I hatched my birds so I know their age, have some 2 years old and some 3yrs. Once they are 6 weeks they look fully grown, and I can't see any differences apart from the couple who got real old age arthritis-like symptoms and hobbled around. Had 2 old ladies did that lat year and lasted for 8...
Here's the quail shed we built...5' x 7' x 6'H. size came out like that because we used two sheets of 4' x 8' ply for the roof. Took us two weekends to put it all together. there is wire mesh underground to keep out burrowing critters, and then a brick foundation the wood frame sits on so it...
I'm in NorCal and most of mine did a moult over the past few weeks. I have them outside in a colony setup and there were feathers all over for about 3 weeks, they look really lovely when all the new feathers grow back. If you want a chuckle take a look at the chicken forum, they've been posti9ng...
No lighting, they are in an outdoor pen. we have got 12 hours daylight (sunrise to sunset) this time of year. wondering why half would be laying, half not...
I have Coturnix in a group pen, which I hatched last Feb/March, and had an egg a day from all my girls like clockwork until October (in California Bay area). Even had one hen get broody and hatch a couple eggs on her own, so i figure they must be quite happy where they are. This year first few...
only two laying so far this year at about 3pm, but it's following last years pattern. Most of the girls were done sometime between 2pm and 4pm, with the odd straggler laying later in the day.
Well its over. 5 birds in the fridge, one escaped the box and flew over the trees into the neighbors yard. I don't think he'll last long as they have 2 big dogs. It wasn't my favorite thing to do at all, we got quite attached to these guys over the past months. DH stunned them on a tree stump...
That looks pretty straight forward my question is how do you actually kill them first. I thought cutting their head off was while they are still alive?
I have a colony pen and they have sandy floor with hay I replace each week. I put plants in for them to hide behind and flowerpots turned on their sides and buried a little for them too. Some gals lay every day in the same pot and others dig a little nest depression in the sand behind plants...
i got three of those little guys from my mixed batch along with 9 wild browns. The three turned out to be 2 dark tibetans and one slightly lighter (Cinnamon?) color. They are my favorites, although i love the more varied feathers of the wild ones too. Then i have 9 whites who all have odd...
so will some more of them turn out to be hens? