Another Bob White Quail Hatched! Older Quail and baby quail in harmony together.

I was so excited last night to find that a second Bob White quail was hatching! I was getting ready for a Halloween party (and I have the incubator in our bathroom) when I heard a second "Peep Peeping". I was so glad to see one of the eggs was chipped open with a little guy inside.

Today the pair are so adorable and I am glad he has a brethren of the same species.

My concern with mixing them with the Coturnix quail seems to be a hot topic in the Quail forums. And as with most things, opinions are always strong and divided. Some say you must not mix them as they are smaller over all and the male Coturnix can be relentless when trying to breed with the Bob White. Other's say they mix fine. Some even keep them with chickens while most agree that disease can occur. I am not mixing them with my chickens so there is no issue there.

I wanted to see if I could mix them with my four Coturnix Quail chicks whilst they are still young and not at breeding age. These guys are getting huge and are just a week old. I mean "huge" compared to their bumble bee size when they hatched. They are still very small birds. And they are rather tame and sweet.

I have some branches and wood in their brooder, as they like to peck at it, hide under it and sit on it.

Well, I figured before setting up a second brooder for the two Bob White quail chicks, I might as well at least try and mix them. I was amazed! Not only did they not even initially peck at the tiny new chicks, one even demonstrated almost a mothering tendacy and let them huddle under her. I am hoping this means this Coturnix chick will be a hen, but only time will tell. Only 6 weeks to tell, as I mentioned before they lay at 6-8 weeks!

You certainly can tell that their markings are an amazing camouflage. Against the backdrop of the tree bark and branches they almost dissapear. Mother Nature's genius plan to help out the wild things.

You can see how tiny the new little Bob White chicks are next to the week old Coturnix. However the Coturnix easily fit in my hand with room to spare, so overall it's really fun to have a mini poultry farm. I am really getting excited to see how they are as adults. I plan to house their run with all sorts of logs and bark and tree branches as I know they like to hide and forage amongst it.

And of course my little Chi, Monty, loves them. He has always loved when I hatch chicks, and snuffles and cuddles with them. These little guys are like the Chihuahuas of the Poultry world so he might have an extra affinity with them, the Small loving the Small.

I will keep all updated of my mixed quail goings on. I have set another 24 Coturnix eggs in the incubator now and am hopeful to get at least a few more. I think once my Bantam hens are mature and go broody, I might try more Bob white under them. I heard they are rather good at raising the quail babies. What fun to raise poultry!