My quail are laying! This morning when feeding, I found the first egg lying in the pine shavings. A few hours later, I found an egg in each of the two cardboard hiding "houses". What good birds!
I was not expecting this quite yet. They are a few days short of 6 weeks, when laying usually begins. Surprising, too, that all three started laying on the same day.
We don't have a quail rooster, so these eggs are infertile and will be eaten.
Hard to believe the Pharaoh Quail are already 5 weeks old! It looks like we've got three hens, which is okay because we want the eggs. They don't need a rooster to lay non-fertile eggs for eating. So that's their next milestone.
Our little chicks have grown into really sweet birds. Peep enjoys being petted and likes to sit on top of their little box house. Princess Leia thinks the house is her personal space, but sometimes shares with Groundwalker. These two have been very close since they both hatched at the same time.
I was expecting these eggs to hatch Saturday, but the little pranksters began hatching Thursday evening, almost simultaneously. Sixteen hatched before midnight and three more just after. The last one hatched about 5:00 am.
Two days early and the mischief did not stop there:
My little button quail chicks are putting on feathers of many colors. There are quite a few silver, a couple of cinnamon, and some I-don't-know-what. Each one is beautiful.
Their diet is expanding as they are now having some salad greens. They are eating ground gamebird starter with a small amount of ground kitten food added. (1/4 c. kitten food to 2 c. gamebird starter)
And what a surprise: they can fly even this young! I learned the hard way when my precious Quailito flew out and was killed by one of my chihuahuas. A couple days later it happened again while I was feeding. And I was trying to be very careful! The chicks are now in a dog-proof area.
The chicks started avoiding the heat light, so I changed the light bulb from 60 watt to 40 watt and they now seem comfortable. Soon they will need a larger brooder as they become more active. (sigh) How quickly they grow!
By 2 pm Sunday, seven more chicks hatched. The final total was 12!
Saturday brought three darling silver chicks. They are fitting in just fine. I cannot tell them apart, so they don't have names yet.
