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Barrdwing wrote:
They sure are cute! Although, if you want to raise a pet bird, you might also consider a nice bantam Cochin hen, or a Bearded Belgian hen. (Yeah, here she goes with the chickens again! 😆 ) But seriously, our little banties are really neat birds, very personable and tolerant of handling. Bantams are much smaller than regular chickens. The Cochins look like little feathery Chinese grapefruit, and the Beardies have little beards (usually) and feathered feet. Both types weigh less than two pounds; the Beardies are pigeon-sized and the Cochins are the same, although with those poofball feathers they look a little bigger. If there’s a feed store in your area, they may do orders of chicks in the spring and summer, and sometimes you can piggyback a special request onto an order.
If you go with a hen, then you don’t have to put up with crowing and they’re a lot less likely to be nippy. (Plus, you get eggs!) We have four Beardie hens and four bantam Cochin hens, from two different sources, and they’re all sweet. We also ended up with a bantam Old English Games hen who is even tinier–the size of a very small pigeon–and very friendly, but since I only have one I don’t know if she’s a fair example of the whole breed as far as temperament, or an oddity. She was probably raised as a 4-H show bird, because she’ll put up with anything.
Yup, I love my chickies! 😉 They’re not as cute as Poad™s, but they’re definitely pets.
…are the eggs edible? (Please don’t kill me for asking)
Windstone collector in remission. 😉
Sure they’re edible! Why wouldn’t they be? They’re just liiitttle. 😀
The only upside button quail have over bantams is that a button is easier to keep in a large aquarium, vs. a Bantam… not so much. 🙂
I really love bantams though and hope to keep some, someday.Volunteer mod- I'm here to help! Email me for the best response: nambroth at gmail.com
My art: featherdust.comWhat an adorable little creature. Is it just me or does the bird’s head look to small for its body? Do they have over weight issues?
Tyrrlin wrote:…are the eggs edible? (Please don’t kill me for asking)
LOL! Yes, they are, and yes we eat them. But none of the birds themselves have to worry about being a main course. About the worst I’ll do is give any nasty-tempered roosters away and not ask too many questions about what is going to happen to them. If a rooster wants to stay around here, he has to be polite. 😉
You’re right that even a bantam isn’t quite right for a large aquarium, Nam. I built a trio of two-foot-square cages for some of our bantams to use as broody pens. One of the cages houses our little blind bantam hen, Sonar. She’s six months old now and so far so good; for a bird born without eyes, I’m amazed at how well she’s done. Of course she’s a total pet and an absolute love: she can’t see how big and weird humans look, so she thinks we’re fellow chickens. She’s been handled heavily from two days old (I had to teach her how to find her food!). With the cold weather she sleeps inside, in a plastic tub.
Of the other two cages, one has been taken over by a couple of our bantam hens (a Beardie and a Cochin) who were tired of being propositioned constantly by the young roosters. The other has three young bantam Cochins who also wanted some personal space. Once I find homes for the extra roosters I’ll move them into a bigger pen. I will say that the bantams are much more tolerant of confinement than the bigger birds. There are lots of cute “chicken tractor” designs that incorporate a little chicken hut and a frame-and-wire attached foraging yard that you can move around the property, and I think they’d be perfect for bantams. I keep meaning to build one and put it out on the front lawn–it’d cut down on the mowing. 😉
I think they’re just adorable! I like doves as well–love the cooing sounds they make! I was wondering about that head size myself or is this little darling just fluffed up! 😆
WHEN I buy a house (again) I want to have a yard appropriate for chickens. It’d be neat to have birds that can double as pets and breakfast (eggs). 😉
Windstone collector in remission. 😉
daydreamer wrote:i think i’m going to barf thinking about eating quail eggs… :puke:
😮 How come??
Volunteer mod- I'm here to help! Email me for the best response: nambroth at gmail.com
My art: featherdust.comJennifer wrote:😮 How come??
In short, I’m vegan. Longer story—my mom always took care of abandoned/injured quail babies when I was young, so I guess eating them just is out of the question for me, ya know? :shrug:
Sorry if that weirded you out. Korean kalbi restaurants sometimes had quail’s eggs as one of the side dishes, so it’s kinda not unusual for me. (And I’m talking in Korea here, I doubt U.S. places would serve them as regularly)
Windstone collector in remission. 😉
Most likely not. Either too pricey or not enough requests. You can get quail eggs at most oriental markets.
daydreamer wrote:Jennifer wrote:😮 How come??
In short, I’m vegan. Longer story—my mom always took care of abandoned/injured quail babies when I was young, so I guess eating them just is out of the question for me, ya know? :shrug:
Just because its an egg doesn’t mean it was going to be a bird someday. If no rooster was involved, the eggs would be infertile, but still just as tasty! In other words, if you don’t eat an infertile egg, it just rots and goes to waste.
😉
Sometimes when we’d run out of chickens eggs, my mom would let us use coturnix quail eggs instead. It takes about 4 of them to substitute for one large chicken egg. Its kinda funny that some places charge more for quails eggs. My parents have more now than they can even use (it makes the dogs happy anyway).
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