Supermarket Chick Questions

[fificlaire]

Hi! This is my first time hatching anything and I have a few questions maybe someone could help me with? I have a pair of chicks that are now a week old with tiny feathers starting to come through

They came from a pack of quail eggs I bought from the supermarket (i’m in the U.K.) and out of the 12 eggs these 2 hatched out so I’ve no idea what type of quail they are but I’m assuming Coturnix?

Would anyone be able to tell me what colours my 2 babies are/will turn out?

It doesn’t really look like it in the photos but the yellowish one is actually about half the size of the brown striped chick, she was very wobbly for the first 2 days with droopy wings and no strength. I was prepared for her not to survive but kept feeding her drops of sugar water and she is now doing super well! I also had to sort out her badly curled foot with a splint, poor thing didn’t have the most enjoyable start
Is is normal for chicks to differ in size so greatly? Is she just a particularly runty chick?

Lastly when and how will I be able to tell what gender these two cuties are?

I’m loving having these two balls of fluff here’s Pickle on the pack of eggs she came from!

 

[Cluckingham palace capers]

Excuse my ignorance, but did they come from a supermarket with intent of eating the eggs? Or do you buy them for hatching from the supermarkets over there? Did you just happen to decide to incubate them in case they might be fertile?

 

[fificlaire]

Yes they’re only meant to be for eating! As far as I know they are not meant to be fertile but I read an article online about a woman who’d managed to hatch a quail from the supermarket so decided to try it myself. Can’t really believe it worked!

 

[cottontail farm]

Fantastic job hatching the supermarket eggs! The darker one looks like my coturnix when they were babies and the yellow one looks like what are called "Texas A&M" in the US... I'm not sure if you have them there? The ones I raised grew into white birds with some brown patches. Very pretty but you can't sex them by looking at them like you can the coturnix.
Can you tell which farm the eggs came from? Maybe they have a website that would mention what kind they raise?
All of my chicks habe been roughly the same size when they hatched but since these eggs were probably refrigerated and bounced around before you got them, who knows. They both look alert and happy.
Again, great job with the hatching!
Is this your first time with quail? After about the first week you will need some kind of screened lid on the brooder. Those little babies can jump HIGH when they're startled.
Do they both have names?

 

[fificlaire]

Thanks , yes this is my first time with quail or in fact any birds at all! Always been fascinated with the idea of hatching chicks, but other than reading everything on this site I don’t know much about these lovely little creatures.
The brown one is called Pickle and the smaller yellow one is called Tiny (very inventive)
Out of interest I’ve had a look at the website for brand of eggs I bought :
https://www.clarencecourt.co.uk
but can’t really see anything about the birds themselves it’s all about how tasty the eggs are etc... I guess they really don’t want us attempting to hatch from their eggs!
I’m very excited to see how they will turn out, the mystery of not knowing their origin is quite fun. Also I’m surprised how well they are doing, I expected sickly chicks if any were actually going to hatch.

Good idea on the screening, I’ve put up some netting as I saw Tiny leaping for freedom this morning! Will post some more photos when more of their feathers have come through

 

[JaeG]

I think your gingery coloured chick might be a Roux Dilute/Fawn (there's an adult photo on this page: http://www.chickens.allotment-garden.org/keeping-quail/coturnix-quail-colours/) or maybe a Scarlet? But time will tell and there are so many different names for the same colour it's difficult to know what to call them sometimes!

They are amazingly tough little eggs and birds once you get them past a week old. Hopefully they will both turn out to be the same sex as, unless they have a huge planted aviary to run around in, a male will overmate just 1 hen. They need around 4 females to keep them (and the girls) happy.

Aren't they just the cutest little things? They are very friendly and docile as adults too. Enjoy them.

 

[CCUK]

Well done on your hatch!! That's wow!!
They will both be coturnix quail. You will have a light one and a dark one. The same markings but one will be a sandy colour and the other more brown. You will be able to tell what sex the are in about a week to ten days. The female breast will be speckly and the male will be plain non speckly. Fingers crossed you have a male and female then you can hatch more! Or just buy more from asda!

 

[CCUK]

This is the light coturnix

And the normal brown coturnix

 

[ronott1]

I have hatched supermarket chicken eggs. I wonder if Quail eggs are fertile here in the US?

 

[lena_]

This is what the light one would look like if it was going to become like the bird @Chickencountryuk showed. At least that is what my chick turned out like.

The are very cute, and I have never seen one like your light baby. Congrats on the hatch!