One of the quails died during the night. These little birds don’t survive more than 2 years and we have not had any live for more than 15 months. The bird below is a favourite and looking healthy (for now). Her sister was sitting on a clutch of tiny eggs but she has now lost interest and abandoned the nest. If the barn door is left open the quails will escape and never return. They can survive in the wild but its a precarious existence as they live on the ground. Most commercially farmed quail are Japanese quail (ours are this type) and, sadly, they are mostly raised in battery conditions and killed at five weeks for meat or at eight months after intensive egg laying. Ours have night cages with plenty of space and the run of a large barn for daytime “hide and seek!”.