California - Northern

[Meg2000000]

Meg- lockdown -eep!! Question though...what do people do with quail? They are so tiny...the eggs are itty bitty right? Do you eat the quail or just keep them for fun?

I don't know if Copper is doing any better. I am trying to be optomistic but not too much so. He seems to be in discomfort when he goes poop. He is not constipated though. He is eating and was drinking but less drinking now- but the watermelon really is helping. He eats it and gets liquid through that. So I alternate watermelon one meal then about 2 hours later- egg mixed with yogurt. He gobbles the egg. So he does have an appetite.

You can eat quail and their eggs. Their eggs are really tiny and cute but I guess people eat them. I've never eaten a quail or a quail egg though. I won them at the chicken party in July and I am hatching them for Johnny's sister. They can't have chickens so they're doing quail!

Yosemite was as amazing as always. I'll post more later after I get all the camping gear cleaned up. So much dust! Ugh.

Lynda

Lynda - Glad you had a great time in Yosemite! That place is so breathtaking.

Copper having breakfast.

Nikka my beardie. Not a chicken but wanted to share.

Excuse my typos. Sent from my iPhone.

How many types of animals do you have? Nikka is so cute! I love how light she is.
Copper looks pretty happy! Your chickens are so lucky.. you spoil them!!

 

[Meg2000000]

I'm in Northern California!

Welcome to the thread!! What kind of chickens do you have?

1. What kind of grass seed (or grain) should we plant in the back yard for our free range chickens? And, is there a place to buy bulk? I picked up a small, cheap bag at Home Depot and seeded a section for my silkie enclosure, but they finished it off in about 5 days. I would like to seed sections of the yard and allow access to it after it is a couple inches high. Then section off and seed a new area(s), etc...Any knowledgable ideas would be appreciated.

We bought the Omega-3 Forage Blend from www.groworganic.com. I found the price to be good. We're planting a few planter boxes in rotations for the chickens.

 

[debs_flock]

Meg- lockdown -eep!! Question though...what do people do with quail? They are so tiny...the eggs are itty bitty right? Do you eat the quail or just keep them for fun?

I can't count the quail chicks, but based on the shells I'm at around 26 hatched. I plan to raise some to keep for eggs (such fast turn around time) and eat some. I hatched/raised some bobwhite quail. I'm planning to process them as soon as I get time. They take too long, they mature and start to lay at around 5 mos. They've just start to lay, so the boys will go first and I'll process the girls last. Their eggs are much smaller than the coturnix and white.

I just looked...it looks like open livestock, but for poultry I can only find youth info.

Well...we will be there! My girls have talked me into bringing 9 chickens and a turkey. I think I need my head examined.

Oh, I thought you said you were entering. Well, good luck to your kids! Let us know how they do!

I'm in Northern California!

Welcome

I think this was Deb's Polish. Gorgeous and Classy!

Nah, I would claim it though, wasn't it pretty? I saw lots of people taking it's picture. We have WCB's, but they have picked the crests off each other. They look like Friar Tuck. Our buff brahma was in the cage directly to the right.

Deb's

Thanks, he went Reserve Champion Continental in Show.

Deb's

Ah, Lakenvelders, one of my favorite breeds. They fueled my interest in getting show birds.

Thanks for posting the pictures!

Deb

 

[capayvalleychick]

Hi Kim,

It is called the Meeks Method.

Here is a link to the website:

http://skylinepoultry.net/
Do you want to send a hatch tip sheet with the eggs?

Ron

Thanks! I don't know about the tip sheet. I have no idea how experienced this guy is.

Kim

 

[ronott1]

Quote:
I understand.

Sometimes the eggs I buy have a tip sheet with them but I could see that offending some people.

Have fun shipping the eggs!

Ron

 

[CowgirlJules]

Thank You Jules!

The only quail I have eaten is Valley Quail. I did buy quail eggs from an Hispanic store once. They were kind of fun.

My daughters want me to hatch some but now I don't think I want to.

What about Pheasants?

Ron

Pheasants, like Valleys and Mountains, are a regulated game bird, and to raise them you need a permit from DFG, and from US Fish and Wildlife for migratory birds (which these are not.) And they require some serious fencing, I believe. I've never got into them. I was just keeping the quail to train my dog, but since I'm going to have to put that off for health reasons, I don't need to keep the birds. I can always get more.

 

[ronott1]

Quote:
Thank you!

I have seen hatching egg for sale. It is good to know you need permits an such. I don't think I will try pheasants. I might try a turkey some day. That would be fun in the city!

Ron

Ron

 

[CowgirlJules]

You see a lot of game birds for sale on craigslist. But I went as far as getting the application to raise them domestically, and one of the things they want to know is where you got your stock. I didn't have any yet, but I imagine it would be pretty hard to document the birds you had if you got them from a source like that, without the paperwork. If I were to sell them as a licensed breeder, they'd have to go with a tag. Too much hassle, although they do taste really good. You have to get your place inspected by DFG too. I expect that's more for the game mammals than a couple of quail.

Turkeys are fun and personable, but the males are louder than I thought they would be before I had them. They talk to me a lot.

 

[ronott1]

You see a lot of game birds for sale on craigslist. But I went as far as getting the application to raise them domestically, and one of the things they want to know is where you got your stock. I didn't have any yet, but I imagine it would be pretty hard to document the birds you had if you got them from a source like that, without the paperwork. If I were to sell them as a licensed breeder, they'd have to go with a tag. Too much hassle, although they do taste really good. You have to get your place inspected by DFG too. I expect that's more for the game mammals than a couple of quail.

Turkeys are fun and personable, but the males are louder than I thought they would be before I had them. They talk to me a lot.

I saw the hatching eggs online somewhere. They sold just about every kind of poultry you could imagine. They even had a hunting club pack where you could buy hundreds at a time.

Turkeys sound cool. I like the way my SG Dorking rooster talks to me. I think he tries to look tough for the girls. I mowed the front lawn today, ok the only lawn I still have, and once again he kept jumping on the lawn mower when I moved it back to it's place. It's a 36volt rechargeable Black And Decker, so no hot spots and it was off so he could not hurt himself on it. For some reason he really does not like it. He seemed to be telling me to get it out of there!

He was also making happy noises when I dumped the grass out for them. By the way he is not tough. The Barred Plymouth Rock girls are still bigger and he runs from them!

Good Night!

Ron

 

[HighNDryFarm]

Is there anyone in my area with an incubator they would be willing to finish some eggs for me? Here's my situation....this has been the year of the broody for me and what I've learned is that within about 24 hours of chicks hatching mom stops setting the rest of the eggs and I always have lots of fully developed chicks, 6 that I opened last time, that never hatched because mom was too busy to finish them.

I'm thinking that I could take the remaining eggs and put them in the incubator and let them finish. My EE chicken shouldn't be so much a problem since no one laid extra eggs in her pile after she started setting but my Polish has been letting the other 3 hens add to her eggs and I just candled 7 (a fraction of whats under her) and ALL of them were developing but clearly a good 5 days apart! I'm going to move her box and block it off from the others tomorrow (tried to block it today but they made it in because there's no eggs in the other boxes) but I feel so bad knowing that these darn eggs are developing but she won't sit an additional 5 days once all these chicks start to hatch.

Anyone with experience with broodies? I know a lot of you hatch with incubators but what do you think about my idea of finishing them? I had an incubator but sold it after one hatch because I couldn't keep my nose out of it! Way too stressful.....but now I wish I still had it.

So on a good note.....those Polish roos are doing their job!
I do have someone who had a broody so if she's still at it I could put them under her.....who knows, in the next couple weeks, I could have another broody!