Recent content by RJSchaefer

  1. RJSchaefer

    Muscovy help! 2 mystery deaths and one now acting lame (on land)

    I'm going to go back a little, because I have this inkling it isn't pneumonia. A few months ago, my rabbits started dropping dead. I did necropsies on them and there was nothing wrong. Meanwhile, the ducklings (this same group) had a run of mystery deaths (about 4 over the course of 2 weeks)...
  2. RJSchaefer

    Muscovy help! 2 mystery deaths and one now acting lame (on land)

    The water isn't warm by the time it hits the pool. I test it before I let the animals go near it, and it's possible 50 degrees (and drops rapidly). And it's never enough to bath in, just enough to put surface water out for them to clear their bills. They also have a chicken waterer inside which...
  3. RJSchaefer

    Muscovy help! 2 mystery deaths and one now acting lame (on land)

    Our barn is cold. We're a little like Little House on the Prairie, no electric in the barn, no running water, nothing. So far, everyone had been doing quite well. The weather warmed a few days ago and I had my fingers crossed we were in the clear until the next cold snap. Yesterday, we found one...
  4. RJSchaefer

    Intervention: Helping Your Chicks Hatch

    I decided to tear a little hole in the membrane. There was some bleeding, so I put him back in the bator for a few hours until the bleeding stopped. I took off a bit more of the shell and moistened the membrane. When I woke up this morning, he and one more had hatched out. 2 days after the...
  5. RJSchaefer

    Intervention: Helping Your Chicks Hatch

    This thread is amazing. =) I'm on Day 19 with my quail. I've got 2 eggs that still haven't hatched, 24 hours after the others. They were pipped last night. I zipped the shell of the one making the most furious noise, but there's no hole in the membrane. My dilemma is...did he pip his shell...
  6. RJSchaefer

    Our first hatch of quail - questions

    17 of the 30 eggs hatched yesterday. Now we have 13 eggs in the incubator that I'm unsure about. I followed the advice in this post and listened to the eggs. I heard distinct chirping in one of them. What should I do? I can see where it pipped but it's not making any progress. Should I peel a...
  7. RJSchaefer

    help? quail has been scalped

    As far as the injured one, Blue Kote works wonders for pretty much anything. It will also remove that red, fresh skin look once he's healed over, so the others won't be inclined to beat him up again. The first advice I got when I got my quail was to send any aggressive animals to "freezer...
  8. RJSchaefer

    Caged species sharing a building?

    Nope and nope. It's a detached one car garage. We used to use it as a rabbitry (that failed miserably). I'll stick with just the quail in there and perhaps put the rabbits in as well, assuming we ever decide to give that a shot again.
  9. RJSchaefer

    Caged species sharing a building?

    I know there is a great debate on whether chicken & quail can peacefully co-exist, however I haven't found an answer to my question. Until recently, my chickens are largely free-range. This was causing trouble. We have them cooped right now, but I have been told by local friends that caging...
  10. RJSchaefer

    Help me with sand!!

    All I can find is "play sand" or "tube sand" (which my husband tells me is the same as play sand, but in a convenient tube). I can't find coarse or construction sand anywhere. I've checked Menards, Farm & Fleet, Home Depot and Lowes. Do I want "leveling sand"? "Pool filter sand"? "Paver...
  11. RJSchaefer

    Prickly Pear?

    I was given a ton of prickly pears. Can I feed them to my chickens? I found ONE site that says yes, but nothing else.
  12. RJSchaefer

    Worried about ducklings

    Not sure on breed. She told me Scovy, but none of them have any markings, aside from a single small patch of gray on one. I know you can't tell for sure by coloring, but our other Scovies had at least various shading, and the woman who got me started on them said she loved Scovies because...
  13. RJSchaefer

    Worried about ducklings

    "Turtling" = stuck on their back. I know that ducks have a hard time righting themselves after getting stuck, but they're fairly relaxed about it. My others would flail and chirp, while these guys just lay there. And they get stuck fairly frequently. I left my camera in my husband's truck, so...
  14. RJSchaefer

    Worried about ducklings

    I recently acquired 8 ducklings from a lady nearby. The story I was given was she had hatched them and tried to sell them, but no one would buy them. So she put out an ad that they were free. Since we would be driving right past her house that day, we went and got them. She told me they were 2...
  15. RJSchaefer

    quail eggs - to friends

    I've seen them anywhere from $2 to $6 for 30. I don't know what the average selling price is.
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