The quail are trying to kill me...

I had a great idea this summer. I have a friend that has chicken, pheasants, and quail. They lay eggs everyday. In the spring the birds are busy as bees and the pheasants and quail lay fertilized eggs. I decided I wanted to hatch some baby quail. They are so cute and make the best little peepy noises, and WHO doesn't love babies!

So, we started with 17 eggs. Twelve of them actually hatched. In the end, I lost a few of those and ended up with ten babies. They are currently living in a large rubbermaid container in my extra bedroom. They have been growing and growing. They are still cute, but kind of becoming a pain in the butt. I think they know that I am getting tired of them...they actually tried to kill me the other day!

When the quail hatch, they need to have a heat lamp to help keep them warm. They need this for pretty much their entire lives. They are living in a climate here in Southeast Alaska that is completely opposite from the desert environment that they would normally live. I have a 75 watt light bulb in the heat lamp. It should be a 100 watt bulb, but I didn't have one, so used the 75.

Anyway, the other evening I had to pick up an injured eagle from the airport. The plane was late...as usual! We didn't get done with the admit exam until 8:30pm. I got home around 9 and there was a funny smell in my trailer. It smelled like something burning. Hmmm, the only thing it could possibly be is the quail. So, I go in the room. There is smoke just starting to fill the room. I look in the container and the heat lamp is laying on the bottom in the wood chips. I picked up the lamp and moved the container. There was a perfect circle of melted plastic that was now stuck to my carpet and a perfect circle hole in the bottom of the container! Let's say I was slightly freaked out! Have you ever seen a trailer that caught on fire? I have and let me tell you, it takes about 15-20 minutes to lose the entire trailer...and all it's contents!

I was so freaked out, that I left the light unplugged all night. I lost one quail overnight and figured that I had to plug the lamp back in or they would all die. Of course, I almost left it unplugged. I mean, they were trying to burn the trailer down! What would you do? Now, I realize that the quail have little bitty brains and can't really plot to kill someone, but I have to blame it on something, right? I don't want to take the blame...even though it was more my fault than anyone elses.

My friend swears he told me to put a stick through the loops of the lamp, so it wouldn't fall. I swear he never told me! He probably did, I was just sooo excited to hatch some babies that I may not have heard that part! OOPS! It has really put a scare in me now. I am really freaked that my trailer will catch on fire and burn to the ground. Now, I only have one word left to write...INSURANCE!

I'm on it (because it's all I can think about!)

:)