Thursday, August 12, 2010

Look who was just born!

Ok...maybe "hatched" is more accurate, but I'm so happy! I don't know if I've ever mentioned my button quails before...but I had three of them. Two males and a female, Willow, Tabitha and Blackie. From what I've read it's quite uncommon for captive hens to lay on their eggs...but Tabitha was feeling quite broody and decided to sit on 5 eggs...4 of which hatched the night before last!

And it seems we have a black sheep in the family! I'm pretty sure that one is going to be a male (he's already got the telltale "bib" coloration) and he's very spunky!

And did I mention that button quails are TINY! They are the smallest poultry bird on earth and the full grown quails are barely bigger than just hatched chickens...meaning the quail babies are the size of large bumble bees! And fluffy too. Their parent's live in a large fish tank in our living room.

I've wanted to post about my quails for some time now (I've had them for a year and a half) but they are so hard to photograph. They move all the time and even the babies prove this to be true (plus my camera is kinda junky). This is the non-blurriest photo of a single baby I managed to take.

Mom is peeking her head out from behind her cardboard "lean-to". She's a very good mom.

Here are the best photos of mom and dad I managed to snap. You can see mom is a brownish blur in the photo of dad. Blackie is very pretty with chocolate brown feathers on his underside and black toenails, a "fancy" variety. Tabitha is more run of the mill.

These are some of Tabitha's eggs sitting in a container next to regular quail eggs, which are small themselves. I often use them in the spun cotton and wool nests I make.

I am so pleased that Blackie and Tabitha decided to have a family! If you happen to live in the Boston area and would like some pet quails...the babies will be full grown in just a few weeks!

And in other animal news...I have a caterpillar in my studio who just spun himself a cocoon. I wonder when he will emerge as a butterfly?!

8 comments:

Debbi Thinks Deep said...

I think I want to go play at your house! Baby birds and caterpillars? I love it!

DollZandThingZ said...

Oh, they are so cute! The only time I have seen them in person is at the Magic Wings, the butterfly conservatory in MA, where they actually let them run free in the butterfly room. They are SO very, very small and move so fast. Amazing you could get photos!

It must have been so amazing to see them hatched. What a sweet little mother Tabatha is! What a wonderful thing to happen! Your studio must be the happiest place!

laurie -magpie ethel said...

The size of bumblebees? WOW! What a fun thing to have hatch...

Unknown said...

they are just the sweetest crystal! and their eggs are so very sweet as well!

noricum said...

So adorable!

A Rose Without A Thorn said...

Oh Crystal, How lovely are they! I had never heard of button quail until I read this. The babies are adorable and so sweet.

Well done to mama for sitting on those tiny little eggs. It is lovely that you use the abandoned ones in your nests.

I will have to get one, Maureen.

Birds of a Feather said...

Congrats, they're just darling!
xo h

Anonymous said...

Those chickens are really small!