Chinese Painted Quail

[laurab]

I bought my daughter a pair of CPQ for Easter and the hen is sitting on eggs!!

[chris]

great news laura! good luck with them rearing the chicks!


Chris:grin:

[laurab]

I hope all goes well as Elsa is really excited.

[Waxbillman]

hello Laura,


brilliant, i hope the eggs hatch successfully, your daughter will love those cute little bumble-bee like chicks.

matthew

[PAUL HEARN]

Good one Laura and Elsa,


As Matthew says Elsa will be over the Moon when the chicks hatch, so I might have an unrelated pair for myself later this year, one from Elsa and the other from Chris.:wink:

Fingers crossed for Elsa, Paul.:grin:

[laurab]

Hi Paul

you might be in luck but Elsa is very shrewd :D

Laura

[PAUL HEARN]

:grin: Hi Laura,

Do you think I could tempt Elsa with some Giant African Land Snails as a swapsy plus some cash?:-|

Paul.:wink:

[laurab]

OH NO! Anything BUT the snails:eek:

[PAUL HEARN]

Hi Laura,


Hard cash it is then!! :grin:

Paul.:wink:

[laurab]

Why does bad news always seem to follow good? Elsa's quail has stopped sitting and the eggs look like they have been scattered :( Any idea why she may have done this?

[Waxbillman]

sorry to hear that laura:sad: matthew

[laurab]

Thanks Matthew.

[PAUL HEARN]

Hi Laura,

The answer may be that this is the first round for the hen C.P.Q.
and she has deserted and scattered the Eggs due to inexperience.:?

Fingers crossed she gets it right on the second or maybe even the third round.:wink:

Paul.:grin:

[chris]

Hi laura,

this is something that happens to me on a regular basis, last year my hen did it at least 3 times before finally settling and sitting, this year she's got to have done it 5+ times already, and i've only just forund her new nest site yesterday with 5 eggs.

i think the main cause of this is lack of cover, if you can afford multiple ornamental grasses and plant them quite closely together in one corner of the aviary, i'm sure your hen will find it and start nesting, more importantly, it should provide enough cover to make her feel secure and not move again.

i have found a very cheap alternative to ornamental grass! plain canary seed! cover your aviary floor with it in the desired corner, give it a good watering and leave it a week, it should start growing like a lawn. leave the grass to grow nice and long and your quail should start nesting in there. you may need to cover the canary seed with soil/sand to help prevent the birds from eating it, however mine didn't really eat too much and i have a nice little green patch with 5 eggs.

the other thing i find is that if you keep checking the nest they move away to elsewhere, so it's best to leave them alone once you find the nest site.

Chris

[laurab]

Hi Chris


the quail was sitting on her eggs under a patio slab I had raised up with a couple of bricks so she was well hidden. I never interfere when birds are sitting on eggs as I think it best to let nature take its course.

Should I remove the eggs? :?

[chris]

Hi laura, if she's definately not sitting then i would take the eggs out, as i have known mine to start laying ontop of old eggs, which doesn't help out with the incubation at all as some eggs go cold and fewer hatch. i don't know why she has decided to move from under a slab:-? , as paul has said, it's probably down to her being young and inexperienced

Chris;-)

[PAUL HEARN]

Hi Laura,

To add to Chris's idea of growing Canary seed, how about growing some Grass tussocks in a tray for the hen to nest in?
If they dry out and die just collect some more.:grin:

Paul.

[laurab]

Tussocks???? I thought that was an item of clothing:? :? lol