed) remaining six eggs from the nest and put them under the Snow Queen. This, if you remember from my previous post, is the bantam Cochin I had prepared as back-up and who was already sitting some more of the other quail's eggs. Ginger did not return to the nest that morning, nor as far as I can tell, at any time later. So I was a bit miffed but pleased she had even made a first attempt and without a specially prepared safe nesting area! Furthermore I was so happy nothing had actually broken into the greenhouse, although, on checking, I found one of the original eggs was missing.

Then three days later I discovered a much more defined nest, it is actually called a scrape. This is made up of a shallow depression dug out in the soil, similar to that the quail make for sleeping but in addition, has bits of dried grass and straw pulled together from the surrounding area. I also noticed that the eggs were 'stored' pointed end downwards and partly buried in the soil. This nest had just three eggs and was hidden under the rosemary bush in exactly the same place as I had found a nest the year before. It seemed a very professional job! Rather than collect the eggs I left them and I am very glad I did as a couple of days later I decided to film them for my photo records and found a whole lot more..

 

..and not only that but as I was filming, this happened - pretty much a friendly but proprietary gesture by one of my other quail

..and then two days later, Ginger took charge and began to sit.

There are now thirteen eggs in all and Ginger only gets off the nest for a few minutes each day, just when she hears me open the door to bring some extra food. She is also well clamped down onto the nest, this is no mean feat as it is a large clutch, (most papers quoting an average coturnix clutch of 8 to 10 eggs).

Meanwhile, last night, the 13th of May, I was awoken and heard Snow Queen calling to chicks, it is a very obvious call. I went back to sleep almost instantly but this morning when I took her off the nest....

At the moment there are three chicks and my feelings are that these are from the four eggs I took from Ginger's first abandoned nest, as she was sitting a full two days before Snow Queen and we are now on the nineteenth day of what would have been Ginger's incubation. The chicks look like an English White and two Tuxedos but it is rather early to be certain.

I now have several questions and musings.

- the second nest (under the rosemary) is obviously a communal one, it filled up very quickly and there was that 'guarding' gesture by one of my other quail. According to research carried out by Orcutt and Orcutt*, domestic coturnix quail were observed to pair off and become monogamous during courtship, laying and brooding. Therefore, will all these eggs in the nest be fertile?

- the eggs I collected after Ginger had began to sit and put under Snow Queen, were also from quail other than Ginger, so ditto to the above.

- my understanding is female birds remain fertile from one male for at least ten days after mating. This is why, if I want to breed pure Polish, for example, I have to take my hens out of the communal forest garden and keep them away for nearly two weeks before pairing them with one of my Polish roosters/cockerels. It is now the tenth day since Fred went back home! 

- technically, even if Fred was monogamous and/or if some of the eggs in the second nest are Ginger's, we could still be expecting a further pattering of tiny claws?  

In the event that we have more chicks, I may decide to finesse them under Ginger and let another hen sit the clutch she is now incubating.

Stay tuned.

Now if you'd like to, after all the serious stuff, watch the film in super fluffy vision!

Thanks for dropping by and if you have enjoyed this piece and found it useful think about sharing it and also maybe about joining this blog. Please also feel free to ask questions or make comments in the section below.

All the very best,
Sue



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©  Sue Cross 2015


*

Orcutt Scott Jr, F. and Orcutt, A. B. (1976) 'Nesting and Parental Behavior in Domestic Common Quail', The Auk, Vol. 93, No. 1, January, pp. 135-141

One of my coturnix quail has gone broody and is sitting. A Fred and Ginger production!

You know how it is, you've been hoping and planning for an event and just as you finally start to get ready for action, your poultry decide they've waited long enough for an outcome and take charge.

Fred and his best friend Dorothy keeping guard whilst Ginger is laying.

Well, a couple of weeks ago I started reading about fatal genes in the Golden quail.  There is a lot of conflicting  information because well it's genetics and thus exceedingly complicated. Even the nomenclature 'Golden' quail is somewhat controversial, in French these quail are know as Isabelle but in English there are two recognised type of golden quail - the Italian and the Manchurian. You will read in some papers and articles that it is the latter or the former that carry the fatal gene. This however, is further complicated by the fact that some articles I've read, insist that the Italian and Manchurian quail are one and the same! In my experience with purchased hatching eggs and through talking to other quail keepers, it is certainly true here, that all Golden quail seem very frail and have poor hatch and survival rates. My golden quail I've had now for three years from hatch and although they wouldn't get any prizes from purists, as all the feathers are patterned differently, they are gold and they are healthy.

However, not to tempt fate nor F.B. Hutt et al, I have decided to steer away from crossing gold with gold of any sort. In France this makes even more sense, as the Isabelle are said to have been raised from a very small gene pool, just 20 original eggs brought in from Portugal. Thus on top of the fatal gene issue, we have consanguinity to add to and exacerbate the problem.

