Today is a special day. Much to my surprise I found an egg in the Quail's run, and seven weeks ago the Quail that laid it was still an egg herself!
The Quail have now moved into the large indoor run which I built to house the chicks. They are absolutely gorgeous little birds and the range of sounds they make is quite incredible. I think I have two males and four females, but I'm by no means sure about that yet. I was really amazed to find an egg in the run today. Unlike chickens, Quail do not use nest boxes (or perches) - they just lay in their bedding, although I have noticed that they make little hollows in the wood shavings where they sit. I have provided them with a covered area at both ends of the run, one of which is heated, and I have still been putting the heater on at night because the weather has been so cold. The Quail seem to spend most of their time under the covered areas - see the photo below. They are very timid little birds.
Pinky, Perky, Nano and Coco have now moved out into a proper hen house and are doing really well. Coco is a beautiful bird and is very tame. The Rhode Island Red (RIR) chicks seem a bit small for their age but they are only 9 weeks old and have got a good bit of growing left to do yet. Here is a photo of Coco (looking very inquisitive!) and one of the RIR chicks - I'm afraid I can't tell them apart!
Blondie, Sooty and Sweep are now 12 weeks old and have access to the outdoor run that I made for them. I'm still not sure of their gender - I think that Sooty and Blondie (see photo below) are possibly both male.
Sooty has grown some lovely reddish brown feathers on his neck and back and is a really lovely bird and Blondie has incredible yellow eyes. They both have the typical Araucana comb and crest, and Sooty has a definite "beard". I think that Sweep (see following photo) is possibly female. She does not have a crest but has a beard and some brown edging to her neck and chest feathers. The main thing is that they all seem to be getting on with each other very well so far, what ever they are.
And then there's Chirpy who at 15 weeks old is nearly fully grown. He has started to crow (not very well it has to be said!) but I expect he will improve with practice. Chirpy is still very tame and likes to be handled. He really had grown up to be a handsome fellow (see photo below), and before too long I'll be thinking about introducing him to the "senior" hens. Not sure who will get the biggest shock!
Finally, here's a photo of the "senior" hens relaxing in their newly extended pen. The only one not in the photo is JD, but I expect she had egg laying business to attend to.
The hens have been laying really well - on average about 4 eggs every day!. Provided the weather is not really bad, they get out of their pen for a few hours every day to roam free around the garden and farm yard, which they really enjoy.
That's all for now from the hen house!
I love that picture of the little quail peering out from under their covered area. I can confirm that they really do make a range of very strange noises :-)
ReplyDeleteHoly cow they are all getting so big. Chirpy has turned out to be a real stunner. They all are. Well done to you Tom, you've really done an incredible job with them all. They look like happy little chappies or should that be chirpies?! Terrible Lee......stick to crafting woman! heehee. Congrats on the wee Quail egg too, hopefully there are plenty more to come. Lee :)
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