We have quails!! Almost....

Ever since my food justice delegation to Palestine, I have wanted quails.  While on my trip, we visited a joint Palestinian/Israeli Collective Farm that had quails, doves, and chickens.  They were so cute and small!  Recently, after much success with our urban chicken cooperative, I was able to convince my wife, Emma, that we should get quail eggs!   

With the fabulous help of Christy, from the Seattle Farm Coop, we are now officially are on our way!  Christy and her son took us on a tour of their own quail operation, which gave us some great insight into what to look forward to.  We rented a styrofoam incubator from Seattle Farm Coop, which we have now updated with a fan to help maintain temperature and to aid in air circulation throughout the incubator.  We are very excited that in 17 days we should have our own flock of quail for eggs, meat, and cuddling enjoyment! 

We now have 55 diverse eggs from Christy, her neighbor, and a breeder in Redmond.  We are expecting a 50% hatching rate, which means that in two weeks, we should hopefully have a bustling brood of cooing quails! In the meantime, we'll be turning our eggs, monitoring the temperature and humidity, and reading bedtime stories to our (hopefully) thirty-some thumb sized brood! 

In the spirit of science, we are also trying some cross-species connections with our chicken Shipoopi. Her desire to raise chicks of her own go beyond her ability, because even though there are no fertile eggs, she will continue to sit, even on an empty nest, for weeks on end.  It is our hope that she will be able to hatch and accept these quail babies as her own, and not eat them!  Stay tuned for updates....