First ever Chinese Painted Quail have hatched!

[Chickpea87]

Hello!

It is just into day 18 of my CPQ incubation and 8 out of 12 eggs have hatched. 7 hatched on day 16, are in the brooder and doing well, the 8th hatched overnight and has splay legs so annoyed with myself not putting new non slip material in the incubator!

I know of the hobble technique but as the little one is so small, is there any advice of how to do it for CPQ? Don't want to do it wrong - when I popped the little one in to the brooder the others pecked at it and walked all over him/her so he/she is back in the incubator with some ground chick crumb.

 

[rita]

well done on your new hatch, sorry to hear about your little quail with splay legs, i sorry i can't help but i am sure there are some people on here who have had this problem, check the website there must be a write up somewhere on splay legs.
good luck.

 

[Marigold]

Well done to have hatched your babies, I bet they're tiny, coturnix chicks are incredibly small so I can't imagine what CPQs look like.
Theres a thread about splayed legs at http://poultrykeeperforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=6440 which may help, I hope so.

 

[Chickpea87]

Thank you so much for your help they are indeed teeny tiny! They feed out of milk bottle tops and look about the same size! Love them little hobble has been put in place, fingers crossed so far it seems to be helping x

 

[Chickpea87]

All 8 chickies are doing well! I wondered what the rough survival rate is for CPQ chicks? Also, is there any way to tell what colour they will grow up to be? I have a few that are darker with beautiful little copper stripes and others that are lighter yellow at present x

 

[Marigold]

Any chance you could post some pics of them, Chickpea? Preferably with something to give us a sense of scale?

 

[Chickpea87]

No problem, when it's a bit lighter tomorrow morning I'll try and get a photo for you. Is there a specific way of posting photos on the forum?

 

[Marigold]

Go to Photos of Chickens section in the General chickens menu, see http://poultrykeeperforum.com/viewforum.php?f=27 for threads on how to do it. Looking forward to some picss when you can manage it.

 

[Chickpea87]

I hope this worked! My 8 little quails x

 

[Marigold]

Are those plastic things milk bottle tops? Incredible! Aren't they super! It's so amazing that they can be hatched as tiny as that and still all fluffy and not naked like some baby birds.

 

[Chickpea87]

Yes they are milk bottle tops I just love them so much! Gorgeous little balls of fluff, each with their own personality already! I can't wait to find out what colours they will be when they are older!

 

[Margaid]

OMG they are so TINY!! Had to show OH and kept saying "those are milk bottle caps, milk bottle caps." He thought they were cute too.

 

[Chickpea87]

All still doing well my little one who had splayed legs (who we made a hobble for - no easy task!) is walking much better, but the hobble has fallen off now after 3 days. Should we try to make another? I don't want to cause more distress than necessary x

 

[Marigold]

Well, if it's helped him, it might be worth another try. Maybe he's a bit bigger (!) three days on?

 

[ncotb]

OMG, they are so tiny :shock: so cute though