Kai: They hatched early!!!

These tiny, little furry creatures are called button quail.
All 10 eggs had formed properly, and hatched, but we unfortunately lost a baby through an accident in the incubator. However we’re really pleased with these guys, as they were far more robust than the coturnix quail we have tried to hatch in the past, which was a real surprise given how tiny they are – their size is almost unreal!

As with any chick, being they are so small, I wanted to make sure that they could get their first drink safely, so I took some of our chickens molted feathers and created a little “feather duster” to mist with a spray bottle so they can drink the dew drops off the feathers. This is actually how the parent birds in the wild bring water to their babies, instead of bringing them to a water source where they could potentially drown. This actually worked well. I still have some shallow water dishes with rocks in them in the brooder, but the babies seem to prefer getting the dew drops off the feathers.

Very happy about these guys! Didn’t expect the different colors either.
We will continue to update on their growth.

The chicken eggs in the incubator should be hatching soon too, so we look forward to them as well!