A Sublime and Beautiful sunday spent with my pet Quail

Today is a wonderful #SublimeSunday which is a weekly post inspired by @c0ff33a and #BeautifulSunday is initiated by @ace108. This Sunday finds me happily at play with my birds.

My favorite Quail Una, in her run.
Though I often mention my chickens, which I keep a larger flock of laying hens, for both the purpose of eggs and garden gold (their droppings)

My Laying hens are also pets and are rather affectionate, especially at 'breakfast time'.

My quail are just delicate little creatures of joy.

Having a drink and waiting for mummy to pass out the mealworm snacks.
They are such amazing little creatures, these quail. They are Coturnix quail which is a commonly raised game fowl, a bit larger than the native Bobwhite quail.

I have raised bobwhite quail, but they can be skittish, whilst the coturnix (Which is Literally latin for Quail) is easily handled and hatched in incubators. I've never had any of mine go broody, tho I've heard others have managed it.

They are such trusting little fellows and are amazing that from the day they hatch (darling little chicks about the size of a bumble bee

Newly hatched little quail still damp from their Egg-sperience...pun intended.

Hatching Coturnix quail chicks exploring their new world of the incubator.

From the day they hatch to 8 weeks later they go from downy little chicks to full sized quail and are laying eggs and forming breeding pairs. It is amazing to me as a chicken, when hatched, takes anywhere from 7 months to a year to lay!

I've kept quail often in my life, starting as a small child obsessed with all animals. Anything I could hatch and raise from eggs I was on board for and the first time I hatched that very first little tiny chick of the Coturnix, I was hooked. Since then, they have always been a part of my life somehow.

The colors and plumage of these birds are always inspiring in my art.
And their trusting nature is very enduring, thus I've sketched them many times.

A rough sketch of some of my quail.

They have often ended up in wallpaper designs, or designs on things I sell. They even have appeared as compatriots to ladies in my paintings. Or as background patterns. This sketch was a piece I was using to make a wallpaper repeat.

Adding color to a sketch to play with ideas for designs inspired by my darling pet quail.

And many a #sublimesunday or a #beautifulsunday has been spent sketching quail whether they are in their full bloom of adulthood or newly hatched little darlings.

I'd say any day is Sublime with my feathered friends.

They are such docile little fellows that the other day I had a sad break in, I thought their run was well wired and protected, but some small mammal, a mink or something, had wedged a small hole in the wire of their run, the next day I saw it and was so worried. I counted and 4 were missing, tho I saw no sign of feathers or a struggle.

I keep their pen and run in my little fenced in cutting garden so their is an additional perimeter of picket fence with more wire around that to keep the rabbits from eating my flowers. As I was sadly counting my losses I heard their little sounds and ALL the missing quail came out of the undergrowth of the flowerbeds. They had, for whatever reason, escaped the intruder and all of them came out looking for their breakfast.

I scooped them up, gave them a pat, a handful of mealworms and back in with their friends they went. I've since fixed the hole and have had no further break in. It was just so funny to me that they were "free" but instead they just waited for the morning and my return. They are genius hiders in undergrowth which is what their wild brethren do.

Well, I hope you have a #sublimesunday and a #beautifulsunday and that you get a moment in your day to enjoy your own passions, be they living creatures or just a good book. I know anyday is usually made sublime with birds in.

Just now all the osprey are back from warmer climbs building nests and it's amazing to watch them fly by the sitting room window with claws full of branches and drying seagrass.

The herons and egrets have also returned and their fishing habits out front on our shore can amuse me for hours. I have to be careful to not get drawn into their entertainment or my studio will sit empty with no work getting done.

Have a lovely Sunday and do think of joining in with us next Sunday.

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