Some two weeks ago on a visit to our local organic dairy farm to collect our milk and where they keep quail, I asked if they had an English White or Range or any other colour other than gold to sell me. In fact they had a lovely Tuxedo, which I instantly wanted but could not have, as he was their only example of the colour. So I asked to borrow him for a week. In the event and just in case there was some friction between my quail and Fred, I brought his friend with him. This English White quail was of undetermined sex but I called 'her' Dorothy after Dorothy Lamour because she had a heart shaped pattern on the back of her neck. This complicated things rather as I always felt she was keeping a beady eye on Fred and perhaps rather cramping his style!

One of last year's nests under the rosemary

In my reading around the subject of wild quail because this is the way I am sure I will get the happiest and healthiest creatures, I found that the female is drawn to start nesting by hearing the male cry. Apocryphal or not, last year when I had a male quail, my female quail made nests. This year when they started laying in early April, they were just laying in a random, devil-may-care sort of way, single eggs in different places each day. However, the day after Fred arrived I noticed one of my golden quail hiding behind the pallet wood vertical garden shelving in the greenhouse and I noticed her return there the next day too. On the following day I investigated and found three eggs in a row, it is a really tight squeeze in there, so every time she got up from laying she left the eggs in a rather haphazard way. However, on subsequent days I noticed she would gather them together before she laid and that she was going back in there, during the day, seemingly both to check on the eggs and to turn them too. This quail I now named Ginger, for obvious reasons.

I was now getting very excited, Ginger had laid six eggs in all but Fred was destined to go back to the farm the very next day when we went for the milk. From all I have read, I am still not totally sure how important the male is, nor exactly sure if he is involved in sitting. As wild quail, are  very private, shy birds, there is no great body of research on their behaviours. They do actually have wild quail on the farm but assure me they have never seen two birds together on a nest but my belief is, from watching Fred, that in the early stages of nesting even if the male does not sit he is very near by. According to a paper I read on the subject; Nesting and Parental Behavior in Domestic Common Quail, Orcutt and Orcutt (1976), the male sits within 30cms of the nest for at least the laying of the eggs and for some part of the sitting. This was true of Fred as you can see from the photograph above (top) and the film. So I decided to ask to borrow Fred for another week, just in case Ginger decided to sit. In the event Ginger started to sit that very same day.

I was really worried now, as it meant I would have to leave Ginger outside in the greenhouse all night rather than put her away with the others in their little wooden house. We have a variety of predators here but the worst for quail are rats, which although I shouldn't say it, I have not seen for several years. We also had a weasel here quite recently but I was hoping that Ginger was well enough hidden. I placed a board in front of her at night and a couple of bricks along the front of the greenhouse door where there was a slight gap. How happy I was the next morning to see her still sitting and in good health!

With regards to how often she comes off the nest, this is rather a vexed question as the first day I did not see her move at all and I was, as you can imagine, rather a fixture in the greenhouse. One thing I noticed over the next few days though, was a complete change in attitude towards Fred. She became progressively more and more aggressive towards him and for that matter most of the other quail. She did not however, exhibit that 'puffed up' and erratic scratching of the classic broody hen. Orcutt and Orcutt on the subject write that their male had feathers missing from his head by the 5th day of incubation! Conversely however, she became more accepting of me and finally by the 4th day of incubation actually came from the nest and out to meet me at the greenhouse door when I was feeding the poultry in the morning.

Fred caught snacking again with friends

I also read in the Orcutt article, that they actually had to remove their male from the breeding pen, as he was showing less interest in the nest and he was being attacked. I did however, wonder at this behaviour from Ginger. She was particularly aggressive towards Fred when she saw him around the food bowl in the morning and I did wonder if she really wanted him to be guarding the nest or even sitting. In an Experimental Study of Nesting by Coturnix Quail, Vernon C. Stevens, The Journal of Wildlife Management, (1961) the author seems to indicate a more proactive role for the male. However, I was rather hoping Fred would not be that important to Ginger, as by the next weekend he would have to go back to the farm!

So here I am with my design for a secure quail breeding area still in the workshop and Ginger already sitting and on her 6th day of incubation. Fred is still in the dog house and Dorothy possibly quite happy about it. Whatever happens, I have backup in the form of my little Cochin Snow Queen who is already sitting on some of the other quail eggs, which I am hoping are fertile by Fred too. If Ginger gives up then I will transfer the eggs to her.

One of my most important precautions for Ginger though,  is in nutritional support. As you can see in the photos, now they are laying, I have been stocking up the greenhouse with compost and keeping the large compost  bins closed as the chicks have had their share. This is, however, part of my Spring schedule, spreading compost in order to get the greenhouse ready for planting. As our principal compost bins are chock full of arthropods, I have set up a 'holding bin'  actually in the greenhouse and Ginger gets the first pick of this every morning. I am hoping all the methionine and the B complex vitamins this food will provide,  will keep her stress levels down to a minimum and save Fred from a few plucked feathers.

Part Two the update is here 

Fingers crossed... and now if you'd like to sit back and watch the film:


Fred snacking again this time on a courgette/zucchini.
Thanks for dropping by and if you have enjoyed this piece and found it useful think about sharing it and also maybe about joining this blog. Please also feel free to ask questions or make comments in the section below.

All the very best,
Sue


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©  Sue Cross 2015