Wednesday, December 24, 2014

End of Quail Quest

This morning Ermentrude was looking rough - all fluffed up and sleeping with her head in her feather. 
We knew something wasn't right. 


When we gave her food as usual, she perked up and started moving about, but then, went back to sleep. 

We thought we'd leave her alone and see, but as it's that time of the year, we didn't want to have any emergencies, so we took her to the vets.

There was no egg stuck in her, but the vet found multiple lumps inside her. 
She had a cancer. 

She looked fine, especially on her way to the vet. Looking around, singing a little bit...but she was full of fluid that built up inside her due to the cancer. There wasn't anything the vet could do to cure her, and the cancer was going to make her suffer.

We had to put her to sleep. I'll never forget her "fine face" when she was taken into the "back room" of the vet. She really did, look fine, like a fine quail. 

R.I.P. Ermentrude, the easy going quail.
Thanks for the eggs...


So...

That's that. Our Quail Quest ended today.

For the time being we won't get any quail. One day, when we move somewhere with a much bigger land, we will make a HUGE quail house, maybe get 4 quail, and give them the best life they can possibly have.



Until then...Good bye!

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Sad news...

During September, Rusty passed away. 

She seemed to have stopped laying eggs, but her body was still trying to create eggs. After the vet's autopsy, she apparently had some eggs inside her (more like hard boiled eggs with no shells). This had caused an obstruction in her Fallopian tubes and eventually had caused an infection in her lungs.
Vet didn't think that she was in any pain though.  

Rusty, thank you for the eggs over the last 2 years.



Now, Ermentrude is on her own in the house. 
She seems ok, though, it's very hard to tell what quail might be thinking.


Her egg laying is more irregular than ever, and she's been laying eggs with weird shape / coloring, often broken.


We need to keep eyes on her and record exactly when she stops laying - hopefully we can see the vet regularly from then on to make sure she doesn't get blocked. 


Otherwise, Ermentrude is bouncing around in the nicely heated quail house! 
She's singing everyday. A little bit different singing style to other quail...

Sunday, August 31, 2014

This is how it's going to be

 Thanks to Stevie the peace-keeping decoy quail, Ermentrude and Rusty are friends again!


Qozy Quail.

Since then, they had some short fights, but nothing too nasty. This might just be how they are going to be!


We thought Rusty was the one stopped laying, but it might be Ermentrude. We have one egg per day or every two days...from somebody!

Saturday, May 17, 2014

Post Holiday Argument

After such a memorable holiday, for whatever reason the truly qrazy quail are fighting again!!!!!!
Rusty was behaving very oddly, and we thought she was just having a quail menopause, as she stopped laying eggs lately....but then we saw Ermentrude chasing her around, quite viciously!

We put Ermentrude in the cage (within the green house) for a couple of days.

We let her out...

She went STRAIGHT for Rusty!

So we put Rusty in the cage for a couple of days.

We let her out...

Ermentrude went straight for Rusty......!

Final and ONLY solution - STEVIE the Decoy Quail.
Cleaned, re-painted, and improved Stevie, all ready to go.

"Now then, ladies..."

"I'm here to sort you two out!!"

By moving Stevie into different locations occasionally, the real quail seem to think Stevie is real (or just a strange object in different locations...).

Oh no......not her again!

Two qrazy quail seem too busy thinking about Stevie, and there have been no sign of war for a day and half... Let's hope that everyone can live in peace now.

Saturday, May 3, 2014

We are going on a summer holiday...

Well, maybe not summer, but it was warm(ish) today, so Qrazy Quail went on their holiday in the garden! 
We bought a Fellside Animal Pen from Charlecote Pet shop, and we put it around a currant bush. Netting which came with the pen wasn't big enough to cover over the bush, so we used a different net. 

SO.....HAVE FUN, LADIES!!

Ermentrude (left) and Rusty (right)



They seemed really happy! 
They were bouncing around, pecking, digging, and dozing off in the shade....



They were out for about 4 hours. 

Meanwhile, their house got cleaned thoroughly.....and look what we found!!! 



This cute mouse isn't a permanent resident, and there's only this one about (so it seems.....!). We put an extra glass at the bottom of the greenhouse (one side was just netting) to make it hard for anybody else to get in.

Quail are now back in their mansion.
We are going to buy another pen to extend their holiday area. Roll on summer!