Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Winter Project Phase 1

Side of the greenhouse is now covered up with a sheet of plastic. Now the house is completely wind-proof.
We also put a polystyrene box inside of their hutch to make it cosier. They weren't sure about this white block to begin with, but they quickly got used to it and now most of them lay eggs in it. Hope they can suss out that it's warm inside too.


Another thing we added to the house, is STRAW. Why didn't we give this magical bedding material to them earlier......THEY LOVE IT!!!!!!

They spend ages digging and foraging. We scatter mealworms in this, and they LOVE IT! 

Hope this gives them extra warmth. They certainly look very happy in there. I suppose it's not TOO cold yet. See how we get on when it's frosty / snowy...We got a couple more polystyrene boxes, just in case...


Thursday, September 13, 2012

All fine and lovely

Hello Qrazy Quail fans. Sorry I haven't been very active in blogging lately. The thing is......all the quail are getting on very well and it's ever so peaceful. So this post is all about how well they are doing in their semi-greenhouse mansion.

Even though there is no fighting going on, they have 2 of everything, in case one doesn't feel comfortable around the others, etc. 2 food bowls, 2 water bowls, and 2 sand-bath areas.
They love swimming in the dry sand. They have it everyday, often around mid-day.


Another thing they love, is pots of plants. Every time I go to a garden centre, I see a nice plant and think "oh, the quail would love that!!".....They like to dig and dig, until roots are exposed. They also like to peck all the leaves until it's only a pot of soil, which they like to then dig. I have to rescue the plants and give them recovery time sometimes. Our cat, Rebel likes to rub herself on to those pots for some reason, so everyone is happy. 

This is Rebel and parsleys that are recovering. Next to those is a black currant bush, also on the recovery programme.

The qrazy quail like the big pot of lavender too. They go up the ramp to the top of their "hutch" and dive bomb into the middle of lavender!! SUCH a funny thing to watch! As a result, the nice bushy lavender has a big hole in the middle. I moved it away from the hutch, so now the quail just hop onto it. I saw one of them fly from the big lavender to the small lavender (the one with purple pot...next to Stevie). 

Find Zebedee!

One quail lays one egg. Sometimes all 4 in a plant pot. Sometimes one in the hutch and 3 everywhere else....When we go in to the house to collect eggs, we shake a bottle of mealworm as we go in. They always gather around to the front when they see us and tap on the glass qrazily. They are so tame but that means they won't move away from our feet. The bottle of mealworm is like a "quail magnet". We can move them to wherever we want them to go. 

Some people ask me how I can tell who is who. I carefully chose the following photos which show their different faces very well. 
Ermentrude. Easy-going quail. The line on her head is missing in the middle.

Dougal. Slick quail. She really is "slick" and beautiful.

Rusty. The boss quail. She's bigger than everyone else. One of her toes is missing too. 

Zebedee! The smallest quail, with permanently sticking out hair. Compared with others (especially Dougal) you can tell how different she looks.....can't you???

Anyway, all is well. We are now thinking about how we can keep them warm during winter. Bringing them in to the house is an option, but this might make them "soft" which can't be a good thing. They are wild birds, after all.....

We'll keep you posted with this Winter Project!