Sometimes quite a bit bigger. I was at the Stock Shop on Thunderbird yesterday and they had Tibetans and a couple of other colors of coturnix and my DH even remarked how small they seem compared to the jumbos. The white ones all have some normal colored feathers, usually on the head but some on their backs or other random places. I think your girlfriend is right and the hawks pick off the pale ones first, but probably the owls even more since at night they would really stand out.Oh yes, some photos!! How much bigger is jumbo? My girlfriend said she thinks that the white pigeon's get picked out by the hawks.. Who knows about that but are the white quail all white? What do you feed them? Did you buy fertile eggs or babies?
I see you are in Tempe, need to have you over for tea.. I have so many questions...
These are five weeks old now and the boys are starting to crow more and I saw one chasing girls today! There should be eggs soon. I'm feeding them organic 26% protein turkey starter. I had them on 22% chick starter and it wasn't enough protein and they were starting to feather pick! I also put in chunks of quail block that is 30% to give them more to do. I got mine as week old chicks so I've only had them a month!
Ah, tea! Mint tea is my favorite, but I like pretty much any kind. PM me and we can set up a time.
I put in cup waterers for my quail and that was their only source of water. I did take a couple in each enclosure and dip their beaks into the cups so they knew the water came from there. They are way dumber than chickens and they picked it up that day. They do have to work at it more to get the water since they have to actively press down on the yellow thingy. I think they may be harder to learn to use than the nipple waterers. Not sure which I like better.
We always called them bull heads since they look like the horns of a bull coming straight out to poke you in the foot! Bad stuff. But the real bad thing is the large red ants that live in the valley actually cultivate the stuff and will pile the **** things all around their colony entrance to keep predators away! If you have any of those large red ants around it will be impossible to get rid of that plant until you get rid of the ants because they will seek out more and bring it back with them.
It is sunny all day there? Part shade? Do the chickens have access? I like the idea of mint (love chocolate mint!) but it does try to take over the world so know that going into it.And to think I was actually encouraging it's growth! I was looking for something low-growing to fill in the spaces between my flagstone, and figured since it was already there and happy, why not? SOOOO glad I asked!
I have those evil little seeds everywhere in my yard, I just didn't know where they were coming from. My yard must have been infested at one point. My poor dog steps on one or two every day.
So, anyone have any thoughts on something low-growing that would look nice between flagstone? In the NW, we'd have used moss. Obviously NOT a very good choice for Tucson.
The high is only 84 today. They'll be fine and it's a nice break from the heat, this should help with their acclimation to the heat. I've started a compost pile in the run and leave fruits and stuff in it for them to dig out. Then in the morning I drench it and it in the heat of the day they are laying on it cooling off. The straw hold water and moisture inside their shoots too I believe.
My chickens love the compost bins! They come out looking like kids that have been eating chocolate ice cream because their faces are all black.
They seem to handle it as well as chickens but being small can dehydrate much faster so water sources are imperative. They are not louder, the roosters' crow is not as loud as the chickens' "I laid an egg" song. The rest of their sounds are like soft cricket noises. The Japanese first kept them as song birds before people realized their eggs and meat are good to eat. I imagine if you just wanted quiet sounds keeping only hens would be pleasant. If you only want them for meat you don't even need them for 8 weeks, you could process them sooner if you wanted since they eat like pigs and grow like weeds. Yes you can raise them on the ground. Wire is popular because it keeps them cleaner. My DH and I had quite a discussion on which to do. We went with wire because we got the cages and chicks in a trade. They would do fine on the ground as long as you had a good way to clean since their droppings can have an ammonia odor.
Great idea to grow your own! How big do BOSS plants get? I may have room for some someplace in the garden.
