- Thread starter
- #171
Booted the babies out to the aviary last night! They are all still alive this morning. No death by cold, or death by adult quail taking offense at a baby being there.
It was an interesting musical chairs activity with my three adult males though.... See if you can follow this chain of events.
Actors:
Bad Brown Boy
Gets picked on Brown and White Boy
Stealth Pharaoh Boy
Bad Brown Boy has been living in a dog crate with chicken wire over it placed on the floor of the aviary since he likes to attack Gets picked on Brown and White Boy. Stealth Pharaoh Boy has been cool with whatever happens and has been living on the ground with Gets picked on Brown and White Boy. Doesn't care what happens around him. So I was interested to see how Gets picked on Brown and White Boy and Stealth Pharaoh Boy responded to the babies. Surprisingly, Gets picked on Brown and White Boy started to chase some babies and pull their feathers. So I switched Gets picked on Brown and White Boy with Bad Brown Boy to see if things changed. Moved Bad Brown Boy to the main aviary and Gets picked on Brown and White Boy into the dog kennel. Maybe Bad Brown Boy would be nice to the babies? Turns out he was nice to them, mostly because he just wants to mate all the ladies 24/7/365. But another surprise..... Stealth Pharaoh Boy started to attack Bad Brown Boy whenever Bad Brown Boy was trying to mate (which was all the time without stopping). So that is fun. No baby attacks though from either Bad Brown Boy or Stealth Pharaoh Boy. But since Stealth Pharaoh Boy was attacking Bad Brown Boy, I moved Stealth Pharaoh Boy in to the kennel with Gets picked on Brown and White Boy since they seemed to get along with each other. Which means Bad Brown Boy won in the end and now has all the ladies, with the other two males in jail. I don't know how he worked that out. He really is evil.
Only issue I saw this morning was that Bad Brown Boy and Gets picked on Brown and White Boy are occasionally taking stabs at each other thru the chicken wire/dog kennel walls. Gets picked on Brown and White Boy has a bloody nose/beak again. When will they learn..... Might move both Gets picked on Brown and White Boy and Stealth Pharaoh Boy up to the raised cage so that Bad Brown Boy can't peck Gets picked on Brown and White Boy anymore. Which leaves the kennel on the ground empty...until these babies mature and I find more males.....
It was an interesting musical chairs activity with my three adult males though.... See if you can follow this chain of events.
Actors:
Bad Brown Boy
Gets picked on Brown and White Boy
Stealth Pharaoh Boy
Bad Brown Boy has been living in a dog crate with chicken wire over it placed on the floor of the aviary since he likes to attack Gets picked on Brown and White Boy. Stealth Pharaoh Boy has been cool with whatever happens and has been living on the ground with Gets picked on Brown and White Boy. Doesn't care what happens around him. So I was interested to see how Gets picked on Brown and White Boy and Stealth Pharaoh Boy responded to the babies. Surprisingly, Gets picked on Brown and White Boy started to chase some babies and pull their feathers. So I switched Gets picked on Brown and White Boy with Bad Brown Boy to see if things changed. Moved Bad Brown Boy to the main aviary and Gets picked on Brown and White Boy into the dog kennel. Maybe Bad Brown Boy would be nice to the babies? Turns out he was nice to them, mostly because he just wants to mate all the ladies 24/7/365. But another surprise..... Stealth Pharaoh Boy started to attack Bad Brown Boy whenever Bad Brown Boy was trying to mate (which was all the time without stopping). So that is fun. No baby attacks though from either Bad Brown Boy or Stealth Pharaoh Boy. But since Stealth Pharaoh Boy was attacking Bad Brown Boy, I moved Stealth Pharaoh Boy in to the kennel with Gets picked on Brown and White Boy since they seemed to get along with each other. Which means Bad Brown Boy won in the end and now has all the ladies, with the other two males in jail. I don't know how he worked that out. He really is evil.
Only issue I saw this morning was that Bad Brown Boy and Gets picked on Brown and White Boy are occasionally taking stabs at each other thru the chicken wire/dog kennel walls. Gets picked on Brown and White Boy has a bloody nose/beak again. When will they learn..... Might move both Gets picked on Brown and White Boy and Stealth Pharaoh Boy up to the raised cage so that Bad Brown Boy can't peck Gets picked on Brown and White Boy anymore. Which leaves the kennel on the ground empty...until these babies mature and I find more males.....
! A comment you made on another thread interested me in your setup 
i read through this Entire thread your whole quail story very intriguing the whole thing so yes i am reviving this yr dead thread 
. Im glad rats have been your only predator problem! I wonder how many birds do you have now? Seems like chicken math hit you like a ton of bricks too(also!) when you found out how fun those lil birds are!
maybe the egg flock will make it to the ground yet!
