My organically raised coturnix quail sitting her eggs - Update 2 - All Change

Everything seemed to be going well, Ginger, our golden coturnix quail had been sitting her second nest very seriously now for 14 days and Snow Queen, our Cochin bantam, had been looking after the quail chicks for a week. Ginger hardly left the nest at all except to have a few minutes at the food plate or in the compost bin, the film still below is of her coming back onto the eggs in the time it took me to put out the food and go for the camera!

In all, four quail had hatched and I was absolutely certain that these were from the four eggs I had retrieved from Ginger's first abandoned nest. The only problem was that the weather being terrible, I had not been able to take the quail chicks out even into the glass greenhouse for more than a few minutes. Even when in an enclosed cardboard run to cut down any potential drafts, the chicks had started shouting pitifully after just one minute of being down on the ground and Snow Queen had seemed uninterested in their cries and had just continued on with her dust bath.

When I returned with them back to the house, I noticed one of the quail looked as if it had sprained its foot. I did wonder however if this was the one who had been hatched last and that he had injured his foot when he fell from Snow Queen's feathers. I gave him some organic selenium in spray form directly onto his foot and then upped his B complex vitamins in the form of yeast flakes and sunflower seeds. He had already eaten quite a few woodlice, so I reckoned I had pretty much covered the usual supplements. he was moving quite well even though his one foot was turned inwards. Whilst broody Snow Queen has been quite flighty when out, literally, which for a Cochin is unusual as they do not fly very well. She just will not stay on the ground to eat. I have had to feed her once she is back on the eggs.

I had been aware for a couple of days that Snow Queen was a bit blasé about the chicks, even to the point of using them as serviettes, wiping her beak on them after eating egg yolk and then eating the bits off them afterwards! I also noticed that, although I presumed the eggs to be infertile, she clamped herself down on them ever more. In the event everything went pear-shaped last night. Firstly I noticed Snow Queen using her beak softly but deliberately on the chicks, I thought she was trying to gather them under her but eventually realised she was just jabbing at them and a couple of times knocked them over. Then finally I saw her open her beak in a big broody squawk of annoyance right in the face of the little blonde (presumably) English white quail. Taking Snow Queen out for a break just before bed time, I found the injured foot quail, dead underneath her, he had been squashed. This sadly happens sometimes with quail chicks under hens, in particular in the first few days and having an injured foot would have impaired his ability to get out of the way as she moved.

However, coupled with her obvious and growing indifference to or maybe even dislike of the quail, something I must say which has never happened in a hatch with a hen before, I decided I had to take action. It wasn't Snow Queen's fault she is a very young Cochin, hatched last year and she will make a fine Mother. She was very gentle with the quail at first but she obviously prefers sitting to hatching and was not ready to take on the mantle of looking after exacting quail chicks. I am very careful about taking chicks from a hen. I have done it only once before and with a young hen who hatched some chicks and then started to peck them. She was mortified and so was I but the year after I let her try again and she was a superb mother but I got the feeling in the first week after hatch, she was incredibly wary of me if I picked up a chick, I am absolutely sure she remembered.

Well it was midnight and the dinner had been cooked and waiting but I had to make a quick decision. I decided to go and get the quail who had been guarding Ginger's nest (above left and still not making eye contact - the quitter!). I got a box of hay put a couple of quail eggs in the middle and sure enough she began to sit but when I put the three quail chicks in with her she was terrified.


I also tried one of the Pharaoh quail, who I knew had been adding eggs to Ginger's nest and even lingering on the eggs until shooed off by Ginger, again interested in the eggs, didn't want the chicks. So I bit the bullet and went and got Ginger, nest and all. I hated doing it, I felt like a traitor to Ginger who had been such a star sitting these eggs so well. Not only that but she was making a deep lugubrious mourning sound, over her nest as I took the eggs out and when I got her inside the house it continued at a more urgent frequency. As a precaution I had taken a sprig of rosemary with me so the nesting area would have the same fragrance. Even this didn't help, as when I put her in the hay box, she took just one egg under her but refused all the others. If a quail can look sad with just a beak to express it, then she was the epitome of tragedy. I felt a complete heel and in the end had to take her back to the greenhouse but by now she was so upset she wouldn't go back on the eggs and continued with the awful accusations. I felt like weeping!

I had one last card to play I took her and the eggs back into the house in the box. Then I put all but one egg under the Snow Queen and transferred the now squeaking babies into the box with Ginger the result was something utterly beautiful. Ginger began to clear a space in the hay beneath her creating a depression or 'scrape', whilst making interesting soft sounds. The quail chicks looked nonplussed but unworried. Ginger is not particularly tame but I could see she really wanted the chicks. She still hadn't got the idea of opening up her wings but I did it for her and just pushed each chick underneath. Then she gave a quick shuffle and they all instantly vanished. I put the box by my side of the bed and I could here her soft voice as I fell asleep. In the night I was awoken by her calling out and found one of the chicks was out and searching for food. So I gave him some and they stayed like that until morning.

There will be a film in the next post.

Ginger and a little tuxedo chick enjoying a draught-free 
excavation in the cardboard run in the greenhouse.

Thanks for dropping by and if you have enjoyed this piece and found it useful think about sharing it and also 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

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