My Quail lays eggs which my Budgy incubates, but how can I get the chicks to peck when they hatch?

Question

I have had quite a few baby quails hatch, but they won't peck and eat when they are born. In the past i have had some success getting a little milk and crumbs in their crops, but only two have survived this.

I am at a loss as i have been told that they will peck for themselves but they don't!

What can I do?

The quails will not incubate the eggs apparently it has been bred out of them, and when the budgie hatches them I have tried to get the quails to accept the chicks, but they pick on them instead.
These are Chinese painted quails.
When I got the quails I was told to expect this behavior and that the quails would lay eggs but not be broody, and that once hatched by another bird, the chicks would naturally peck at the ground and feed themselves. I got the quails from a farm where the owner was breeding hundreds of quails for the food market and they were hatching them from an incubator with no parents around......

Answer 1

Why doesn't the mother quail sit on her eggs? Have you given her some dry grass/straw to make a nest. Mum and Dad quail build a little mound and take turns on the nest. Baby quail follow their parents around, the parents pick up bits of food and show the babies what to eat. Quail eat seed, finely chopped veggies but also worms, grubs, insects, hard boiled egg yolk. Budgies are never going to be able to teach them to eat. I wouldn't give them milk, maybe you could try baby bird raising mix from the pet shop. They really do need their parents, they will fret and die without being able to crawl under their mum or dad. ********************************************************************************************************************************************* After seeing your added details I can only suggest you talk to the farmer you got them from, or the vet or a pet shop. You could try the baby mix. A vet told me to give a baby budgie I had that wouldn't eat, Glucose Syrup( cooking isle supermarket).
Half a teaspoon mixed with 1/4 cup warm water, a few drops in their beaks with an eye dropper every few hours. Gives them energy and makes them hungry. Good luck

Answer 2

The chicks wont learn to peck without a role model(at least not till they are older, which may be too late by then), you may have to continue to feed them yourself till they get old enough.

Unless you can get the quails to except the babies as their own, or socialise them with the quails, they should copy the behaviour of the other quails.

You really have your work cut out for you, as budgies rely mostly on seed up high and plants, maybe totally raising them yourself may be another option.

Its pretty common for birds to share eggs though, I once had a bantum chicken raise a gosling, everything was fine till the gosling (only a few weeks old) got as big as the bantum then it was abandoned to fend for itself cos the mother though it was grown up, then I had to raise it myself.

Good Luck

Answer 3

The rooster must be present for an egg to be fertilized. Most eggs that you buy at the supermarket are from hens that are raised without a rooster being present. Roosters are not necessary at egg farms where eggs are produced for consumption. Eggs for incubation are grown at special farms called breeder farms where roosters are present with the hens.