Quail Jail...With Paint!

A trip to the local hardware store yielded a gallon of cocoa brown exterior paint. The Quail Jail now blends nicely into my garden. I am planning to build another potting table in the garden and will likely install the Quail Jail on top of it. This will keep the birds up off of the ground and make it nearly impossible for a rodent to try to build a nest under them to take advantage of spilled food. It seems as though everything is a work in progress as we discover better ways to improve upon the things that we are doing. We are quite fortunate to have access to the internet. There are so many other blogs and websites for people who want to get a little closer to nature. So far, we have been able to learn from the mistakes of others and avoid some of the more common ones.

Wind Egg

I have seen other people post pictures of wind eggs. A wind egg is what happens when a chicken lays an egg that is abnormally small. It is sort of a glitch when it happens and the obligatory side-by-side comparison photos are quite comical to see.

They are even funnier when they are laid by a quail. You see, it took 11 quail eggs to make a small omelet for breakfast this morning. In other words, quail eggs are very small to begin with. A quail wind egg is about the size of a marble...or maybe a little smaller...Yep, definitely smaller!I didn't have the heart to crack it open.

Memorial Weekend Workout

We decided to put the long weekend to good use. We managed to get most of the gardens in: some tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, more herbs, radishes, cucumbers, zucchini, cantaloupe and watermelon. We sowed some pots of mesclun mix and various other salad greens awhile back and they are doing fairly well...Or at least they are when the squirrels leave them alone!




Our strawberries are doing very well and there are quite a few blossoms on them. We can't wait until we can taste some homegrown berries.

The peas are up and we continue to sow more each week to make sure that we have a continuous crop.

The quail are enjoying the backyard in their Quail Jail. Fabricated from old windows, it still needs a paint job. I never manage to remember to check the hardware store for OOPS paint. I'm hoping to find something that will complement the colors of our house. The first batch of quail hens are all laying 4 eggs consistently. This photo only shows the first batch of birds as the Rich Heritage birds have been residing on my screened back porch . The Rich Heritage quail started to lay this week, though I'm still not certain as to the sexes of most of those birds... Only one bird crows! Could we really be so fortunate as to have only one rooster in the hatch? If so, it would bring our total male count to three.

Here is a picture of one of our water barrels. I would love to get another one that is shaped like this. It is currently half full due to some generous rainfall...Now if we could just get some gutters up on the house or carriage house to direct the rain into the barrel...hmmmm...

EGGS!

These are the first two Martian eggs laid at Mission-2-Mars. They are rather small, even for quail eggs. I'm not too sure which birds actually laid them, but I have my suspicions. Our first batch of quail had 2 males and 4 females, so we should be seeing quite a few eggs in the days to come. The second batch of quail is fast approaching 6 weeks of age, so we will soon be overrun with eggs. I can't wait to try them in an omelet!

The Martian Quail Have Taken Over!

Last night before I went to bed, I noticed that 3 of the quail eggs in the incubator had pips! The chicks were determinedly pecking away, trying to shed their little shells so that they could meet some honest-to-goodness Martians.

It was a dark and stormy night and the wind howled incessantly, keeping me awake for hours. I was determined to sleep in this morning, but a steady peeping awoke me at 7:40. Our first quail had hatched out and was determined that no additional sleep was to be had in our house. I captured some of the hatching activity on video and spent the remainder of the day watching quail tv...It's quite entertaining. There are lots of re-runs, as each chick is determined to repeat the mistakes of their brethren. Someone told me that baby quail come into the world with a suicidal streak. I have found it to be true. I also learned how resilient they are, since none of their antics actually killed any of them.

By dinner time, we had a total of 6 chicks. I believe that 4 of them are Texas A&M quail, one is a chocolate quail and one is a golden quail. Not bad considering that these eggs were shipped through the postal service. Here they are:

Quail Egg Pictures

That's right! Two posts in one day...I just had to post a picture of the quail eggs in my incubator. Prior to this endeavor, I had never seen quail eggs before. I think that they are kind of pretty. There are three varieties in this photo. The only ones that I can identify are the Texas A&M's. They are the cream colored eggs with the big brown splotches. I purchased an assortment of eggs from someone on the Backyard Chickens website, but I couldn't identify them. When Brad at Rich Heritage sent a shipment of only Texas A&M eggs, it helped me to narrow things down a bit. I could have some eggs hatching in about a week or so, while the ones from Brad will be at least 10 days later.

Thanks again, Brad for allowing your quail to come live with the Martians!

Doing Time: Construction Of The Quail Jail

Last Sunday, while puttering around in the carriage house, I found several old window frames. The glass was missing from each, so I decided to use them in the construction of a dual cage for the quail. I used a frame that once held two panes of glass and mounted 1/4 inch welded wire to it. This would be the floor of the cage. The daylight hours were waning, so I put the project away until I had more time.

This week, I selected twin frames and mounted 1/2 inch welded wire to construct the sides. The sides will also be hung on hinges to create doors. The front panel will consist of more 1/2 inch welded wire and the rear wall and top will be plywood. The plan is to set the quail hut inside the chicken pen, which should make cleanup easier. A side benefit is that in the event of a quail jail break, the birds will be unable to escape from the chicken pen.

Once finished, I'll take a trip to the Re-Store to get some suitable paint. Yeah... I know that the birds won't notice the paint job but if I'm going to go to the trouble to make it, then I want it to look good! Besides, I think we can squeeze a few bucks out of the budget for paint. I'll post pictures, when its finished.