BrandonsQuails - 2022 Hatch-A-Long

[BrandonsBirbs]

My god 4 months already! The time flys! I remember the teething days lolly ice’s, teething rings, bonjella and a lack of sleep Aww he sounds like such a lovely contented little boy, long may it last! After following your thread..I am quite tempted to have a go at hatching quail, I’m not quite sure I have the set up to do it, they are tiny!

Literally, how is it July????

Yeah let's hope it lasts I think he'll be a cheeky sod when he's older hahaha

Do it!!! If you need any help just ask here, I've hatched too many to count now lol!

 

[BrandonsBirbs]

Okay, so we started lockdown with 29 fertile eggs. Obviously it was a bit of a staggered lockdown and meant we were introducing new eggs into the incubator everytime some hatched.

All things considered, 26 hatched! I believe 1 quit just before lockdown and the other 2 died during lockdown (possibly shrink-wrapped). We have had 2 die due to hatching 2 days early and they were underdeveloped - no idea why this happened but 3 of them hatched early and 2 were underdeveloped whilst the other had some serious leg issues but was otherwise okay.

Yesterday I culled the one with leg issues as I have tried everything and just couldn't help the poor birdie. It is better they do not suffer and struggle to even get to their food, but I will always remember him.

 

[BrandonsBirbs]

That leaves us with 23 happy Chickie's!! The Mrs requested I move them outside as our little one may start crawling soon and she just wants to be extra safe. They're in a large, deep guinea pig cage with sand and kaytee shavings on top. We are using a Titan Heat Plate which so far is flawless!

I see no issue with them being outside with their heat source and I may be putting all chicks outside from now on. Especially since, the next two weeks are supposed to be record breaking highs in terms of temperatures. Our nursery has been advised to go off uniform and practise extra procedures due to the heat.

 

[BrandonsBirbs]

I should be adding some new eggs to the incubator soon, just got to work out some details and collect a few more eggs! I have temporarily moved my cages around though.

LEFT: Birdie and Brianna Jr - Birdie was the runt of her batch and has had many issues so I like to keep her with only one other bird where possible. Brianna Jr is oddly small and skittish, especially considering her mother was my biggest ever bird and the calmest (would even come to me).

MIDDLE: Trex and the five smaller females - Trex weighs in at a little 207g compared to his brother who weighs in at 287g. His females weigh - 209g, 225g, 262g, 270g and 275g.

RIGHT: Ptera (287g male) and six large females - I don't really like to break my 1 male:5 females rule but I need birdie separated and Ptera is a very active male so we'll test the fertility of these lovely girls and see how it goes. These females weigh - 275g, 278g, 282g, 288g, 292g and 301g.

Integrating into these new setups was no issue as I keep the cages alongside each other so the birds are very comfortable with each other already.

 

[BrandonsBirbs]

Back at it again! Full 64 ready

 

[BrandonsBirbs]

52 fertile, 49 alive. Not bad! Pretty happy with that!

 

[BrandonsBirbs]

44/49 hatched, 2 died during hatch not sure why, possibly shrink wrapped for some reason.

 

[BrandonsBirbs]

16/11/22
6 golden bantam silkie eggs
10 blue coturnix eggs
12 Chinese painted quail eggs

18/11/22
+6 mixed bantam silkie eggs
-1 golden bantam silkie egg*

*Egg smelled REAL bad, couldn't candle it. Never actually had this before with a quail egg and I've incubated thousands. Very let down by these eggs. At least the other 5 goldens have airsacs now and they are not anywhere near as bad as before.

 

[BrandonsBirbs]

44/49 hatched, 2 died during hatch not sure why, possibly shrink wrapped for some reason.
View attachment 3322796

For whatever reason, their waterer decided to block itself from the time I went to work to getting back. Suffered over 30 deaths in the space of about 11 hours. Rough day. 7 day work week this week too..