These guys have laid a second clutch but the eggs are infertile (I think). Flubber can't actually fly which might have something to do with it - was in a cage when younger and wasn't allowed out! Snow is an Albino male. He mated with Coco last year but their eggs were infertile - so perhaps it could be him?

This is Fred and Martha. They have been banned from the Aviary twice as he was annoying the 3 Dad's so much and I put him in a cage with Martha for 3 weeks and they paired up! They haven't got into a nestbox yet, but that doesn't matter now!

This is Olive and Max. They may have been going to pair up but I caught Olive in Ma and Tawa's nestbox so she is inside too. Max is a yellowhead blue. Guess Olive is something similar.

And the last pair of my 16 adults is Snowflake, the other white double factor X female and Bluey a Cobalt normal. He was attacked by a rat and lost one leg but that hasn't stopped him - not sure if he is up to mating or not though!

I also have Timmy and Sarah the Chinese Quails but no photos sorted yet. They laid their first clutch and 2 days before hatching we had a thunderstorm and Sarah stopped sitting.

Clutch 2 they hatched 6 chicks from 8 eggs and the next day found a 7th chick - not what she normally does.

Then to get even further off her routine, when the chicks were 3 weeks old I found 5 eggs and she laid a total of 9. Last week I found all but 3 eggs away from where she was sitting and by the end of the next day she was back on 7 eggs again!?!?

I have to move her chicks who were 5 weeks old yesterday from the hutch as clutch 3 is due to hatch next week.

Last year my last clutch all died but a bird club friend reckons dad Timmy was killing them, so keeping my eye on him this year.

hey kiwi girl

 

great pairs you have there!!

love the differing colours of each pair, great variety

i like the aqua coloured bird!!

 

at rat attacked its leg ...ahhhhhh

poor thing glad its okay

 

oooh cant wait to see pictures of the quails

can you post pics of the baby quails tooo please =]

Hi, some pretty birds there. If you have trouble with rats, you would have to trap or poison them, without your birds getting to bait or traps. They would also eat any eggs or attack chicks in nests as well. Prevention is the best cure they say.

Good luck with some chicks shortly.

Hi, some pretty birds there. If you have trouble with rats, you would have to trap or poison them, without your birds getting to bait or traps. They would also eat any eggs or attack chicks in nests as well. Prevention is the best cure they say.

Good luck with some chicks shortly.

 

Thanks - I am gutted about the French Moult but that seems to have been the 1st nestbox mainly, 1 or 2 in the other 2 nestboxes. They are still fleding and the later ones seem to be flying okay. Other female birds are attacking them though.

 

Yes, tried all of that - this is a SUPER rat!!! He digs through the river stones and even through the weed matting underneath. We filled up the holes and in 2 days he had redug through. I had put some seed&bait down but he had eaten 2 quails, then 2 budgies so no interest in seed after that juicy meal!

 

Then we started putting heavy paving stone over the hole and after about 2 weeks he had dug tunnels under it and come out all sides. I found how to make a trap on the internet and put that down - he got in ate the peanut butter & got out.

 

I bought some green square plastic baits and spread seed&bait over his entries and put a bait there too. We put wire netting down on the floor and covered it with 2 more paving stones, breeze blocks & topped up the gaps with pieces of wood jammed in and more riverstones on top.

 

We actually caught it after about 30mins of chasing him around the aviary and hutch, No matter how much we banged and thrashed he stayed still. Just about to give up as hadn't seen him so thought he had gone & he shot into my net. Caught him and as transferring him from net into a bucket with lid he climbed up the lid and escaped. ****! Now I guess he is still around but don't see him burrowing in as the whole floor is covered. Keep refreshing & checking bait - they reckon 1-2 weeks before the poison works. At present he is effectively shut out of the aviary and dare I say it, touch wood, he can't get in.

hey kiwi girl

 

great pairs you have there!!

love the differing colours of each pair, great variety

i like the aqua coloured bird!!

 

at rat attacked its leg ...ahhhhhh

poor thing glad its okay

 

oooh cant wait to see pictures of the quails

can you post pics of the baby quails tooo please =]

 

Here are the quail photos - I apologise in advance if they are in the wrong place - can't find where to put other bird photos - sure I've seen it somewhere?

 

Timmy & Sarah's nest

Day the chicks born after 16 days incubation - Friday 22 October:

Three yellow (will be silver soon) and Three brown (next day a 7th brown chick hatched!)

 

Mummy Sarah (brown) and Daddy Timmy (also the brown colouring!) The chicks are now one week old

 

Daddy with some chicks - see the yellow wings are now going silver. Chicks about 10 days old.

 

Mum is at the back - getting confused with her chicks a wee bit (lucky she has a yellow leg ring) Chicks now 3 weeks old.

 

All the silvers are males and you can see Dad in the centre and to his left is a male brown baby - his white bib starting to show. Chicks are now 4 weeks old.

 

Chicks are now 5 weeks old

 

Had to remove chicks (6 weeks old) as Daddy chasing the males around the aviary. Sarah has 9 eggs and due in a few days but hasn't sat on them since the chicks left and has started laying again! 13 eggs as at yesterday.

