- Jul 18, 2012
- 104
- 8
- 78
Hello all,
We are raising four Bobwhite Quail chicks. We are a homeschooling family and our homeschool advisor gave us an incubator. I was planning on hatching some chicken eggs over the summer and giving them to family to raise, as we are not allowed to have animals in our backyard where we live. There are community rules here against it. So we brought home the incubator in March. I got an email from our homeschool advisor soon afterward that she ordered eggs for us. I was not expecting her to do that, and did not even know what eggs were coming in the mail to us!
When they came in the mail, I was expecting chicken eggs! But there were 4 tiny white eggs! I called the shipper and found out they were Bobwhite quail. At first I was like, great what am I going to do with quail? I found out they are not indigenous to California, so they can not be released (which is what the advisor had done with the quail she had hatched!)
I tried to find a place who could take them before I hatched them. A family member said they would take them, so we decided to go ahead and hatch them. On April 14, all four hatched. It has been such an amazing experience for myself and my kids. We really love our quail babies. The boys named them "Little Chickie", "Nikola Tesla", "Sasquatch", and "Slow Poke". Later I found out that the family member was planning on putting them in the chicken coop with chickens, which is a no no, I decided to keep them.
They are now three months old, and it is apparent that there are three female and one male, as the male has distinctly white stripes above his eyes and a white throat. Plus he is hopping on top of the females and going to town while they squeal! LOL
It is kind of hard to tell them apart now. We can see by size, Sasquatch has always been the biggest, hence the name. Slow poke is the smallest, the last one to hatch, had to be chipped out of the shell because after pipping all around was not coming out after 12 hours and the shell was drying out even though we had the humidity right. (I think I am most attached to her as I picked her out of her shell and she was always the smallest one) Tesla and Little Chickie were always about the same size, but you could tell Little Chickie by behavior. Little Chickie was always the more aggressive one. Well, we are pretty sure Little Chickie is the male.
They are now 13 1/2 weeks old and the male is constantly trying to mate. I read that they don't lay eggs until they are 6 months old. Does anyone have Bobwhite Quail here? Can you tell me if this is normal mating behavior and how soon their Bobwhites laid eggs? I know they are very different from Coturnix Quail. I am also planning on building an indoor aviary since I am not allowed to have them outdoors, would like suggestions and I am planning on hatching Coturnix next, so if anyone has experience with having Coturnix and Bobwhites together, that would be helpful.
Thank you!
Carla
We are raising four Bobwhite Quail chicks. We are a homeschooling family and our homeschool advisor gave us an incubator. I was planning on hatching some chicken eggs over the summer and giving them to family to raise, as we are not allowed to have animals in our backyard where we live. There are community rules here against it. So we brought home the incubator in March. I got an email from our homeschool advisor soon afterward that she ordered eggs for us. I was not expecting her to do that, and did not even know what eggs were coming in the mail to us!
When they came in the mail, I was expecting chicken eggs! But there were 4 tiny white eggs! I called the shipper and found out they were Bobwhite quail. At first I was like, great what am I going to do with quail? I found out they are not indigenous to California, so they can not be released (which is what the advisor had done with the quail she had hatched!)
I tried to find a place who could take them before I hatched them. A family member said they would take them, so we decided to go ahead and hatch them. On April 14, all four hatched. It has been such an amazing experience for myself and my kids. We really love our quail babies. The boys named them "Little Chickie", "Nikola Tesla", "Sasquatch", and "Slow Poke". Later I found out that the family member was planning on putting them in the chicken coop with chickens, which is a no no, I decided to keep them.
They are now three months old, and it is apparent that there are three female and one male, as the male has distinctly white stripes above his eyes and a white throat. Plus he is hopping on top of the females and going to town while they squeal! LOL
It is kind of hard to tell them apart now. We can see by size, Sasquatch has always been the biggest, hence the name. Slow poke is the smallest, the last one to hatch, had to be chipped out of the shell because after pipping all around was not coming out after 12 hours and the shell was drying out even though we had the humidity right. (I think I am most attached to her as I picked her out of her shell and she was always the smallest one) Tesla and Little Chickie were always about the same size, but you could tell Little Chickie by behavior. Little Chickie was always the more aggressive one. Well, we are pretty sure Little Chickie is the male.
They are now 13 1/2 weeks old and the male is constantly trying to mate. I read that they don't lay eggs until they are 6 months old. Does anyone have Bobwhite Quail here? Can you tell me if this is normal mating behavior and how soon their Bobwhites laid eggs? I know they are very different from Coturnix Quail. I am also planning on building an indoor aviary since I am not allowed to have them outdoors, would like suggestions and I am planning on hatching Coturnix next, so if anyone has experience with having Coturnix and Bobwhites together, that would be helpful.
Thank you!
Carla
