Arizona Chickens

[NoSkiveez]

Bob - I have a buyer that will be purchasing (all frozen) 250 quail at 2.5 ounces each and 250 quail at 5.5 oz each monthly. I've never eaten any quail (yet) but given the cost and that I can grow it myself is very appealing. I especially like knowing it lived in clean conditions. The eggs are very interesting. I had one unshelled egg and I opened it and it was a huge yolk in that egg. Very surprising given the size of the egg. They hatch in 16-18 days and start laying around 6-8 weeks. I've had dove before, but was not pleased with all the bb's in the meat. I'm very excited about the incubator. I like the staggering hatches. I've been using one with a turner and one without and using a still air as a hatcher. I picked up a TX6 a while ago but haven't given it a run yet. I'm heating it up now to see how it works.

I've moved all my brooder chicks into a recycle bin and put them in the kitchen. I don't want to loose anymore. I put their brooder lamp down to the youngsters on the ground level for extra heat. I need to make another run out to see if they are ok. If they seem cold, I have one recycle bin available. *Sigh* I hope there are no issues.

5Pinkarrows - I love Savers. I go on Mondays for books. Buy 4 get one free. I've gotten all kinds of books for 99¢, when I'm in Phoenix on Mondays I always stop. Im currently shopping for History and Language Arts books for the kids. Its a great place for chapter books too. I've gotten entire series books for next to nothing. Also, if your into sewing they have quite a selection of odd fabrics. I've been making quilts with it. You know that old saying about one mans junk is anothers treasure. I love other peoples junk!

 

[5pinkarrows]

WOW!! You find time to quilt and read, too? Amazing! I will have to check out the books sometime when I am up that way. I pretty much just read for information anymore. Homeschool books, Bible study stuff, and that is pretty much it. My 12 year old, however, would rather do nothing but read! We are building a fairly decent home library, but she has read almost all of the books at least 3 times. Wholesome, non-romantic books are hard to find and hard to afford, so Savers sounds like a good option. As for sewing, I hate it. My grandmother used to own a sewing shop, has taught classes around the country, and has even written books and designed her own stuff (including clothes and quilts). She would be thrilled for me to love it, but I just don't. I just love scrapbooking, and do that every chance I get. I even lose sleep to support my habit. Last Monday night, I had 2 hours sleep, but still stayed up really late working on it Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. That is how I rang in the new year. That is also how I know that my rooster crows all night.

Also, that sounds like a pretty neat little business with the quail. Will you be making some decent money with it? Do you have to "prep" the birds or just take them somewhere? I can't tell you how much I would like to see your set up, and Bob's!

Mahonri, did you have any BLRW's hatch?

 

[Bob's Henhouse]

NoSkiveez, holy smokes that's a lot of birds! You are going to have to keep that thing going non-stop. Good luck with that. It's nice to actually come out ahead once in a while. I wish you the best of luck.
I've decided that I need to put fewer chicks into smaller brooders. Having plenty of space and plenty of heat lamps doesn't work since they pile onto each other. I need to break up the area into smaller sections, or make more smaller brooders.

 

[mclevinson]

Noskivvies and Bobs - worst luck! Surely this new year will be better.

 

[NoSkiveez]

No dead youngsters in my brooder. I boxed the 4-5 week olds up in the recycle bins and brought them in. I kept them in the kitchen until morning and put them on the porch. I usually keep my day olds in the house for atleast a week before moving them to the porch then outside. After this cold spell passes, I will put them back out.

With the quail, they have to be killed in a specific manner. Its actually a lot easier than I thought. I just don't handle them because that would make it harder to kill them. Once I get the sportman, I may only hatch chickens once or twice a year. Im really pleased with this most recent hatch. I had 7 unhatched. Eggtopsies showed two quitters around day 16, 3 likely day 18 or 19 and one absorbed yolk. I had 60% on the white quail. The money from the quail isn't going to be a significant amount monthly. Its just enough to cover operating costs and will allow some cushion so we can eat them too.

Today I managed to get the porch cleaned with the help of my husband. We got about an hour of yard work before we both started not feeling so well. Must be coming down with something.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Wow, our thread fell off the first page. Is everyone thawing out? Still frozen? We got our chickens one year ago today. My girls had their first birthdays Sat. and Sun. I'll have to do something special for them today (as if they weren't spoiled enough already). Hope everyone is well. Sorry to read about the recent losses.

 

[LarryPQ]

Random anecdote for you all: my turkey hen FINALLY squatted for my tom. No more ruined outside carpets for me!!!!

Unfortunately, we all got to see it-- which made for some interesting explinations to the kids. It wasn't 5 seconds like the chooks.

 

[ca]

Quote:
I would have loved love to hear that explanation

 

[LarryPQ]

they KINDA get it...but the hens arent laying yet, so in context of the chickens and hatching, the boys were doing some head scratching.

 

[5pinkarrows]

Quote:
HAHAHAHA!!! That is hilarious. I know those of you that don't homeschool will think I am nuts, but I have to share this anyway. When your kids aren't in public school or unsupervised with other kids, it is okay to let them learn the facts of life by more natural means. You don't have to sit them down and spell it out at a way young age before somebody else gives them wrong information, you know? Instead, we like to have our kids around animals and let them observe things in nature. The theory is that when they are ready, things will begin to dawn on them and they will ask questions. I thought we were close to that when our first rooster got old enough to mate. The girls thought he was being so mean. They asked why he was standing on the hens and making them scream. I told them he was trying to make baby chicks and we talked about how that works. I was ready for the human questions, but instead one of them started laughing. She said, "Wouldn't it be funny if Daddy had to stand on you to have babies? You would be screaming and Daddy would say, 'Well, Ginger, you wanted more kids!'"