Daily Life 1: Quail Chronicles
After a harrowing incubation and hatching period, eleven cute, fluffy little celadon quail are now growing happily in a brooder in my mud room. My hognose snake, the dashing Mrs. Pigworm who was the original inhabitant of the makeshift brooder, is now relegated to a small tank while she brumates for the winter, which is sort of like hibernation lite. By the time spring rolls around, the quail will have outgrown the container and moved to their outdoor coop, and Pigworm will return to her abode, none the wiser.
This batch of quail is of particular interest to me, since it will be the start of a long term quail keeping project. Earlier this year I made the tough decision to pivot away from muscovy keeping due to circumstances beyond my control (read: eagles.) These tiny birds are carriers of the Celadon gene, which makes them lay blue eggs instead of the normal beige speckled. There seems to be a few problems with this gene, in particular some seem to have feet and size issues, and indeed I lost a few hatchlings, far more than I normally do with quail. I have one that, while it has survived thus far, has a deformed leg which may cause it problems down the line, but I always like to give them a chance. Update: The one with the bad leg didn’t make it.
The baby quail are hilarious creatures, spending their time running from under the heater to the food to the water at a dizzying pace, and falling asleep just as quickly when they’ve had their fill. They also chirp their tiny hearts out, quite often to summon me from another room. Surprisingly, despite their small size, they aren’t afraid of me and will jostle one another for the chance to sit in my cupped hand,
I continuously marvel at their antics, and find myself wiling away the day watching them and their little squabbles and drama. For such little things, barely a day or so old, they’re already sizing one another up, displaying dominance behavior, and even starting to scrap. I worry about the day they hit puberty because I’m sure there will be injuries. Funnier still is when I play video of other quail in their vicinity, since they all come running intent to start a gang war with no fear in their eyes.
They grow fast, and I swear they nearly double each day which is quite alarming. Their colors will also change, although I am excited about the rainbow of colors that came out of this batch. I like them very much and already have plans to expand this program once I get everything settled.
I know I don’t usually write actual blog posts about what’s going on in my life, but I got back into drawing and wanted to do some illustrations—the quail being a perfect excuse to draw cute things.
