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Had a chicken try to pick pocket me today. Was standing with my back to their ramp watching them eat a new treat and getting my boot laced pecked at, and one of them snuck up the ramp and tried to get my apparently tasty looking wallet out of my back pocket. Also, a few got brave and finally came out into the snow.
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Jan 25, 2021 01:23
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stealie72 posted:one of them snuck up the ramp and tried to get my apparently tasty looking wallet out of my back pocket.
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Jan 25, 2021 01:31
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Pere, the fact that you stated being at your quail limit means they will somehow start nesting in secret. You will be overrun. You will be.  (I wish you had a parrot. Your adventures are hysterical and seeing them involving an angry feathered toddler would be magnificent.)
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Jan 25, 2021 03:09
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Captain Log posted:Pere, the fact that you stated being at your quail limit means they will somehow start nesting in secret. and i would love a parrot! but i just don't think i'd be able to care for them. we all have different husbandry skills - it doesn't matter how much nonsense the quail put me through, the important thing is that they stay on the ground and out of my electronic equipment. (it's the same reason i don't have a cat.) plus, imagine how much trouble i'd be in if the parrot and the quail teamed up. one side has the brains and the mobility, the other side has numbers, stubbornness, and kamikaze instinct perepelki fucked around with this message at 04:25 on Jan 25, 2021 |
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Jan 25, 2021 04:23
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ahahaha guess what    friday quailo
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Jan 25, 2021 04:44
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You fool, you have conquered Quail Death. Now their numbers will be endless!
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Jan 25, 2021 05:01
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perepelki posted:ahahaha Hahahha! What did I tell you!?  I still laugh at whoever said I should get quail and teach my cockatiel to herd them.
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Jan 25, 2021 09:09
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perepelki posted:
friday heard what you said about who has the brains 
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Jan 25, 2021 10:29
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Captain Log posted:I still laugh at whoever said I should get quail and teach my cockatiel to herd them. Enfys posted:friday heard what you said about who has the brains 
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Jan 25, 2021 11:27
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Love the updates on the chicks! I've found a local farmer who is selling a few varieties of coturnix quail, so I'll be picking up my eggs locally (and likely will be able to give him my roosters). Still a little too early in the year to be building a hutch outside, so we will be waiting until February before getting our eggs in the incubator. Until then, just starting our quail safe garden indoors (no parsley this year, very bad for orbs).
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Jan 25, 2021 18:15
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perepelki posted:i really wish i had about an acre to devote to the fools so i could have three hundred of them. 
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Jan 25, 2021 18:17
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Good work, Friday (and Moose)!
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Jan 25, 2021 18:28
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perepelki posted:i really wish i had about an acre to devote to the fools so i could have three hundred of them I'm imagining a parrot dropping quail like bombs or paratroopers.
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Jan 25, 2021 18:29
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"They're plummeting to the ground! They're hitting like sacks of wet cement!" Don't think para-quail are the best idea.
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Jan 25, 2021 23:04
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perepelki, I think you are missing your opportunity to become a YouTube super star. Well, your quails will be the stars. You can be the narrator. “Here we see the rage orb in all its natural beauty,” “Here is the nest of the feral rage orb...” In dead chicken news, I drove Seahawk an hour to the state lab. They were able to do her necropsy today and the results are egg yolk coelomitis (peritonitis). So she was probably laying all those soft shelled eggs we found last week. I feel bad that we couldn’t narrow down who was laying those; all those light brown eggs look the same 
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Jan 26, 2021 02:58
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Joburg posted:perepelki, I think you are missing your opportunity to become a YouTube super star. Well, your quails will be the stars. You can be the narrator. “Here we see the rage orb in all its natural beauty,” “Here is the nest of the feral rage orb...” I would absolutely watch the hell out of that.
