They say it rarely happens: a coturnix quail sitting on eggs to hatch chicks. You may recall from [this post] that a hen from some hatching eggs of mine did it. At the time, I attributed it to the conditions: this hen was all alone in a big beautiful natural setting after the rest of her flock walked through a hole in the cage and never came back.
This time, I had it happen to my quail. The broody hen was not at all in a natural setting. In fact, she was cramped in a small cage while I tried to figure out how to build a bigger one for all the birds. What happened is that I wanted to see how two roos would integrate into a large group of hens so I put them in. It did not go well. The already established flock sent one roo packing with a bloody head. I put him in an isolated cage and gave him two hens. They’re doing fine. The other roo stayed with the bigger group.
After that, this one hen — that I will probably make an exception for and give a name to — started sitting on eggs: everyone’s eggs. At one time she had more than 20 under her and she was trying to make herself as flat as possible to cover them.
The advice I got from other quail breeders is that it’s not worth the effort to let them brood. Take the eggs away, or at the very least mark a few, then take away all the ones the hen keeps collecting. Most of the time, the quail will get bored and quit, so have an incubator handy if you decide to let her sit.
I was nearly at that point, starting to take away eggs when I noticed the one I was holding in my hand seemed to be pipping, ready to hatch. I put it back under the hen along with about six more that were marked.
It hatched. Just one for now. I took away the other eggs and put them in the already prepped incubator. I moved the hen and chick to a large storage container with a mesh top and side and brought them into the house. They’re here now, on the other side of my home office. So cute. Mama hen is doting, constantly keeping an eye on her one baby. Most of the time the chick is under mama. Every once in a while it emerges and runs around and eats and drinks. Here’s a video of the hen trying to feed the small baby chick a large (at least compared to the chick) mealworm.