I spent the last two days at an exotic animal auction in Pierz.  These little chicks were a surprise find, and I couldn’t resist bidding on them and bringing them home.

Yes, that is a LOT of chicks!  I hadn’t planned to bring chicks home, so they are setup in a plastic storage bin on the buffet in the dining room.  I’m heading to the store today to get a second light and another bin so we can split them up and give them some more room.  They are Coturnix Quail chicks, 10 days old written on the box they came in, so today they are 11 or 12 days old.

There are 58 chicks.  Two had died in the box at the auction.  They seem pretty healthy, especially after getting them into their new bin with food and water, they really perked up.  The auction can be really stressful on young birds.

Here is the second lot I bought, a cage of three Guineas.  There are two roosters and one hen.

Here is our last lonely hen checking them out.

I opened the cage and let the new ones out, and our single hen didn’t waste any time telling them who’s boss.  She lifts her wings over her back and runs toward them, and they retreat.  One of the new guineas stayed in the cage for a few minutes, but then did come out and join the others at a distance.  They are a little scruffy looking, probably from being crammed into that small cage for a couple days, but seem healthy enough.

They went right to pecking, looking for food.  They are a lighter color than our hen, so it will be interesting if we get any to hatch out this year, to see what color they are.  These new guineas are also less spooky of people, coming right up around my feet to peck the ground.