Hen Contest! *Ended*

[BritneyBell]

 

[JaeG]

Thanks Summer - I've just caught up with this. I've spent the last 6 days fussing over my Button quail babies. Their mother incubated them beautifully until they started pipping. So I had to hatch them under a heat lamp. Then on day 2 I realised one had its eyes glued shut so the poor thing hadn't eaten. I separated it from the other chicks who kept jostling it about and have been hand feeding it raw Japanese quail egg every 2 1/2 hours. I did not think he would live but he is almost 6 days old now. I'm still feeding him and he is the scrappiest, sorriest little thing you've ever seen from me having to wash him after every feed, but he is still alive and now eagerly feeds.

The things we do for love!

Anyway, I loved seeing everybody's beautiful birds.

 

[summerb123]

Thanks Summer - I've just caught up with this. I've spent the last 6 days fussing over my Button quail babies. Their mother incubated them beautifully until they started pipping. So I had to hatch them under a heat lamp. Then on day 2 I realised one had its eyes glued shut so the poor thing hadn't eaten. I separated it from the other chicks who kept jostling it about and have been hand feeding it raw Japanese quail egg every 2 1/2 hours. I did not think he would live but he is almost 6 days old now. I'm still feeding him and he is the scrappiest, sorriest little thing you've ever seen from me having to wash him after every feed, but he is still alive and now eagerly feeds.

The things we do for love!

Anyway, I loved seeing everybody's beautiful birds.

your welcome! and it was my helpers to! awe poor little guy! I hope it makes it!

 

[Flock Master64]

Congrats to the finalists

 

[vachick15]

Congratulations to all the winners!

 

[Faraday40]

Thanks Summer - I've just caught up with this. I've spent the last 6 days fussing over my Button quail babies. Their mother incubated them beautifully until they started pipping. So I had to hatch them under a heat lamp. Then on day 2 I realised one had its eyes glued shut so the poor thing hadn't eaten. I separated it from the other chicks who kept jostling it about and have been hand feeding it raw Japanese quail egg every 2 1/2 hours. I did not think he would live but he is almost 6 days old now. I'm still feeding him and he is the scrappiest, sorriest little thing you've ever seen from me having to wash him after every feed, but he is still alive and now eagerly feeds.

The things we do for love!

Anyway, I loved seeing everybody's beautiful birds.

Congrats on the button quail! Are the eyes "unglued" now? Was it some dried egg membrane or is it a birth defect?

We had a similar (but not as severe) story. DD just hatched her 1st bunch of quail. (Corturnix) On day 2, we noticed 2 still looked like new hatchlings. I put some electrolytes in the water and also gave them some wet feed - to encourage eating. By the next morning, one was dead but the other seemed OK. It didn't eat as aggressively as the rest, but was eating & drinking on its own. It wouldn't eat when apart from its siblings, so I left it alone. It continued to grow but slower & looked about a week younger than the rest. I was told this was called "failure to thrive" and that many people put these chicks down to save on the heartache later. Since I didn't have to do anything special for the runt chick, I decided to leave it alone & put it down if it began to suffer. Now at 4 wks, it is still a little smaller, but getting harder to pick it out.

I've been documenting the growth, but I do not know the final outcome.

about 5 days old

2 weeks

3 weeks


4 weeks


We heard that quail are not as tame as chickens, but leave it to my girl to tame them. She's a good mother hen & does amazing work with animal training. We kept 6 so she could more easily work with them.

 

[JaeG]

Congrats on the button quail! Are the eyes "unglued" now? Was it some dried egg membrane or is it a birth defect?

We had a similar (but not as severe) story. DD just hatched her 1st bunch of quail. (Corturnix) On day 2, we noticed 2 still looked like new hatchlings. I put some electrolytes in the water and also gave them some wet feed - to encourage eating. By the next morning, one was dead but the other seemed OK. It didn't eat as aggressively as the rest, but was eating & drinking on its own. It wouldn't eat when apart from its siblings, so I left it alone. It continued to grow but slower & looked about a week younger than the rest. I was told this was called "failure to thrive" and that many people put these chicks down to save on the heartache later. Since I didn't have to do anything special for the runt chick, I decided to leave it alone & put it down if it began to suffer. Now at 4 wks, it is still a little smaller, but getting harder to pick it out.

