Of Quail and Chickens and Bees and Boys

Quail and Chickens and Bees and Boys are really all that I have been thinking about these last few days although I was forced to consider DIY as well when my neighbour complained that if I didn't do something about the garage door it was likely to blow down on her car in the next strong winds.

On the quail front, Tiny Quail died as expected, shortly after I had written about her. I think this is is actually a picture of Una but Tiny looked exactly the same, except a little smaller and less lively. Here is a picture of the quails in the brooder before Mopsy and Cottentail made their disastrous bid for freedom. Now that we have only one of the Golden Quail left, Rosie says that she doesn't want to call her Flopsy any more so names are being considered on a yellow theme from plain Goldie up to Celandine and Jonquil.

I have noticed these last two days, that Una is not looking very lively and does not seem to be growing very fast. It might be because of her poor start in life. but I worry that  she is not warm enough since I raised the heat lamp so that we could slip a grid across the top of the box to prevent the bigger two escaping.

Regarding the chickens, I have to report the sad news, that no sooner did I get the two new Fenton Rose birds, than one has been got by the fox.

It is very frustrating that I had kept her in the coop for a week to get used to where home is, and then only on Saturday,  started letting her free range in the garden. On Monday I let her out at 6.30 and by 9 she had disappeared. An investigation on the valley revealed a handful of feathers.
I had recently gone round the garden fences, checking and where necessary, blocking escape routes so it was very annoying. Of course if chickens indulge in this sort of behaviour what can they expect?

This is Amelia perching on top of the hen coop which is 7 if not 8 feet high. I should point out that Amelia has had her wings clipped, which is meant to unbalance her and make flying difficult. I would rather she didn't fly into the valley and offer herself as a meal for a fox, as she is at the moment, my only layer.

I was intending to write about bees next as I spent most of Monday putting hives and frames together and then yesterday hoping the weather would be good enough for the first spring inspection. It wasn't but we had a bit of a crisis so had to go in anyway. However the Boy has woken up and come into my bed so that tale will have to wait until tomorrow.
Rosie and I missed the Boy one morning, he wasn't in his room or the bathroom  and he hadn't gone downstairs. We found him in my room where he had quietly got into my bed, found my kindle and settled down to play on it.