New Baby Quails At Brimwood
It's my first proper hatch of the year and I'm pleased to say - I have baby quail!
You can watch the video below to see the quail chicks, my brooder and a few tips on how I raise them OR keep on scrolling for more info.
The First Proper Hatch
I say the first 'proper' hatch in inverted commas because my first hatch of 2018 was actually a rushed hatch to try and save my rare breed Ixworth line after the adults were all taken out by a fox. My quail hatch is, therefore, the first set of eggs to be set and incubated in 2018.
I wanted to check the fertility of the eggs before starting to send out hatching eggs and I also wanted a few chicks to sell as people have already started to show interest for the coming year.
A Low Hatch Rate
You can be pretty certain of fairly low hatches during the winter. I set 27 eggs and of those, eight successfully hatched. One got stuck in the shell and died, and there were two DIS (dead-in-shell). Four had begun to grow but the embryo's had died early on, and the rest were clear. Coturnix quail eggs can be hard to candle due to the markings so it's often pot-luck whether anything hatches at all!
Eight Babies
I LOVE quail chicks. They're like little bumble bees...bustling around, their bodies almost too big for their little legs so they look as if they'll totter over. They'll be fed on chick crumb for the first month and I'll keep the area around them quiet - they're delicate things. In fact, I once had a book fall off the edge of the sofa and the sound of it killed a quail baby of fright! They also like to drown themselves, so the drinker has gravel in the bottom to reduce chances of accidental death.
I'll have more updates on them in the normal Smallholding Diaries.
Thanks for reading!
Geoff
They are adorable
So tiny!
Magnificent I must say... Amazing is life's creation
Awwww sooo cute!!!
They're SO tiny. Love them!
How cute!! I have never raised quail before, but I want to only because I want to hold those super tiny chicks!! ♥
Haha. They grow VERY quick so don't stay small for long.
I bet! Why can't any of the baby animals stay babies?... LOL
I think coturnix must be less hardy than bobwhites?? I've only dealt with two sets of babies so far, and did not have any die from fright yet. Hahaha. I am sure it will happen. Haha. Yay for hatching babies!! Good job! Why do some have red dots on their head? Is that a trait of this strain or pecking??
Yes, perhaps the chicks of Coturnix aren't as hardy...but they sure grow up to be! The little dots are the breed variety - they're Texan A&M which are commercial breed - crossed with the English large white, I think. So they're all white with a black spot on their heads.
I hear a lot about the Texas A&Ms, but all white birds just seems like a bad idea to me (no real reason I have this opinion - just is hahaha). I hadn't seen that they had a dot on their heads before. Can't wait to watch them grow up!
The first animal we ever raised for food were quail (my daughters had an egg allergy but could eat quail eggs for some reason). They called them baby eggs. We tried hatching them and had such poor luck. From a clutch of 24 only 1 hatched. However, now we are on to chickens and have great results. Those tiny little peepers are adorable. Thanks for sharing!
I do find quail fertility is quite a bit lower than chickens. In chickens I'd be disappointed with anything below 60% hatch rate. Quails I'm happy with 50%.
Agreed. It would be interesting to have a quail breeding program to focused on fertility. I wonder if it's even possible for cortunix at this point.
What kind of male to female ratio do you have? I am surprised at the low fertility!
Do ‘domesticated’ quail ever get broody like hens sometimes do?
Not really. You can get them to go broody in the right setting - a large well planted run with a single pair. In that scenario, basic instincts can take hold and the pair with set about building a nest, incubating and rearing babies. I'd like to try it one day.