November 2016 Hatch-a-long!!

[OneMountainAcres]

My November babies aren't laying yet. I'm waiting impatiently lol. They have grown big and beautiful though!

 

[angnic22]

Most of mine are laying. Having fun figuring out who's laying what. Lol

 

[NysiaAnera]

Hi November buddies! Reunion Time! I'm guessing by now everyone has gotten some eggs........ ...... and perhaps are even doing some test hatches of those eggs. Please share how they're doing & what's going on now that it's spring. My Nov quail laid eggs in Jan. Those fertile eggs were incubated in Feb and hatched in early March. That generation of chicks should start laying in about another week. We hatched another 2nd generation batch of quail March 31 (pics below) 1 day old [COLOR=B42000] [/COLOR] 11 days old (yesterday) [COLOR=B42000] [/COLOR] Meanwhile I wanted to share our "SuperHen," Cookie.

Cookie (a very experienced mama) went broody a little less than a week before my incubator was due to hatch. On day 18, I gave her 2 eggs to hatch, since she only adopts chicks when she believes she has hatched them. A clumsy roo accidently smashed/killed one egg on day 20. The other egg got very cold, yet still hatched. BUT WHAT AN EGG! I kept sliding the incubator chicks under her as they hatched, then eventually moved Cookie & all 21 chicks into the giant brooder. So in Cookie's little brain, she sat on an egg for less than a week & hatched 21 chicks out of it. Yep, she's a super-broody! Because she's a bantam, it's easier to just move her into the brooder. I have a back-up "heating pad broody" in there for any overflow, but the chicks rarely use it.


I went out to the garage last night & saw this: (They peeked out when they saw the light go on.)
How does Cookie keep track of all of them?
[COLOR=B42000] [/COLOR]
The rest of the flock is doing well. However because of all the April showers, our yard is MUD. Our chickens must think they're ducks!

I love it! Seeing their little heads poke out is one of my favorite things. So cute!

 

[NysiaAnera]

My November babies have started laying, but I have no idea what egg goes to which pullet! I haven't attempted incubating any of the eggs, they are so small I prefer to wait until they get bigger. We have some pretty birds though! More than half ended up being cockerels. I will try to get some new pictures tomorrow.

This is a couple of quail eggs next to a few of the small new eggs. They were smaller than that when they first started to lay, they had already started getting bigger by the time I got this picture. No, the quail eggs are not ours, we still don't have any quail yet, I buy the eggs from my cousin. My next quail egg purchase will be fertile eggs so I can try my hand at hatching them.

 

[Faraday40]

My November babies have started laying, but I have no idea what egg goes to which pullet! I haven't attempted incubating any of the eggs, they are so small I prefer to wait until they get bigger. We have some pretty birds though! More than half ended up being cockerels. I will try to get some new pictures tomorrow.


This is a couple of quail eggs next to a few of the small new eggs. They were smaller than that when they first started to lay, they had already started getting bigger by the time I got this picture. No, the quail eggs are not ours, we still don't have any quail yet, I buy the eggs from my cousin. My next quail egg purchase will be fertile eggs so I can try my hand at hatching them.

Matching the eggs to the hens is a fun game to play. Basically keep checking the nests often & make a mental note of who's in which box. If you only have 3 layers, then you'll be able to match the shade & shape more easily. (Some have a bit of shine, some have a dusty bloom, some may have white specks or dark freckles) We like to label each egg with the hen's name & date. In the end they all taste great.

Hatching Quail eggs is about the same as chickens. However, the quail are tougher to care for in that 1st week. Almost like trying to care for bumble bees scurrying about. They're so fast, tiny, and fragile. They can get themselves into trouble & not even know it.

So far, we're loving those cute little eggs & find many uses for them. Personality wise, they're not as friendly as chickens. Chickens run to greet you & follow, but quail may get bored & wander off. They must be caged or in a tractor for protection. They also have some cannibalistic tendencies. Our male can be too aggressive & cause the females to bleed. On a positive, it only takes about 7 weeks for females to lay & for the males to be processed. Whatever gender hatches, it's all good. They're also very quiet and make cute noises. The females chirp like crickets & the males' crow is not very loud. We decided to keep them for the summer & reevaluate the quail experiment in the fall. Last week our daughter was awarded a grant to purchase supplies to build a quail cage. I told her to design it big enough to be converted into a rabbit hutch - just in case.

 

[NysiaAnera]

Oh, we don't just have three layers, we have... at least 40. I am not sure exactly how many laying pullets we have, but at least 7 who are laying age now. Catching the young ones in the nest boxes is not easy. They are never in there when I am around, yet their eggs are there when we collect, so they are obviously going in at some point during the day. If the weather would clear up, I would be outside most of the day, then I could watch more closely and attempt to figure it out. Mostly I want to figure out which ones are laying the green and blue eggs. I know my 5 Easter Eggers' eggs, but now I have at least 1 more, maybe 2.

 

[Faraday40]

40 layers!

That's a lot of eggs to collect each day! I guess you don't label each egg with the hen's name & date.

 

[NysiaAnera]

40 layers!



That's a lot of eggs to collect each day!  I guess you don't label each egg with the hen's name & date.

Lol No, we sure don't! We only have a couple of them who are named, and only because of a specific thing that makes them stand out from the rest.

 

[NysiaAnera]

I went out to get pictures the other day and never got them posted. So, here they are!

Willy recovered beautifully from his attack. We are keeping him.

We haven't come up with a name for this guy yet. We just recently decided to keep him. Yes, we actually do name our roosters.

All these are from the 6 the one momma rejected. Two of them are pullets. I did not get any of the ones the momma kept.

Every couple days I do a thorough search for eggs in the pen these ones are in. And today we found this:

So exciting!

 

[BlueBaby]

I went out to get pictures the other day and never got them posted. So, here they are!





Willy recovered beautifully from his attack. We are keeping him.


We haven't come up with a name for this guy yet. We just recently decided to keep him. Yes, we actually do name our roosters.





All these are from the 6 the one momma rejected. Two of them are pullets. I did not get any of the ones the momma kept.

Every couple days I do a thorough search for eggs in the pen these ones are in. And today we found this:

So exciting!

The one you are trying to figure out a name for... how about Sam?