The quail chicks are with my French Moult chicks these four are the worst and can't fly at all.

Those quail babies are so cute

Those quail babies are so cute

 

 

Agreed Rachelm!! i think they are adorable too.

 

How lucky is that 3 silver ones from two browns!

were you expecting that kiwigal??

 

is brown dominant over silver? if so both parents must be split silver

 

THANKS!! for posting the quail pics they are awesome!

if the 13 hatch can you post more?

 

 

hahaha its a bird party. budgies meet the quails!

Those quail babies are so cute

 

 

Agreed Rachelm!! i think they are adorable too.

 

How lucky is that 3 silver ones from two browns!

were you expecting that kiwigal??

 

is brown dominant over silver? if so both parents must be split silver

 

THANKS!! for posting the quail pics they are awesome!

if the 13 hatch can you post more?

hahaha its a bird party. budgies meet the quails!

 

Thanks - they are gorgeous when first born - just the size of a bumble bee. Straight out of the egg on day one, feeding themselves and running around fully feathered! But you need to be very careful with quails as they drown so easily. I need to put pebbles in the water container so the chicks don't drown and there can't be any open water areas in the aviary as my mum lost a parent bird because in landed in her bird bath and drowned. They startle very easily and can fly straight up for up to 6 feet but can't really fly otherwise. The Chinese Quails are the smallest of the quail family.

 

Last year Timmy & Sarah only had 2 silvers per clutch so this their first clutch this year and 3 silvers from 7 chicks. Most males I have had too. I think brown is dominant over silver as always more browns around than silvers. I am trying to get a silver trio to see what happens. There are only two real colours with Chinese Quails - silver or brown so guess nearly all of them will be split for both. Also a cinnamon colour which is rarer and a mix of the silver/brown so a lighter brown colour.

 

Yes, Sarah is still laying and up to 14 eggs now but only 10 in the nest - so will post photos once she decides to finally sit on the eggs. Quails usually lay eggs over a 2 week period all around the aviary and then one day will gather them up into one place, sit on them and 16 days later - a clutch of chicks. Last year Sarah always laid in the one place so not sure what is going on here! I did open the lid up one day and there was rainwater on the tarpaulin which went into the aviary so might have got some of the eggs wet. Don't know. No-one is breeding per the book this year so another learning curve!

 

Budgie Party: I think the quails are teaching the FM's how to scoot around the aviary floor!!!! The budgie babies seem happy enough to running around - can't wait for their first moult to see what happens. The all seem to get on and it helps the quails get used to other birds flying around as these quails are bred in the own separate ex-rabbit hutch. There are also 2 budgies that can fly that might have been contaminated by FM and one FM that can mostly fly.

Gorgeous pics! Our quails (just 1 male & 2 females in our aviary) have laid plenty of eggs but have come to nothing so far...have a new male so maybe infertile, or maybe just "warming up" Hahahahaha". Have successfully bred some in the past but did lose a couple of tiny "bumblebees" out through the small netting, even though we thought the gauge was small enough - so heartbreaking I think the rabbit hutch is a great idea! They do get on so well with the budgies & Bourkes too. (Lovely to see another kiwi gal on here....Im from Mid-Canterbury)

Gorgeous pics! Our quails (just 1 male & 2 females in our aviary) have laid plenty of eggs but have come to nothing so far...have a new male so maybe infertile, or maybe just "warming up" Hahahahaha". Have successfully bred some in the past but did lose a couple of tiny "bumblebees" out through the small netting, even though we thought the gauge was small enough - so heartbreaking I think the rabbit hutch is a great idea! They do get on so well with the budgies & Bourkes too. (Lovely to see another kiwi gal on here....Im from Mid-Canterbury)

 

Hello fellow Kiwi!!!! My mum is having trouble with a trio too - lots of eggs, hardly sitting and few chicks. She even managed to sell her mum by mistake too! I've legringed my adults now! I have been trying to get another female in with Timmy & Sarah as he is very amorous and last year ended up attacking one chick each clutch. So far so good. They tricked me this time and started laying when the chicks were 4 weeks old but no spare females anyway.

 

We put a board around the aviary and hutch about 6" high and that kept the ltitle critters from escaping for the first few days until they got too big to squeeze through the holes! They are in the hutch as were in the aviary but a rat got two other female quails so safe in the hutch (right beside the aviary!) They are so cute when first born and so independent. I've just got a silver pair together now - Timmy's son and a friend''s female (same place I got Sarah) so should be good breeding I hope. There is such a shortage of quails up here, especially females at the moment. I've sold all this clutch now on TradeMe so fingers crossed - Sarah is sitting on 15 eggs and due Christmas Day.

 

Here's my quails at 6 weeks enjoying themselves with my french moult babies in the nursery aviary:

 

Good luck with your breeding.

Timmy and Sarah have finally had their next clutch of chicks, they hatched on Wednesday 29 December. After laying a total of 20 eggs and sitting on 15 eggs, some were due early December, then more mid-December and finally end of December. They have five brown and one yellow chicks.

 

 

They are both still sitting on the remaining 9 eggs!