Chinese painted quail help

[Albandito99]

Hi all, so I have a large aviary that I built to keep zebra finch and thought if would be good to introduce some CPQ as the ground birds for my aviary, they were bought as pets with no intention of them breeding because I've been told that they don't breed naturally, Brilliant.... or so I thought.
So to cut a long story short both females have made nests and have been sitting on eggs for a while now, the 1st female must of been ahead because her chicks hatched 3 days ago, all fine and there was 7, now I have came home from work today and I'm now down to 3! ??
Also I have a camera inside the aviary but it doesn't record but I sat and observed and I've seen the second female pecking the remaining babies so I'm guessing she is guilty of the loss of the first 4 today!
Am I best to remove the remaining 3 live chicks from there mum?
Remove the other female who is causing harm (bare in mind she is sitting on eggs too)
Or let nature take its course?

Any help or advice would be much appreciated

 

[Sandrine]

I had a couple CPQ (Charley and Martha) and I too never thought I'd get chicks ever... But at some point something must have clicked and Martha sat on her eggs. The first time was unsuccessful, but then the 2nd time pretty much as soon as she had enough eggs she hatched 6 exactly 16 days later. We lost 2 through accidents... Otherwise Martha has been exemplary as a mum. I have noticed that when she sat on her eggs and Charley was walking around her she was quite annoyed and would certainly be a bit of a bully with him though never caused him any harm.
So I think this is possibly what is happening here, if you're saying the offending female is sat on eggs at the minute. They are so fragile that whether she means harming them or not, they are not strong enough.
I would remove the little ones personally and keep them separate with their mum if possible. If you know who the dad is he could be with them too as I know in our case Charley played also a big part in raising them.
If any are boys though, as soon as you know (about 6 - 8 weeks old) you'll need to remove them or put them all back with the rest of the group. Our boys attacked their dad for first male privileges once they reached about 8 weeks. We had to put them in a separate enclosure, but they were fine together, with no female hormones around them lol We have re-homed them today, which is good news as I didn't fancy culling them.
Hope all goes well for your little ones... They brought such joy in our house

 

[Marigold]

So glad you've rehomed your boys, Sandrine. Room for the next batch now?

 

[Sandrine]

Yes Marigold ? and Martha is insisting on sitting on eggs again! Of course we are getting 3 a day now with her girls laying too... Though I don't think their eggs are fertile because Charley only seem interested in the one love of his life lol ? nevertheless I had forgotten to remove the eggs last week and she had 12 under her...
I am going to let her sit now, but will sort out the cage well before the chicks arrive, to make sure we don't get accidental falls this time. I will sell them this time or re-home them to the same place as Leonard and Howard. Space will be an issue for more adults... Unless I manage to build an aviary in the garden....