Last Spring we brought home 3 Coturnix Quail. They’ve been living right outside our back door, which is nice because they’ve been getting plenty of attention. But, they’ve been living in 2 large dog crates. Not the ideal home. Finally, they’ve been moved to a better home.

Our oldest son came running upstairs frantically hollering that the doors on the quail’s cages were open & the quail were gone. Poor kid, he was so scared. He didn’t know Farmer John had just moved them.

New quail digs in a chicken hut.

Hopefully the ladies won’t bother their new roomies too much.

Our quail are a finicky trio. The 2 girls don’t get along well & the male is rather aggressive in his mating attempts. Hopefully, the new area is large enough to give everyone the space they need.

Mr. Quail was very curious about my camera & kept coming up to get a closer peek.

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Back in April we went to the PNPA Spring Poultry Show & came home with 3 coturnix quail. They are quick to mature & we’re already getting itty bitty eggs from the two girls.

COUPLE DAYS OLD

ABOUT 1 WEEK OLD

Quail are bouncy & quick little creatures, which made taking their picture in the Barbie house difficult. But, I managed to snap a few photos.

The little guys quickly figured out how to use the nipple waterers.

A LITTLE OVER TWO WEEKS OLD

They seem to have grown a lot between weeks 1 & 2.

ABOUT SEVEN WEEKS OLD

ABOUT 11 WEEKS OLD

We keep them cooped up, but occasionally they get to come out & walk around. They love taking dust baths.

QUAIL EGGS

Two of our quail ended up being girls & started laying eggs at about 7 weeks old.

Quail egg compared to a Marans chicken egg.

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Today the kids argued with each other far more than I could take. So, I came up with a project that entertained them at least for a little bit. Farmer John had been saving some of our quail eggs with the hopes of incubating them. I know some of them, though, had been layed more than 10 days ago. We don’t put eggs in our incubator that are more than 10 days old. So instead of just throwing them out, I repurposed them. They held the paint for our abstract art.

SET UP

First step was to open the egg. I used a knife to carefully break the egg near the top. I tried to not break the entire top off, so I could use it as a lid once I filled the egg with paint. I emptied out the egg white & yolk and rinsed the egg with soap & water.

Next I squeezed paint into the quail egg. I also added a smidgen of water hoping it would make the paint a little thinner & splatter better. Because everything is better if it sparkles, I also added glitter.

THROWING PAINT

Then the kids got to throw the eggs. The eggs were actually kind of difficult to break & splatter the paint. They had to throw them pretty hard & sometimes throw it again.

We used watercolor paper. I told the kids to do their best to throw the eggs at the center of the paper, so as much paint as possible stayed on the paper. Most of the paint did stay on the paper, but some also splattered onto the gravel. I’m not sure how they managed it, but all 3 kids ended up with a little paint in their hair.

This was so simple, yet because it was messy & involved throwing something the kids loved it. We always have plenty of eggs, so I’m sure we will try this again.

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The Pacific NW Poultry Association Spring Show was this last weekend. All 5 of us went & stayed nearly all day Saturday looking, learning & exploring. This was our first show. We were planning on going to the show just to check it out. But, last month when Farm Kid2 went to a clinic on how to show your bird he left there wanting to show his bird. So, I signed him up. Win or lose, I figured it would be a great learning experience for him.

Farm Kid2 showing his bird for the first time. He has a Light Brown Bantam Leghorn.

Show Birds & Raffle Items:

To see a couple more bird pics from the show check out our facebook page.

Both our boys made posters to enter in the poster contest. Neither won, but I think they did a great job.
Left: Farm Kid2 (age 7) wanted to make his poster about chicks hatching. He wanted to include both hatching from an incubator and hatching from a broody hen.
Right: Farm Kid1 (age 10) chose to make his poster about our Golden Polish chickens. Those do seem to be his favorites. If he’s going to go hold a chicken, it’s almost always a Golden Polish.

A few more fun things at the show:
Left: Any time Farm Girl could pet a bird, she did.
Middle: Farm Kid2 also wanted to enter our eggs in the egg judging contest. So, we did that too. Again, this was a first for us & I really didn’t know how they were going to be judged. We did get 2nd place, though, out of 4 entries in our class.
Right: Farm Kid1 asked if he could get a quail & that he’d pay for it with his own money & take care of it. Farmer John has said for years that he would like quail, so it wasn’t hard to sell dad on the idea. I will admit they did look pretty cute. They are like tiny, little jumping beans. Each of the kids picked out a quail.

It was kind of a long day & parts of it were a bit slow, but we all enjoyed the show. Next time we know to bring a few things to entertain the kids. I’m sure this was the first of many shows we will take part in.

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We have tried a variety of watering methods & the thing that has worked best for us are the use of waterer nipples. Farmer John attaches 2, 3 or 4 nipples in a bucket or similar container then hangs the bucket in the coop or brooder. Sometimes he adds 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar to the water, as well. This keeps the water clear & free from algae type growth. It also acts as a natural dewormer for the chickens.

THE NIPPLE

The nipple we use is a push in style, as opposed to screw in. Farmer John drills a small hole in a container and the nipples attach easily.

There are many places to get the nipples, and as they are becoming more popular the farm stores are starting to carry them, but Farmer John orders ours from QC Supply. We’ve had them a number of years, and they haven’t needed replacing.

HOW WE USE THEM

The nipples are attached to a 5 gallon bucket (or something similar). The bucket hangs right at chicken height & water doesn’t drip out of the nipple until a bird pushes against it.
A definite advantage to this type of system is the ease of refilling the waterer. I don’t have to fight with an annoying plastic container that doesn’t want to unscrew. I just put a hose in the bucket.

My other favorite thing about this set up is that it keeps the brooder clean! Chicks can’t step in, poop in or drop food in this waterer. They learn very quickly how to get a drink.

Waterers hanging in a chicken tractor, duck pen & brooder. We adjust the height of the bucket as needed.

Our friends at Sain Creek Poultry & Hobby Farm don’t use buckets, but have quite a system of pipe through much of their coop with the nipples attached.

We use this watering method for all our feathered friends.

Here’s to Happy Chickens/Turkeys/Quail/Ducks & Clean Waterers!

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