These are our newest chicks - laid, hatched and reared by Snowpea, with the help of her older daughter, Melon. It's been an extraordinary saga so far. Snowpea went broody when Melon was only around 3 weeks old. As her mother was pretty much ignoring her, and she had no surviving brothers or sisters, Melon was a lonely little thing. So she was delighted when Snowpea finished laying and settled down to 17 days continual sitting - Melon found she could snuggle up to her as much as she liked. Snowpea would drive away any of the other birds who came near but was happy to share her nest with Melon.
Sometimes we would find the two of them side by side, with a couple of Snowpea's eight eggs fully underneath Melon. This went on until the eggs hatched - incredibly, we had a 100% success rate on this occasion. Usually our birds manage to hatch less than half of their eggs, and of that, only a few make it to maturity. Melon appeared to be a bit confused by the hatching, and pecked at a newly emerging chick so we locked her away to keep the babies safe. After a day however, we let her out again; she went straight back to her mother and ignored the new chicks. When we gave them mealworms (a favoured treat) Melon would grab the food from the tiny babies, who would hang on for dear life, and a tug-of-war would ensue.
The little ones are now 8 days old, and Melon has fully developed her mothering instincts, foraging for insects and giving them to her younger siblings, teaching them to find their own food, and sheltering them under her wings when they are sleepy. She calls to them when they are lost, and has her own faithful followers, two or three who now prefer her over their mother. She and Snowpea sleep side by side, with the chicks huddled underneath them. Snowpea is possibly relieved to have help with a brood of eight. Co-parenting at it's best! We really hope they all make it to adulthood - but so far, so good.
This is a lovely blog, I am so glad you started it! Your article has really set me thinking again about how actually coturnix behave in the wild. I am still stuck with the idea that they should be monogamous and that the male should have a role in the upbringing of the chicks. In your set-up, which is so near to the wild to be ideal, I imagine, if I am right in my thinking, that your males may eventually rediscover their role. Other than that it will be interesting to see, as the flock progresses, if the co-parenting continues in the same way with further generations of off-spring. We looked after a friend's geese one year and the one grown up gosling he had left from the previous year's hatch really wanted to remain as part of the new hatch. Unfortunately it had a really bad cold and we had to separate it but I really felt that this was a very natural way it was behaving. You are doing a wonderful job here to show how quail should be kept and I just love the photos and the whole presentation. All the very best, Sue
ReplyDeleteThank you! We found the blog a bit difficult at first but we're getting the hang of it now... It's great fun just to post pictures and share our stories!
DeleteIt would be very interesting to see if the co - parenting continues, but we'll have to wait until next spring. So far our males haven't been very helpful in raising the chicks, but I hope you're right and they learn to...
Thanks for your support!