Paneubert's Quail Aviary Adventure

[paneubert]

You will start to recognize the different eggs from different hens. Size, shape and spot pattern will be surprisingly consistent. One of my big girls always lays a small, pointy egg with small evenly scattered spots. Another always lays a large one with a more oval shape, large irregular splotches that cover 80% of the cream background. One person here even put food coloring in the vents of the hens so they could tell who was laying, and which eggs came from each hen.

I am not going to get that crazy (dye in the vents), but I do think it would be cool to see if specific hens tend to lay in the same area each day. So far I am seeing a trend of near or in the dog house each afternoon/evening. I also have noticed that the first hen to begin laying was more oblong and pointy, and the second hen to begin laying has more rounded eggs. The rounded ones also seem to weigh a little less. I have not noticed a trend on coloring. And I have no idea which birds are the ones laying. I am sure once I start getting more than 2 per day, all ability to track will go out the window. Hahaha.

 

[paneubert]

Update for today.

I am on day two of trying to provide a bowl of supplemental calcium. Things are not going well....hahaha.

Day 1: I put a small plastic tub full of crushed oyster shell in the aviary. I had blended this to a fine texture since the "chick sized oyster shell" I bought was still too large in my opinion. Came home to find the tub empty on the other side of the aviary. Not a lot of oyster shell to be found on the ground. Don't know if they ate a pound of oyster shell in one day or what....

Day 2: Refilled the tub and this time wedged it in tight between two bricks. Really got it in there so it won't move. Just checked my Quail Webcam and it sure looks like the tub is empty and there is a white halo all around it. Looks like they scratched it all out. This is what....3 hours after I put it in there? We will see if my suspicions are correct when I get home from work.

I might have to bite the bullet and buy a small mason jar style gravity feeder...just for the calcium.

Also of note, I am PRETTY sure one of my Italian females is broody (and is one of the ladies who is laying). When I went in to the aviary to find eggs last night, she was sitting in a dirt pit on an egg. I had to shoo her away, and while I was doing so, she resisted and even seemed like she was trying to tuck the egg under her with her beak. Like she was trying to hide it from me. Haha. Probably all in my head. But we will see what happens tonight!

 

[jennifleur]

Only way to tell for sure is by leaving her eggs. I don't think she will if you take them. It would be very rare and cool to have a broody quail.

 

[paneubert]

Only way to tell for sure is by leaving her eggs. I don't think she will if you take them. It would be very rare and cool to have a broody quail.

I may give it a shot sometime. The funny part is that this dirt hole/depression seems popular. I often find 5 or 10 of them all piled up around there. Last night I found 3 eggs all right in the same place. So there are multiple ladies contributing to that same "nest". Or I have an Italian rolling eggs from other locations to stock her area. Hahaha. At the very least I have some birds who strongly favor laying in the same place each day.

 

[lightchick]

Nice aviary! It really would be awesome if you could get a broody quail!

 

[jennifleur]

I think your right about favoring a certain spot. Before I added the wire upper level I had a box filled with hay in the corner. It didn't have a top, just a doorway cut into one side. When I put in the 2nd story I moved the box to make way for the ramp. They still try to squeeze into that corner to lay. The new quail have a spot upstairs they like. My older ones will literally crawl under a another quail in that spot to lay. I just shake my head when one lays an egg on top of the quail underneath it. Than you have some that will just drop them anywhere.

 

[paneubert]

"One of these things is not like the others, one of these things just doesn't belong. Can you tell which thing is not like the others. By the time I finish my song?"

Looks like someone has been partaking in a liiiiiiiiiiiitttttttle too much oyster shell.

 

[paneubert]

Witnessed my first mating this morning. He was not shy. Hahaha. I went out to feed them and when I turned around to leave....there he was....majestically sitting on a lady with her head feathers in his beak. Blocking the doorway so I could not leave until he was done....haha. Yesterday I heard someone do a really funny sort of gurgle-scream. I assume it was a male trying to crow. Oddly enough I have never heard the "classic" crow from anyone. The most I have gotten is the low volume clucking and chirping when they all are excited.

Up to 4-5 eggs per day. Out of 18 ladies.....starting to really wonder if they were younger than I thought, or if some of them are still not happy with their housing. But getting 4 or 5 seems like a sign that at least some of them are not upset with their aviary. Who knows. I can be patient.

 

[paneubert]

Uhhhhh.......double yolker maybe?





I will have to eat this one and not just give it away to family....

 

[paneubert]

Well, it seems it has bee over a year since I posted! Time flies. Well.....the rats got smart and dug in under my mesh over the past few months. They were smart enough to back away from the intersection of the wall and ground so that they could find the edge of the mesh and dig under. I did not realize I was losing birds for a while.....21 running around was hard to count and both the entrance and exit tunnels were sneakly well hidden. By the time I stopped them, I was down to 10 birds. Still one male! So now I plan to incubate some eggs to see what happens. My male is an Italian coloring, so that's cool I guess. I am sure I will be posting a lot more while the incubation happens.

The very first photo I ever posted in this thread is actually a photo of where the rats eventually dug under. I am going to see if I can post it again below. This photo is from construction of the aviary, not a recent/post-rat photo. They dug under the flat pavers, continued under the bricks and wire mesh/gravel area, and into the aviary. Little %$^$'s....