Hatching quail with a chicken

[bigredshaverhen]

I'm onna try dat!!!!!!!!

 

[ChickenLegs13]

Not much to report on. Remaining 4 chicks still alive & kicking and starting to feather out. Not growing as big or quickly as my brooder quail do. They are very wild, they follow the hen around like chicks do but when I enter the pen they simply dissappear. If I look close & hard I can see 1 standing over there by the wall, 1 hunched up behind a clump of dead grass, and other places, sometimes I can't see them at all and think something got them.
It's been raining for 2 days and I was concerned because the pen they are in is bad for flooding and I've lost many chicken chicks in that pen. The hen & chicks have made a nest atop a pile of dead grass in the corner under the roof overhang. Some drip splashes on the nest at night but the hen covers the chicks well enough I guess. They do walk around the rain and play in mud puddles without any ill effects so far. When it's raining they do spend a lot of time standing under the hen between her feet.
They rarely eat the starter feed. The hen is scratching up something for them and they are constantly pecking and eating something I can't see. Usually the pen is well foraged and barren but several weeks ago I dumped 5-6 wheelbarrow loads of dug up grass & dirt clods in there so I guess they're digging up insects or something. I threw some birdseed in for them and they showed only minor interest but would rather scratch & peck the dirt instead.

 

[Quail Jailer]

Mommy, this dirt tastes good...

 

[oktx]

Watching with interest and hoping you have 2 males and 2 females. This is a cool experiment that I would never dare to try unless it was absolutely necessary.

 

[ChickenLegs13]

Last 2 mights I checked on them around 2-3 am when I give my birds their midnight feeding and the chicks were alone in the nest and the hen was up on the roost pole. They didn't appear to be cold but for good measure I took the hen down and put her back on the nest. She's not walking around all puffed up & clucking as much as usual. Apparently she's beginning to wean the chicks but they're a bit too young for that yet. They're about 14 days old and starting to feather but I don't think they can handle the cool nights by themselves yet. One has white stripes on him like they get when they're feathering but still has a fuzz head, one still just looks like a black & yellow chick and the other 2 are somewhere in between.
Bout time to post some more pictures now that they've grown a bit.

 

[dc3085]

How're they coming along?

 

[Quail Jailer]

How're they coming along?

What if he comes back and says "they've turned into mutant flying pineapples" lol

 

[dc3085]

That would be less concerning than most possible outcomes I'd think

 

[Quail Jailer]

HAAY reckon I can keep seagulls with my quail?

 

[ChickenLegs13]

I'm down to 2 now. 1 just up & disappeared last week, I don't know if a snake or rat or what got him, he just disappeared. Then several days ago I found 1 laying in the pen dead, don't know what his deal was.
The hen abandoned them about a week ago and sleeps on the roost bars although they scratch around and hang out together during the day.
They're almost fully feathered out now, though not as big as my brooderized quail, probably about half the size as you'd expect. They're wild as heck, all I have to do is sneak up to the pen & peek over the fence and they spot me, run for cover & disappear. They're not like my cage quail that jump up & down squawking & barking and crowding the door when I approach.