Quail with fear!
Nov. 8th, 2008 09:32 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
spookyeviloneA few weeks ago, I bought what I was told were 3 female, 3 male button quail.
That turned out to be Cortunix quail.
Also, 1 hen, 5 roosters.
After much muttering and grumbling, new cages were purchased to house the bigger-than-expected quail. They were paired up, because again, thought they were roos and hens. Quickly found out they were not roos and hens when I got treated to my very own live show - OZ: Quail Edition.
New homes have been found for two of the roosters, so I have one h/r pair and then two bachelors. Who are not at all happy about having their bitches removed, and have been crowing about it ever since. However, as this is actually less noise than having five roosters in my livingroom, it was a win.
Today, I'm driving up nort' to purchase two more hens for the boys and two breeding pair of real, honest to goodness button quail. The one hen I have lays a prodigious amount of eggs, so two more hens would put me up to small-level egg production abilities. As to why.. I live in a highly ethnic area. Quail eggs, when they're available at the markets, sell for a lot of money and they sell out very fast. I've seen Somali and Asian women literally slapping it out over them at the co-op. The mind boggles, but the mind is also mercenary enough to capitalize on the reproductive power of my pets.
It also means I won't ever be without eggs in the house. Since I generally buy neither eggs nor milk because I don't use enough before they go bad to make it worth the cost, this is a bonus. No, I have no intentions of getting a cow - not until they make one small enough that I can keep it in a 3'x3' cage. I keep soy milk around for milk emergencies. That stuff is shelf stable forever. Eggs, not so much.
As to why quail.. Small and cute. Button quail are about the size of one of those tomato-shaped pincushions, brightly coloured, and fairly noiseless. Unlike normal birds, they don't fly, which means I could keep them in normal cages without building a flight aviary. The Coturnix were not quite as small as I expected, but even so, they're still the size of a Campbell's soup can. They are not noiseless, though I expect they'll be less noisy when the hens are put in there.
The cats think the quail were purchased solely for their entertainment. My cats are sissy bitches. One of the quail, Tux, escaped his cage. I came home to find my cats curled up around a brown and white puddle of feathers. I yelled, the cats bolted, the quail popped straight up in the air and then stared at me like "WHAT?!" He'd been sleeping with the cats. The cats will sit and watch the quail run around for hours, and I think the younger of my two cats thinks they're kittens. He curls up against the side of the cage and purrs, letting the quail preen his fur. Like I said - sissy bitches.
Anyway. Time to beetle on up nort' to buy more birds. There'll be pictures eventually. Possibly when they're sleeping, because they don't sit still .. ever.. much less for pictures.
That turned out to be Cortunix quail.
Also, 1 hen, 5 roosters.
After much muttering and grumbling, new cages were purchased to house the bigger-than-expected quail. They were paired up, because again, thought they were roos and hens. Quickly found out they were not roos and hens when I got treated to my very own live show - OZ: Quail Edition.
New homes have been found for two of the roosters, so I have one h/r pair and then two bachelors. Who are not at all happy about having their bitches removed, and have been crowing about it ever since. However, as this is actually less noise than having five roosters in my livingroom, it was a win.
Today, I'm driving up nort' to purchase two more hens for the boys and two breeding pair of real, honest to goodness button quail. The one hen I have lays a prodigious amount of eggs, so two more hens would put me up to small-level egg production abilities. As to why.. I live in a highly ethnic area. Quail eggs, when they're available at the markets, sell for a lot of money and they sell out very fast. I've seen Somali and Asian women literally slapping it out over them at the co-op. The mind boggles, but the mind is also mercenary enough to capitalize on the reproductive power of my pets.
It also means I won't ever be without eggs in the house. Since I generally buy neither eggs nor milk because I don't use enough before they go bad to make it worth the cost, this is a bonus. No, I have no intentions of getting a cow - not until they make one small enough that I can keep it in a 3'x3' cage. I keep soy milk around for milk emergencies. That stuff is shelf stable forever. Eggs, not so much.
As to why quail.. Small and cute. Button quail are about the size of one of those tomato-shaped pincushions, brightly coloured, and fairly noiseless. Unlike normal birds, they don't fly, which means I could keep them in normal cages without building a flight aviary. The Coturnix were not quite as small as I expected, but even so, they're still the size of a Campbell's soup can. They are not noiseless, though I expect they'll be less noisy when the hens are put in there.
The cats think the quail were purchased solely for their entertainment. My cats are sissy bitches. One of the quail, Tux, escaped his cage. I came home to find my cats curled up around a brown and white puddle of feathers. I yelled, the cats bolted, the quail popped straight up in the air and then stared at me like "WHAT?!" He'd been sleeping with the cats. The cats will sit and watch the quail run around for hours, and I think the younger of my two cats thinks they're kittens. He curls up against the side of the cage and purrs, letting the quail preen his fur. Like I said - sissy bitches.
Anyway. Time to beetle on up nort' to buy more birds. There'll be pictures eventually. Possibly when they're sleeping, because they don't sit still .. ever.. much less for pictures.