I’m getting worried. I”m afraid the squash are going to tear through into my coop and devour my quail. Here is what’s been happening (again, pictures taken just a few days apart!)
It’s attempting to rip through the hardware cloth!
Even in the back, it’s squash gone wild.
And a day or two later:
Run, quail, run for your lives!
On top of the coop, it’s a jungle of plants. Including the tomato that grew itself from seed. It has flower buds now.
And I didn’t get a picture, but the White Soul Strawberries I grew from seed have flowers now too. It looks like I might actually get a few berries this year!
I have also begun the landscaping around the quail coop.
The quail don’t care that the squash are attacking their coop. They are happy in their squash jungle. Look, here’s Peabody guarding one of the eggs laid. Male quail will do that. Also, I noticed he’s a good little guy to his hens. I watched him find something tasty on the ground, then call one of the ladies over to eat it! I’m glad I chose him to remain in the big coop with the girls.
In my last post, I talked about how he was being bullied by the other two males, so I was planning to remove those two bad boys and build them a smaller “bachelor coop” of their own. I have that built, and the boys are in it. They seem to be contented so far, so fingers crossed they continue to get along!
The bachelor coop is in a corner of my veggie garden, and I’m very proud of it. I designed and built it all by myself. There are two doors on the top that lift open.
The plan is to put a couple of cabbages in there, so the quail have leaves to hide under, and I have a usable planting space.
Peabody is very happy to have them gone. Next Spring, perhaps I’ll hatch some more eggs and give the two bad boys some females of their own. I really like keeping quail; I love everything about them so far (except for the bullying.) I love their sounds, and how the males stand on tip-toe to crow, and how easy and clean they are. They are also settling and getting used to me being in their coop. They are unafraid of me – I have to be really careful not to step on them because they don’t run away from my feet. One of the ones that needed help hatching is particularly tame. He’s one of the bachelor boys, and he’s so tame that last night he felt asleep in the palm of my hand while I was scratching his neck feathers.
I suppose I should introduce them all. There is Peabody, the white Texas A&M. His girls are two Italians, named Nefertiti and Nefertari (Titi and Tari.) They are nearly twins – I can only tell them apart because Nefertari has a little white patch on her head. Then there is Hatchepsut (Hattie) who is a Standard.
In the bachelor coop, I have a Standard male, Senusret (Cinna). Then there is my sweet little male Imhotep, a Blonde. It is *possible* Imhotep is actually a female. The coloring seems to be more like a male, but he hasn’t crowed yet, which is odd. Now that he’s in the bachelor coop, I guess I’ll know for sure if an egg appears!
And I promised you a frog. I find quite a few little tree frogs in my garden, but this one is especially beautiful. He looks like he’s been spray-painted with bright metallic gold!
Out of Eden 