Everybody needs a friend....

I have to say our first ever attempt to hatch out quail eggs wasn't terribly impressive. Out of 24 eggs, only 4 of them showed any signs of life - the other 20 were infertile. Out of the four fertile ones, two of the embryos didn't develop beyond a few days, but two cute chicks hatched out! Unfortunately, one of the chicks failed to absorb the egg yolk prior to hatching, so he was born pretty weak and unfortunately made the transition to the big coop in the sky this morning. The other chick, which seems to be thriving, started peeping and chirping nonstop once she realized she was alone in the brooder. Since the sight of a lonely chick is heart breaking, I called the guy who had sold me the two breeding sets of adult quail, and he happened to have just hatched out a batch himself. I came home with four friends, and now everyone is happy again.

This was the same farm from which I procured Vinni and Luigi, and sadly Vinni seems to have disappeared. I don't think she's gone rogue and decided to become a wild forest guinea, because you can hear them from literally blocks away. My guess is she tangled with a coyote and lost, but I searched for hours and couldn't find her body. It's like she disappeared into thin air. Since I didn't want Luigi to be alone either, I came home with a boyfriend for her! She and Jimmy hit it off right away, and after I let him out of the large kennel where he spent the afternoon acclimating to his new coop and introducing himself to everyone, he settled in on a roosting bar like he's been here forever. The best part about getting a male guinea is we can hatch out little keets if we want to! (Luigi is a girl - she dots the "I" with a heart). I love visiting that farm, because there's a whole flock of beautiful geese that run up to the fence and hiss and squawk and honk at you if you get too close. I love geese, and really want some, but for some reason, possibly because he was chased by them as a small child, Gene can't stand them. I would have done what I normally do and "surprised" him with a few goslings, but I'm pretty sure that would be the same as asking for a divorce. He hates them that much. I'm hoping when we buy our dream farm, it will have enough acreage that I can sneak a flock in somewhere and he won't notice.