Quail and Chickens

Most of the quail coop is built – it lacks only the nesting box added onto the right side.

I love my blue door!  I found a full size (but narrow) door, cut it down and painted it.

Along the back side, there is a narrow bed for planting beans, peas, sunflowers, etc, to let them grow up the wire.  Right now, I have peas, beans, AND sunflowers planted, because I had a few of each left over from my other plantings.

The green roof is also ready to go.  We finished up too late to put in the Sparkle Strawberries, but they are on order for next Spring.  In the meantime, I have a few squash and a watermelon up there.  I got the idea for that by discovering that a volunteer had seeded itself, and was busy growing up there!

No idea what kind it is, but I’m hoping for a Spaghetti Squash.

I’m also putting in a few of the White Soul strawberries I’m growing from seed.

The quail themselves are growing SO FAST.  I swear, I can almost see them grow.  Last week, they were two weeks old, and they looked rather amusing with almost fully-feathered in adult bodies and fluffy baby heads!  It was especially striking in little Peabody, our white Texas A&M.

This week, they have adult feathering on their heads, too.

They have paid visits to their outdoor coop (it’s been very sunny and warm here) and they LOVE it.  So many greens to nibble on, so many places to have a dirt bath, or just stretch out in the sun!

I’m really liking quail-keeping so far.  They are quiet, no trouble at all, and so pretty and interesting to watch.  And sometime around the first week of August, they should begin to lay eggs of their own!

The three adopted baby chicks are almost grown as well, although they still like to sleep underneath their mother at night.

It’s super awkward for mama, and way too warm for them.  They sit under her panting, but they won’t give up on the idea.

This is Frederika.  Only I’m certain now she’s a he.

Although he’s too canny to let me catch him crowing (although I *did* hear some suspicious noises one morning) I did catch him molesting Isabella behind the Lemon Balm.   If anyone wants a rooster, or knows of someone who does, please do let me know!  I’ll keep him until he starts crowing, but after that, he’s gotta go.  We live in the city, and there are no roosters allowed.

For fun I gave the Girls a mirror out in their coop yard.

Isabella was the one most taken with herself.  Who IS that bird with the funny topknot???  I never saw HER around before!

And in other chicken news, Leda (our Silver-Laced Wyandote) has gone to live with my friend Laura’s chickens.  She was a massive bully to my hens, and even the hens higher in the pecking order hated her.  I’d feel sorry for how much she got pecked, until I watched how she’d repeatedly cross the entire yard just to chase Josie away from anything Josie was enjoying.  And when they were locked up in the coop?  Josie and the babies got no peace at all.  Leda would follow them anywhere they went to harass them.  Luckily for her, she seems to be fitting in with Laura’s hens much better.  Luckily for her, because I’d given Laura permission to eat her if she didn’t behave!  The flock has been so quiet, peaceful, and happy with Leda gone!