Hello Everyone!
I am not only new to this site, I am new to birds in general. My sister raises chickens, so I've been taking advice from her, but I feel I need advice that is a little more specific to the bird I am raising. HoneyNut is a baby quail we found in our window well. S/he was crying there for an hour and nobody came to get her, so I've taken her in. I have her in a plastic clothes bin with a net around the top so she can't escape. I'm assuming she's about a week old, given everything I've found on the internet. I have a red heat lamp on one side of her bin to warm her water, but I've made sure it's not too close and that there is room to get away from it if she needs to. I also have a little cardboard box in there with some crochet for her to sleep on; she seems to get the idea. She already knew how to drink water and to peck around at the food. I'm using Chick Starter Grow on her, mashed into tiny bits so she can eat it, but she doesn't seem to care for it. I gave her a cherry with a cherry maggot in it-- Mostly because we found her in our yard and the only thing to eat around here is cherries. Anyway, she went right at it and loved it!
She chirps a lot and paces around whenever I'm not there, or even when I am there and just trying to sleep. It's like she does an emergency check list every 15 minutes, and going over the list itself takes 15 minutes. After she's done and I've responded to her chirping each time, she is quiet for 15 minutes until the next round. This is driving me nuts, but I haven't been able to find away around it.
I know quail like groups, but I have no idea where to find another baby to keep her company-- Or even if I should, or if I should just let her squawk it out and give her attention when I can. (which is almost all the time, but I NEED sleep. 3 hours at the very VERY least) She doesn't be quiet unless I put her on my chest, but I don't want to risk squishing her in my sleep.
She likes Native American Flute Meditation Music, she's very smart about using her eyes and ears. She also likes to jump up on her cardboard box and jump down back off of it repeatedly.
I read somewhere that red heat lamps can stress them out, but I'm worried she will get too cold if I turn it off because our house is very chilly.
She responded well to my hands the other day when I first got her, but after I ignored her screaming for possibly a couple of hours maybe she doesn't want me to touch her again. I just want HoneyNut to be a happy, healthy quail and live to adulthood. But I'm flying blind here. Please help me!
{{P.S I know this is introductory board, but I'm using her name, so I thought I would introduce her.}}
I am not only new to this site, I am new to birds in general. My sister raises chickens, so I've been taking advice from her, but I feel I need advice that is a little more specific to the bird I am raising. HoneyNut is a baby quail we found in our window well. S/he was crying there for an hour and nobody came to get her, so I've taken her in. I have her in a plastic clothes bin with a net around the top so she can't escape. I'm assuming she's about a week old, given everything I've found on the internet. I have a red heat lamp on one side of her bin to warm her water, but I've made sure it's not too close and that there is room to get away from it if she needs to. I also have a little cardboard box in there with some crochet for her to sleep on; she seems to get the idea. She already knew how to drink water and to peck around at the food. I'm using Chick Starter Grow on her, mashed into tiny bits so she can eat it, but she doesn't seem to care for it. I gave her a cherry with a cherry maggot in it-- Mostly because we found her in our yard and the only thing to eat around here is cherries. Anyway, she went right at it and loved it!
She chirps a lot and paces around whenever I'm not there, or even when I am there and just trying to sleep. It's like she does an emergency check list every 15 minutes, and going over the list itself takes 15 minutes. After she's done and I've responded to her chirping each time, she is quiet for 15 minutes until the next round. This is driving me nuts, but I haven't been able to find away around it.
I know quail like groups, but I have no idea where to find another baby to keep her company-- Or even if I should, or if I should just let her squawk it out and give her attention when I can. (which is almost all the time, but I NEED sleep. 3 hours at the very VERY least) She doesn't be quiet unless I put her on my chest, but I don't want to risk squishing her in my sleep.
She likes Native American Flute Meditation Music, she's very smart about using her eyes and ears. She also likes to jump up on her cardboard box and jump down back off of it repeatedly.
I read somewhere that red heat lamps can stress them out, but I'm worried she will get too cold if I turn it off because our house is very chilly.
She responded well to my hands the other day when I first got her, but after I ignored her screaming for possibly a couple of hours maybe she doesn't want me to touch her again. I just want HoneyNut to be a happy, healthy quail and live to adulthood. But I'm flying blind here. Please help me!
{{P.S I know this is introductory board, but I'm using her name, so I thought I would introduce her.}}
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