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Jan 26, 2021 09:15
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Joburg posted:perepelki, I think you are missing your opportunity to become a YouTube super star. Well, your quails will be the stars. You can be the narrator. “Here we see the rage orb in all its natural beauty,” “Here is the nest of the feral rage orb...” Captain Log posted:I would absolutely watch the hell out of that. quote:In dead chicken news, I drove Seahawk an hour to the state lab. They were able to do her necropsy today and the results are egg yolk coelomitis (peritonitis). So she was probably laying all those soft shelled eggs we found last week. I feel bad that we couldn’t narrow down who was laying those; all those light brown eggs look the same poor fluff. it's so dangerous being a birb
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Jan 26, 2021 23:48
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on that note...  meet emu, egret and echidna! they were born last night and are doing really well. they're all tuxedos. it's been years since i've had a tuxedo chick and i'd forgotten how cute they are; like little brown penguins. these three are weird. they burrow. every time i lift the brooder i think i've lost them, because they completely bury themselves under their dry grass bedding so they're invisible from above; i have to dig them out. i've never had a quail chick do this - usually they just lie flat on top of the bedding - but all three of them do it, so it must be a trait of nina and oberon's line. i look forward to them excavating elaborate underground labyrinths. they're far more robust and independent than my last incubated brood out of friday. already they've achieved the important chick milestone of climbing on top of the brooder and then getting scared and screaming, and they're only fourteen hours old. pray for me perepelki fucked around with this message at 02:01 on Jan 27, 2021 |
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Jan 27, 2021 01:38
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perepelki posted:i've considered doing a blog or something in the past, but the problem is that i don't want quail to become the new trendy social media superstar pets. as a species they get abused enough as it is, and they're so small and the chicks are just so easy to pump out en masse. i'd feel terrible if i was responsible for thousands more of them being hatched just for a week's worth of instagram fame and then a lifetime of misery. You might have a positive effect though, showing how they can be raised differently. I raise meat rabbits in a colony because I saw it was possible on social media. All of the books and clubs always say what a terrible idea it is and how all your rabbits will fight and/or die immediately. Some people need to see an example to know what’s possible. Just look at these happy buns. 
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Jan 27, 2021 04:16
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Joburg posted:You might have a positive effect though, showing how they can be raised differently. I raise meat rabbits in a colony because I saw it was possible on social media. All of the books and clubs always say what a terrible idea it is and how all your rabbits will fight and/or die immediately. Some people need to see an example to know what’s possible.  if i do something public with the quail, i guess now's probably the best time for it, because i've hatched my last chicks for the foreseeable future and the adults don't quite have that same instagram buzz. (well i think they do, but i'm biased.) it would be great to make a difference to the status quo where laying quail are jammed in tiny cages and never interacted with. the problem is that getting to this point has involved so much trial and error, and trial and error involves so much unnecessary bird death i'd feel guilty about encouraging others to go down the same path. i'm considering it, though!
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Jan 27, 2021 07:12
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I think a very honest portrayal of caretaking any animal is a positive. If it's all just smash cuts of Snapchat filters with text saying SOOOOO CUTE, yeah that's gonna make idiots buy the animal. But if you show the mess, the upkeep, the drama, include the heartbreak of losing them - people will pick up on it not all being roses. Hell, I think you could do all that and still keep a humorous theme. Why? They are quail. My old room mate and I always joked about making "The Parakeet Soap Opera" with eight parakeets in an aviary being nothing but nonstop drama. Hell, when I get old I still might do it. Name them all and add subtitles with music.
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Jan 27, 2021 09:11
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the triplets are even more demanding than the twins  they will not sleep. they want the hands. tzii tzii tzii tzii tzii tzii tzii tziithese creatures are my punishment for something
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Jan 27, 2021 12:44
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perepelki posted:the triplets are even more demanding than the twins Your avatar is cool btw
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Jan 27, 2021 17:58
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Shifty Nipples posted:Your avatar is cool btw 
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Jan 28, 2021 05:13
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 moose laid an egg
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Jan 28, 2021 06:02
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perepelki posted:
That’s a mystery solved! Yay!!
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Jan 28, 2021 06:12
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perepelki posted:thank you, friend childe
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Jan 28, 2021 06:42
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perepelki posted:
All Hail Mama Moose! 
