If you didn't all ready know...

Quail Facts

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Galliformes
Family:	Phasianidae
Genus:	Coturnix
Scientific Name:	Coturnix Coturnix
Type:	Bird
Diet:	Omnivore
Size (H):	11cm - 20cm (4.5in - 7.8in)
Wing Span:	30cm - 37cm (12in - 14.6in)
Weight:	70g - 140g (2.4oz - 4.9oz)
Top Speed:	24km/h (15mph)
Life Span:	3 - 5 years
Lifestyle:	Solitary
Conservation Status:	Least Concern
Colour:	Brown, Black, White, Blue
Skin Type:	Feathers
Favourite Food:	Seeds
Habitat:	Woodland and forest areas
Average Clutch Size:	6
Main Prey:	Seeds, Flowers, Insects
Predators:	Cats, Snakes, Raccoons
Distinctive Features:	Small body size and brightly coloured eggs

Everything eats quail!!!

The quail has many natural predators, mainly due to it's small size. Some of their predators include snakes, raccoons, foxes, squirrels, coyotes, bobcats, skunks, dogs, cats, crows, hawks, owls, rats, weasels and yes...humans :(. So as you can see, the quail has many predators however it's live prey is slightly more limited. They do enjoy eating small insects but  mainly their meals are non-living... 


Here is a list of the top 3"Quail Eaters" and the top 3 "Quail Eats" (please note that this list reflects our quails only therefore, humans (which would normally be #1 by a bullet) is not on the list).


Top 3 Quail Eaters

1.Crows-sad to say we lost one of our quail (R.I.P.LUCKY) to this guy 

(well not this guy exactly but probably one of his brothers (I'm sure of it!))

2. Cats- in our neighbourhood cats are almost the most dominant species. None have gotten away with any of our babies...yet but we defiantly got to be on the lookout! 

3. Raccoons-saw one of these the other day with his hind legs perched up on our quail coop. Luckily we scared him away but lets just say this wasn't the fist time we saw one of him around (R.I.P LUCKY #2). 

Top 3 Quail Eats


1. Worms- our quail sure do love these and plus worms are an excellent sourse of protein for growing quail! 












2. Woodbugs- Our full-grown quail tend to like these however with our chicks it depends... some days they love them and some day they're totally scared of them. 

3. Everything Else- seeds, fruit, veggies (ours LOVE chicken egg!) and tons more. Checkout www.backyardchickens.com for more tasty treats for your quail :)

Our Quails: Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed

be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed  (humorous)

to be full of energy and eager to do things

            After a day of exhaustion from being born, our quail are what some might call, "bright-eyed and bushy-tailed". They are ready to explore the world and our holding nothing back!In total we now have twenty-two quails (six full grown and our sixteen newborns). We are in progress of constructing a new outdoor quail housing unit but for next six weeks or so, we will keep our newborns indoors. If you are are thinking about incubating your quail eggs and don't know where to start, I highly recommend visiting www.backyardchickens.com.There they have loads of info about everything quail!

This little guy got stuck and therefore required aid
 getting out of his shell

Late afternoon of July 30th we started to transport our chicks
 out of the incubator to dry off.

They sure liked it under the light.         

                                      

DOGGY PILE!!! Our quail love to bunch up together.

                                    

             Yep... thats right...we feed
              our baby quail chicken eggs! It's good protein! No joke :D

 

Now that our quail have completely dried off they are much fluffier and cuter!

We love our quail!

Random Quail Fact Of The Day:

The male quail is called a "cock"".

July 30th 2012- The Quails Are Born

You would not believe the excitement that rushed through me this morning as I peered over into our incubator to find not one, not two but six baby quail chicks that had hatched during the night. It was only 17 days ago when we started incubating our eggs. We had put thirty-one eggs in and until last night there had been no sings of life whatsoever. Last night however, something amazing happened. Out the blue, a few of our eggs started to wobble and ever so often I would hear the casual peep. That was the moment when I knew we had done it right. We were going to be quail parents!!! Anyway, 10 hours after our first quail poked his head out of his shell we have now 12 baby quail chicks (and counting). Some are very busy and active whereas others still can't figure out why their head is so heavy and prefer laying on the ground and getting trampled on by their brothers and sisters.

Here are a couple pictures I took earlier this morning:

Me and My Quail

A Male Of A Quail

Here is a photo of our male.

Its fairly easy to tell the difference between male and female quails because  of their colour markings and body size. The male has a distinct rusty, reddish chest where as the female has a white chest with mottled black. Females are generally heavier with a broader chest and the males have a more slim appearance. Males also have foamy poop a distinct call, and are often running around attempting to mate with females, which lay the eggs. 

Here is a very detailed diagram to show the differences between the male and female quail and below is a real-life photo camparrison.

Female (left)                  Male (right)

There isn't anything in the world that our male quail loves more than his ladies and to prove this, I took a short video clip of what exactly happens when our male is separated from his girls. Watch him run around franticly in our yard as he crows on, hoping that one of his ladies will hear his mating call.