June 19, 2020. I live in Tucson, AZ. A quail has laid eggs in my raised garden bed in back yard. It's just some carrots, radishes, onions I was growing for seed. I don't need to water it or mess around with it now that I know a quail is nesting there. I have an 8' block wall and two 16 year old dogs and a doggy door. The dogs won't bother mom, she and her nest are well hidden and dogs only go out a few times a day to do their business and come back in. They won't be at all interested. (In fact they have walked right past her many times for at least a week without batting an eye.) I've been putting seed out for birds for over a year now. I get doves, sparrows, & thrashers, etc. Even before putting seed out though, I noticed roadrunners come every now and then for a visit. Never worried about them too much, just hoped they'd leave the lizards in my yard alone (new house in new neighborhood, wanted to give lizards a chance to re-establish the area). Fortunately, my lizard population is thriving and roadrunners haven't gotten my big guys yet (knock on wood)! My dogs are so old now, they don't bother the birds, they just kind of look at all the birds and ignore them, even when they fly off when startled. When the quail babies hatch, however, I just want to make sure they are safe and that my dogs won't be tempted by the chicks helpless hopping about and what not. I've read a little this evening, and learned the chicks are precocial and somewhat self-sufficient. In the days or weeks it might take them to scale the 8' block wall with mom (and dad) is where I want to be extra cautious for their safety from both my dogs and the occasional roadrunners. Anyone have any idea how long it will take the chicks to grow enough for mom and dad to safely guide them over the wall? With C-19 I'm working remotely from home, so that's a plus I suppose as I'll be able to keep the doggy door closed if needed - and just let dogs out while monitored a few times a day. I'm Just wondering if anyone knows how long I'll have to plan to keep doggy door locked, and maybe keep a helpful eye out the windows for natural predators until the chicks can safely venture up and over my block wall and out into the wild. From what I've read it could be a couple of hours or a couple of weeks. Any experts out there able to narrow that time frame down a bit? Or, is that pretty much what I can expect (anywhere from hours to weeks, LoL)
Any help appreciated, and THANKS!