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Jan 28, 2021 08:06
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i thought it couldn't possibly happen but, welp the last brood have all their adult feathers now and still have sundae and tigerlily to snuggle with, and it's the middle of summer, so i think they will be ok. i'll check on them a few times throughout the night. this is uncharted territory, the situation is basically out of my control; the quail are in charge now perepelki fucked around with this message at 11:07 on Jan 28, 2021 |
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Jan 28, 2021 11:01
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perepelki posted:i thought it couldn't possibly happen but, welp
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Jan 28, 2021 11:13
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Do female quail ever develop male characteristics the way some hens do? I think maybe it only happens in chickens if there are no roosters (at least based on anecdotal evidence I've read). Gertrude was the boss of my flock for years and grew herself one big spur and a little nubbin spur on the other leg. I've read about other people who have hens that crow in addition to physical traits like spurs.
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Jan 28, 2021 12:14
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Enfys posted:Do female quail ever develop male characteristics the way some hens do? My hens occasionally have a 'hollering' ceremony that has nothing to do with egg laying. There is one clear 'alpha' out of them that nobody fucks with, my barred rock that we presciently named Zilla, but she doesn't do much 'bossing' apart from dominating the choicest piles of snacks thrown out. The one chicken I had to put peepers on, was my ameraucana Ella, because she was just dedicating all her attention to chasing and pecking the new chickens I was trying to integrate last June. She's just a piece of poo poo cop at this point; I have to stay outside for a bit after scattering treats, because all she'll do is keep my two young ones off the snacks without even bothering to eat any herself, while the three other older girls blissfully clean them up. There's a weird intelligence I have to acknowledge here too. If snacks are thrown and nobody intervenes, Ella will go into lovely cop mode. If I'm out there and point at her and say her name threateningly, she'll kinda glare at the younger pair, then just lay off and eat snacks like she should be doing. She's worked out that if she does not stop acting like an rear end in a top hat, I will definitely run her off the treats.
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Jan 28, 2021 15:25
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moose laid another egg, this one shell-less, and after what happened to seahawk i'm worried  my gorgeous meringueEnfys posted:Do female quail ever develop male characteristics the way some hens do? the closest thing is that my sub-dominant roosters (quail and chicken) seem to be able to suppress their own maturity for as long as it takes until they're safely in charge of their own harem and can let themselves be free. one of my plymouth rocks, plum no-bum, i thought was a hen for almost a year; even though he was pale in colour like a rooster, he had no comb or wattles or tail, he didn't crow, and he stayed quite small. then he went to a friend of mine with a bunch of my hens and literally within weeks he sprouted a full tail, started crowing, and doubled in size! it was incredible. in his new home he was thereafter known as "the big plum"
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Jan 28, 2021 20:26
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I thought it was pretty common for birds to way hosed up eggs when they first start laying.
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Jan 28, 2021 20:51
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perepelki posted:the closest thing is that my sub-dominant roosters (quail and chicken) seem to be able to suppress their own maturity for as long as it takes until they're safely in charge of their own harem and can let themselves be free. one of my plymouth rocks, plum no-bum, i thought was a hen for almost a year; even though he was pale in colour like a rooster, he had no comb or wattles or tail, he didn't crow, and he stayed quite small. then he went to a friend of mine with a bunch of my hens and literally within weeks he sprouted a full tail, started crowing, and doubled in size! it was incredible. in his new home he was thereafter known as "the big plum" That's really interesting! I wonder if it has to do with stress hormones induced by hierarchical behavior? I know there's a species of fish that are all born female, but the largest/oldest in a group will become male and start harassing his harem/subordinates, which develop a hierarchy of their own; when the male dies, the largest/oldest/most senior becomes male, probably due to hormonal changes from not being harassed anymore. Nature! (also: hi chickenposters, sorry if it's weird to delurk in your thread, I just appreciate reading about your borbs)
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Jan 28, 2021 23:13
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perepelki posted:moose laid another egg, this one shell-less, and after what happened to seahawk i'm worried I wouldn’t worry unless Moose starts lookin off or losing weight. Fluffy Seahawk was only 3.3lbs when they did the necropsy  I knew she was little but I never weighed her, I guess I should start doing that with the others.From what I read, the chicken can be put on an implant to suppress laying and that will prevent any more issues with egg peritonitis. (Isn’t there someone in the thread whose hen had that implant?) I wonder if they could give that to quail.
