Too many broody girls!

The season of burgeoning new life...

Help! It looks very much as if one broody quail sets off all the others - but some are better natural mothers... Last week we discovered three separate nests - not including Spock, whose chicks are due to hatch in the next couple of days. Each new nest had around 10 eggs in it...

Blork's very neat nest in the middle of a patch of chives

We watched them for a while, and Greenpea, Chickpea and Blork all settled in and looked to be sitting. However, they didn't quite have it worked out. Greenpea's nest was the most exposed to the wild Spring weather, so we built a shelter over her - as we've done for many others previously. She'd only just started sitting that day, and the shelter construction seemed to worry her. It took her a long time to return to her nest, but eventually she seemed to have settled again.

Greenpea's nest under newly constructed shelter

 Our three sitters, however, were all off their nests the next morning - and the eggs were stone cold. After their morning meal, they all returned to sitting. The next day - no-one was on their nest in the morning - and the eggs were cold again. After some discussion, we removed all Chickpea's eggs. Of the three, she was the only one who did not sit for most of the day, and seemed a bit half-hearted about the process.

Blork sitting - spreading to cover 10 eggs!

Greenpea and Blork appeared to be a bit more determined.
Now, unfortunately, we are worried about the effect from sitting all day, and leaving the eggs to cool overnight, which is what Greenpea appears to be doing.

 

Fog calling for his girls!

Chickpea had a few days looking a bit distracted and out-of-sorts - but she never went near her nest again, so we think she wasn't really ready to sit. Hopefully she will lay more and go broody properly later in the summer.

Blork has settled fully and - apart from being driven off her nest occasionally by Apricot - is doing well. We are very uncertain about Greenpea though. Should we take her eggs? Should we leave her alone and assume she will work it out? Does continual heating and cooling stop embryos developing - or cause birth defects? Does anyone know?

"Who, me?" Apricot being scolded for disturbing Blork...

If you have enjoyed this blog and would like to share your experiences with quail, we'd love to hear from you! Please leave a comment, and we look forward to learning more about other people's adventures with these lovely little birds.