A SHOPPER was stunned when she bought a box of eggs from her local supermarket – and one of them hatched.
This tiny baby quail emerged from one of a batch of eggs bought from Caterham's Waitrose supermarket last month.
A few weeks on and the new arrival has grown in size, flourishing under a warm lamp in a hamster cage.
Its adoptive mother Mandy Clayton, who lives in Rook Lane, Chaldon, said: "We have called it Rose, after Waitrose.
"She is so sweet and quite tame.
"Rose was tiny when she first hatched out but soon she grew feathers and now she's about the size of a robin.
"My 11-year-old daughter enjoys playing with her. Rose is happy running around on the floor at times."
She added: "I've heard there is a good chance the eggs may be fertilised when they are free-range. Now I am determined to get her a quail friend."
She said she put some chickens' eggs in a warmed box which serves as an incubator – but none of them hatched.
It was only when she added some quails' eggs that she initially bought for a salad that Rose popped into the world.
Mrs Clayton added: "It was only after Rose was born that I started doing some research on quails and how to keep them.
"Hopefully we'll get a few more baby quails before long."
Quails eventually grow to the size of a small pigeon and can be kept in an aviary or rabbit hutch.