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Jan 29, 2021 03:19
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Antivehicular posted:(also: hi chickenposters, sorry if it's weird to delurk in your thread, I just appreciate reading about your borbs)  thank you for that fish information - i know nothing about fish and that is incredibly fascinating. eusocial creatures are awesome moose's last adoptees did fine overnight, to my great relief. here's what's happening now   so. my experiment these past few years, which is the first successful experiment i've ever done in my life, has been to obtain a quail that broods like a chicken - incubating and hatching their own eggs and raising their own chicks, with the adoption of other chicks being an unexpected bonus. one thing i learnt is that for brooding to happen, both the hen and the rooster have to be involved. it's very important that the rooster takes the prerogative of building a perfect nest, and my "broody" roosters have also sat on the eggs for a few days before the hens chased them away. my sub-experiment was to obtain a quail which is tame and likes to be handled, which has also happened. by buying birds from geographically distinct locations, i seem to have ended up with three distinct subspecies of Coturnix japonica. i have named them according to surname. please understand that in quail culture, surnames are passed down through the hen. the quailo family: descended from frida quailo (rip) and felafel (rip), both of whom were bred purely for tameness. the current descendants are friday, sundae, tigerlily, and the quimtuplets. they are very tame - they don't just tolerate being handled but seem to actively enjoy it. they are also excellent brooders. the chicks are born very delicate and are hard to raise artifically, but the hens do a much better job of it than i do. the quolak family: descended from quimmiii (rip) and moose, brother and sister, bred for meat, eggs, tuxedo colouration, and tameness. moose is still with us and exceeds my expectations every day. she's an excellent brooder and will adopt chicks that she didn't hatch. they are docile and interested in humans, but don't like being handled. i got the original birds as day-old chicks, so know that they have always been like this. the quimone family: descended from oberon and nina, bred for eggs and colouration. i think the current baby triplets are out of oberon and moose. the adults have shown no signs of broodiness or nest-building, hate being handled, and are afraid of humans. even though i intensively handled the chicks from hatching, they also don't like being handled; they wriggle and shriek, and refuse to fall asleep in my hands like friday's family do. however, one interesting thing is that they were very oriented toward other quail. most chicks i artificially hatch show no interest in the adult quail the first few times they encounter them, but the triplets seemed to recognise them and immediately wanted to follow them around and snuggle with them. they were also very robust straight out of the egg, compared with the quailos. so that is my current flock. the second-generation crosses will have to wait until i either get more room through natural causes, or some miracle from heaven dramatically increases my housing space. i feel an obligation to keep these creatures in the manner to which they are accustomed for the span of their natural lives. they reward me with extraordinary behaviour. thank you for reading update: the quimone triplets are actually quolaks perepelki fucked around with this message at 03:41 on Feb 5, 2021 |
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Jan 29, 2021 03:25
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Joburg posted:From what I read, the chicken can be put on an implant to suppress laying and that will prevent any more issues with egg peritonitis. (Isn’t there someone in the thread whose hen had that implant?) I wonder if they could give that to quail. There has been study on the implant and Japanese quail, and it can stop egg production for up to 26 weeks. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6306558/
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Jan 29, 2021 15:00
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perepelki posted:i feel an obligation to keep these creatures in the manner to which they are accustomed for the span of their natural lives. they reward me with extraordinary behaviour. 
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Jan 29, 2021 16:53
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https://mobile.twitter.com/paulfoxcroft/status/1313476555000217600
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Jan 29, 2021 18:28
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