I got some Japs recently; I've not had them before.
I had understood that they don't incubate their own eggs anymore, and that they must be artificially incubated.
I had been collecting eggs for my mate with an incubator, but a few weeks ago there started to be less eggs, then I found a hen sitting on 8 eggs.
Yesterday I checked her nest:
JQ nest.jpg
...then found a baby...
JQ chick.jpg
...then Mum.
JQ mama.jpg
She hatched 7 of 8.
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Avid amateur aviculturalist; I keep mostly australian and foreign finches. The art is long, the life so short; the critical moment is fleeting and experience can be misleading, crisis is difficult....... (Hippocrates)
Wow ..mine arent laying enough to feed the parrots at the mo so might leave them in the cage and see if they sit .....very exciting and beautiful bubs .
Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue.
David Brent
Congatulations. You obviously have one of the few hens who has not been taught by having her eggs taken away, that it is not her job to raise them.
LML
I'm very pleased to hear of your success. Keep the young, especially the hens and hope they have learnt the fine art of incubation. The ONE thing that puts me off keeping Japanese (European?) quail is them not incubating.
Would you believe that I was belittled on a game bird forum for even suggesting that hen gamefowl be allowed to incubate their own eggs? It's not like these birds were worth a lot of money or that they were commercially breeding them.
If you have them for a hobby then why not give them the chance to do what should happen naturally, and enjoy the experience.
