Julian the society finch passed away suddenly one summer afternoon, leaving three nestlings and bereft mate behind.

Ricky, the female of the pair, was unable to care for the babies on her own, and they didn’t make it.

Ricky needed a companion, pronto, so I explored bird options and  discovered something I had never seen before.

I got three. All ladies – Margaery, Sansa, and Cersei.

Luckily, I’m a grown woman and don’t have to listen to my mom (I should have listened to my boyfriend, though, he’s still pissed).

Ricky liked the quail so much that she stopped acting like a finch and started hanging out on the bottom of the cage like a quail.

The things I have learned about quail keeping since then are many. Since you’re here, you may be thinking about keeping some quail yourself! I hope to save you some trouble by disclosing all the dumb mistakes I made.