SWMBO and all TRM staff are suffering from clucky Quail fever…

Photos today illustrate previous TRM Quail families who have survived the local wild life drama.

TRM’s Quail protection squad, aka Juno, has not quite switched into her role yet.

Meanwhile, instead of fishy stories, TRM have been hammered with questions and advice on how to raise Quail. To try to answer some of the mail…

They will take about 18 days to hatch. Downy young leave nest within a day after hatching. Both parents tend young, with female often brooding them when small, male perching high and acting as sentinel; young feed themselves.

The eggs will hatch synchronously, partly achieved by the chicks calling to each other while still in the egg. Like other small quail that live in coveys, they sit in circular formations, facing outward, to sleep at night.

SWMBO has Her supply of special Quail birdseed next to the nest but Mum & Dad still like to wander.

They are well camouflaged under a canopy of flowers in a raised flower box on a raised terrace with a warm northerly aspect sheltered by wide eaves.

Even the inmates in the unit sitting outside on the terrace did not know they were there.