Bye-Bye Birdies

The quail have moved to the farm! Uncle John, Aunt CJ, and Aunt Patty were kind enough to give our little quail babies a home. Uncle John built this beautiful brooder that they'll live in until they are old enough to transfer to the chicken coop.



Here is where the quail are going to be after they get a little bigger. They get their own apartment!




Here are some of their neighbors on the farm:

Cody and Buckley

Baby goats Alex and Max

One of the roosters

Neighbors to the left: peacocks!

neighbors to the right: resident egg laying hens. (thanks for the tasty eggs ladies!)

Thank you so much Aunt Patty,

and thank you Uncle John and Aunt CJ.

Japanese Quail 24 Days Old

Look how tall I am when I stretch out my neck and stand up!

It's hard to believe these are the same tiny, little quail from a few weeks ago. They have changed SO much. There was not a switch-a-roo. I swear, these are the same little guys!

The quail are 24 days old. All the information on raising quail stated to 'debeak' the birds at 4 weeks. I was hesitant to 'debeak' them. It just sounds awful. But after they started to peck at each other, I decided to give it a try, all those professional bird raisers couldn't be wrong. It turns out it isn't as bad as it sounds. In fact, I just used finger nail clippers to snip the very tip off of the upper beak. They didn't seem to mind too much.

15 Day Old Japanese Quail Move into New Cage

The baby quail are looking more like the adult quail they are destined to be. Thy are getting more of the white feathers on their tummies. They startle easier and WILL fly out of the cage if you leave an opening! One flew out a tiny crack in the lid when we were changing the litter and bumped into our kitchen window. I think he thought he was outside and free to fly away. To answer Grant's question: the Japanese quail do not get the cute little dingily feather on their head like the typical quail we all think of. They are now 2 weeks old. These quail become mature adults at an amazing rate. In 3 more weeks they will be full adults and the female quail will be able to lay their own eggs! And the cycle begins again!

Ten Days Old

Check out our plumage.

It's tough work growing at this rate!

Hey, look up here on the water container! Check out my skills. I've got tail feather growing skills and high jumping skills!

You lookin' at me?!

It's Great, We're Eight (Days Old That Is)!

Can you believe how big we've gotten in just eight short days?! We are getting our flight feathers in now. Notice the larger feathers in our wings. We can jump pretty high too. We eat more and create more waste now. We like these cool pine shavings that are in our cage. It is fun to scratch in and we like to snuggle into it for the night.

The Quail are 5 Days Old...

The quail are 5 days old now. They are getting stronger and jumpier. They love to sleep in their food. Wouldn't that be fun? Can you imagine you are laying in your food, you take a bite to eat and then roll over and sleep in it?! Yum, yum, yum... Cocoa Puffs... ZZZZZZZ...

From Egg to Hatchling

The Chicks Have Arrived!

Thanks to the UC Davis Avian Department, we have had the privilege of hatching Japanese quail. We started incubating the tiny eggs on the evening of March 16th. 16 days later, on April 1st, we had our first little quail hatch. We deemed him "Early Bird". Since then, we've been able to watch 15 little cuties come into the world. Please check out the pictures and enjoy the video(ignore the audio)!

*Thanks so much to Jennifer for allowing the children to have this beautiful experience!