I've been documenting the growth, but I do not know the final outcome.

about 5 days old

2 weeks

3 weeks


4 weeks


We heard that quail are not as tame as chickens, but leave it to my girl to tame them. She's a good mother hen & does amazing work with animal training. We kept 6 so she could more easily work with them.

Gorgeous pictures! I'd love to see some quail doing tricks - I think they are very smart birds and they have good memories. Some of our Japanese quail are very tame and sweet - though we have one that my daughter wanted to keep who is a crazy and wild. We bought most of our chickens as pullets so they weren't 'hand raised' so I think most of our quail are tamer than them. We've just hatched some Japanese quail chicks too so I'm quite busy at the moment! They were from a breeder and they are so docile and friendly.

The little Button's eyes I think were glued shut from hatching gunk as it was the last to hatch so didn't get much time in the higher humidity (I had the eggs on damp kitchen paper under the heatlamp) before I put it with its siblings to dry off. I labelled it the complainer of the group before I realised something was wrong. I cleaned its eyes as best I could and it started to open them, but they are so ridiculously tiny that I was worried I'd got water up its nose or something and that's what caused it to go downhill. I do wonder if it can see properly as I've done a Brain Development paper in the past and there's a window of opportunity for vision to develop. In the dark old medieval days of science they sewed kittens eyes shut and opened them up later and the kittens were blind.

Our little Tiny Tim as he/she is called will sometimes open its eyes but I don't know if it can see. It's got very sparse down from me having to wash it up all the time, though in a way this isn't a bad thing as I can see its crop. But this morning it was hungry and it started talking to me when it heard my voice. The Button quail make so many different little calls - the other chicks sound like dolphins whistling to each other sometimes.

I'm willing to keep helping it along until such a time as it decides it doesn't want to live, but at the moment it seems to be improving so very slightly each day. Since yesterday mornng I haven't had to clean its bottom, so that's a small victory. We'll keep it if it pulls through - it'll go nicely with our deaf and half blind cat (don't feel sorry for her - she's full of life, can be sweet as pie, but plays rough as anything as she didn't have siblings).

I'm amazed Tiny Tim hasn't died from hypothermia from being washed constantly or aspirating from me getting water up its nose (or from when he dives head first into the spoon full of water or egg!) He's a little fighter, that's for sure.

 

[Chickensfan]

happy new year everybody!

 

[Chickensfan]

Gorgeous pictures! I'd love to see some quail doing tricks - I think they are very smart birds and they have good memories. Some of our Japanese quail are very tame and sweet - though we have one that my daughter wanted to keep who is a crazy and wild. We bought most of our chickens as pullets so they weren't 'hand raised' so I think most of our quail are tamer than them. We've just hatched some Japanese quail chicks too so I'm quite busy at the moment! They were from a breeder and they are so docile and friendly.

The little Button's eyes I think were glued shut from hatching gunk as it was the last to hatch so didn't get much time in the higher humidity (I had the eggs on damp kitchen paper under the heatlamp) before I put it with its siblings to dry off. I labelled it the complainer of the group before I realised something was wrong. I cleaned its eyes as best I could and it started to open them, but they are so ridiculously tiny that I was worried I'd got water up its nose or something and that's what caused it to go downhill. I do wonder if it can see properly as I've done a Brain Development paper in the past and there's a window of opportunity for vision to develop. In the dark old medieval days of science they sewed kittens eyes shut and opened them up later and the kittens were blind.

Our little Tiny Tim as he/she is called will sometimes open its eyes but I don't know if it can see. It's got very sparse down from me having to wash it up all the time, though in a way this isn't a bad thing as I can see its crop. But this morning it was hungry and it started talking to me when it heard my voice. The Button quail make so many different little calls - the other chicks sound like dolphins whistling to each other sometimes.

I'm willing to keep helping it along until such a time as it decides it doesn't want to live, but at the moment it seems to be improving so very slightly each day. Since yesterday mornng I haven't had to clean its bottom, so that's a small victory. We'll keep it if it pulls through - it'll go nicely with our deaf and half blind cat (don't feel sorry for her - she's full of life, can be sweet as pie, but plays rough as anything as she didn't have siblings).

I'm amazed Tiny Tim hasn't died from hypothermia from being washed constantly or aspirating from me getting water up its nose (or from when he dives head first into the spoon full of water or egg!) He's a little fighter, that's for sure.

wow. just wow.

 

[vachick15]

Happy New Year to you too!