Aussie Finch Forum

Horray.

My quail eggs are in the process of hatching under the female in the aviary. Seven to go. First egg hatched sometime last night. Unfortunately i went out there this morning and on the aviary floor was a dead chick.

In with the pair is the son from a previous clutch. I am wondering if the Son had anything to do with its demise. I have removed what i believe is 'the son', but i cant be sure. Would it be wise to remove both son AND father? Father was a brilliant carer to the chick and done most of the raising. All three get along well. I have Son in a holding cage for the time being.

In my second aviary i have a brown pair of Quail. They have two eggs in a nest. They too should be hatching anytime soon, but i went out there earlier, and because of the heat at the moment, all they seem interested in doing is dust bathing. Not sure whats happening with the eggs. Could well be warm enough for eggs to be left for periods of time while parents have time-out!


The joys and tribulations!

awesome! well done!
just had some hatch a few weeks ago myself, love the little guys so CUTE!!

I have found them pretty stupid when they hatch If the parent still has eggs underthem they try to stay put so when the babies wander away they can't find their way back. I have been leaving them with the parents for a few days then I bring them & feed them with the termites egg turkey starter etc after they have learnt to eat by themselves
I have 2 in with a couple of Pekin chicks at present
If you dead baby wasn't marked I would say it just got cold. I have found that quite often if the males have the parenting instinct they will let any baby get under them
Good luck with the rest of your eggs

Thanks for the reply posts! Its going to be a 50 50 chance of adding back the father to the aviary. I have at the moment Father and Son in a holding cage. Im going to have to stare at them both and decide hopefully who is Father and who is Son. They are both so simular. either one or the other!