Wailing Quail!!!

A week ago today we hatched off our first ever batch of quail.

The first Texan A&M to hatch.

They were the most amazing hatchers. Unlike chicks who tend to take 12 plus hours to show their little faces, quail just seem to go POP and they are out of their shells. Not only this, but they are also up and running (not walking but running) within 30 minutes, some instantly!


They don't waste any time in getting around and eating and drinking and they are steady on their feet in just a hour or so; it normally takes a chick a day to become completely steady on their feet. These little bundles of joy come out of their eggs looking so fragile and small that you are worried about transferring them to their brooder - until you see them move. They are nimble and agile and, quite frankly suicidal! I have given up trying to pick them up.

A few minutes old

Picking them up seems far too risky to their 'fragile' little bodies as they just run. Yup, as soon as you get them off of the ground they run out of your hand. Of course this is no different to how they behave in the brooder, they run everywhere and you often find yourself laughing as although they are very talented sprinters, stopping is not a skill they have been blessed with. They allow their surroundings to work as their braking system.

 Right, why did I choose to call this post 'Wailing Quail'? Well, we have two little buggers who sit under the light calling to it for hours at a time! I mean, I am entirely unsure when they find time to breathe between "peep, peep, PEEP, PEEP, PEEP!" It is very frustrating. Try concentrating on say updating a website or a blog with that going off in the background.

Our front room has become the hatchery and brooding area since the temperatures have dropped and our front room is directly nextdoor to our bedroom! The electric hen that we have is not suitable for quail or other very small birds so they are under a lightbulb. This presents us with the problem that they are in, what they think is, daylight 24/7/ which means that peeping goes on 24/7 for stretches (so far) of up to four hours at a time! You can imagine how I am feeling at the moment - apart from tired! Although saying that I am sitting here waiting for the little wotsit to start so that I can video the evidence and, low and behold, it is silent! I will post the evidence as soon as it has been documented - I can't see it will be too far behing this post to be honest, but you never know.

The Quail Killer is already limbering up in a bid to silence the culprits on a more permanant basis, but you can rest assured that this is not now and will never be allowed. He has been told that if he want silence in the front room he must build my shiny new insulated hatchery and quail shed with avairy attached!