22 Feb
We know you all love chickens, but let’s hear it for quail!! Specifically, Japanese quail. These small birds are delightful and easy to care for. Find out more about the birds, their diet, and how to house them during “Quail: An Overview,” an online class presented by Home to Roost LLC and the Chicago Rebuilding Exchange.
Quail: An Overview (online class), $15
Wednesday, March 3, 6:30 pm – 7:15 pm
Registration info is located here.
24 Jan
Button quail hen wanted by handsome button quail cock. Eyes: red-brown, legs: orange, back: brown variegated streaks, bib: black and white, underbelly: slate blue, rust red, white with rust red speckles. Very handsome. Will give all mealworms to the lady.
My button hen passed away 12/30. My male has been calling (even in the middle of the night) for another lady. Anyone have any leads? They’d be appreciated! I’m looking for a mature, egg-laying hen.
Here’s the handsome man with his former lady friend.
17 Sep
Penny the quail passed away suddenly, though not unexpectedly, on August 18, 2010. I was in PA with my family, when Kat of My Paws and Claws petsitting called with the sad news. She had died suddenly between 7:00 and 7:30 AM.
Penny enjoys her dirt and sprouted seeds.
Sickness
Penny had a rough July. She developed watery diarrhea and stopped eating. The vet found she was anemic, and I hand fed her for over three weeks, syringefuls of food mixed with meds. She was a sick little bird.
When she finally got back to her normal self, we’d go for walks. I’d carry her to a nice grassy spot. We’d sit outside, and she’d dust, eat grass, and do other quail stuff while I kept a close eye on her. We’d find ants on the sidewalk, and she had great fun chasing them, in a very ADD fashion. She’d see one ant and go running after it. Another ant would come from another direction, and she’d head off after that one!
In August we (Penny, the parakeets, and I) took a road trip to Michigan to see an old high school friend and her family. The girls enjoyed Penny.
Penny and the Frost family
Penny was a cheerful little bird, and I miss her early-morning progressive alarm clock noises and her energetic, cheerful, and sometimes goofy personality.
Life Lessons from Penny the Quail
Penny was patient and gracious with children. She was very easy to handle and never really put up much of a fuss about anything, unless it was getting more romaine lettuce. She ate her vegetables without complaining. In fact, the first time I gave her chopped veggies, she started scratching happily in them, and they went all over the floor! (She later cleaned them up!)
Penny and her new friend Kara
Penny was unapologetically quail. She was always herself, even though that meant being goofy and offbeat sometimes. She was always very clear about what she wanted: greens, dirt, ants, a little more time in the grass. She gave back in big ways: 16 eggs to make an omelette. And she was always willing to snuggle. There is much to be learned there.
Penny and her eggs
RIP
Because Penny was a Japanese quail and because she greatly enjoyed hanging out under the ferns in the backyard of the folks who sold me her cage, I bought a Japanese fern for her grave at the Oak Park farmers market. The purchase was also fitting because the guy who sold me the fern keeps quail. A coincidence? I think not. She is buried under the fern in a lovely garden plot. She is greatly missed.
Penny is buried under a Japanese fern.
10 Jun
It's a big world for a little quail.
You’ll all no doubt recall the little quail who found me on May 8 (See my May 9 post). Well, Penny has made a home for herself here, despite her eating habits. Continue reading to learn more about that!
Medical News
Penny is doing quite well, and her feathers on her back are growing in nicely! She was treated for a liver infection, and I think we’ve got that under control.The vet said that the lump on her back was her spine, which is twisted, probably due to malnourishment as a chick.
Note: I had a bit of an aspiration pneumonia scare while giving her meds from a syringe. I ended up soaking the meds into a tiny bit of feed, letting it dry, then seeing that she ate it all before feeding her more.
Penny contemplates the world from three stories up. The feather loss on her rump is quite clear in this shot, taken right after I got her (or after she found me).
DIRT!!
Given her behaviors (scratching furiously and fluffing her feathers and wings repeatedly while sitting down), I figured she wanted to dust. Then one day, while looking out the window, she spied the dirt in my potted basil plant and took a dive into it!
So I took the hint and headed out to find dirt. I didn’t want potting soil – too many additives – so I headed into Schauer’s Hardware in River Forest and asked for dirt, not potting soil, just dirt. The guy behind the counter said, “Oh, you want topsoil? Well, we have a 40-lb bag in the back.”
“No,” I said, “that’s too much. I have a pet quail, and I want it so she can take a dustbath.”
It took a bit for that to register, but the look was priceless. “Aww, that’s the cutest thing I’ve ever heard! We’re gonna put it on Facebook!”
I guess cute has its moments. They sent me home with a free partially opened bag of topsoil. I made the quail a dirt box. Penny was elated.
You can see that Penny's feathers are growing in nicely.
I’ll have the greens salad, please.
Penny is becoming quite the connoisseur of houseplants. I looked over one day to find her under the peace lily. She had snipped off a whole leaf, and it lay between her feet, a large verdant trophy. She looked up at me as if to say, “Honest, Mom, it just fell off.” I’ve moved the peace lily to higher ground and bought a cage for my little salad connoisseur, but the prayer plant also came under fire. (Good thing the dieffenbachia is out of reach – it’s toxic to birds.)
Penny's quail condo with dirt box veranda
So I got the hint and bought her parsley. She was elated. Then the fatal error occurred – I gave her Romaine lettuce. It’s now her favorite. If I dare put parsley in her dish, I get a look that’s somewhere between disdain and ennui, but closer to disdain. Romaine earns me the quail version of the happy dance, which is endlessly entertaining. Seriously. I have friends over, and we watch it and crack up laughing. Needless to say, I don’t have cable.
World’s Luckiest Quail Gives Back
Since she now had a cage, a dirt box and topsoil, and greens salad, Penny decided to give back. She was quite antsy for about an hour one afternoon, then suddenly quieted down. I looked over a few minutes later, and there lay a lovely little speckled egg! I’m saving them until I get a dozen. Maybe that will give me a decent omelette.
Quail eggs with chicken egg for size
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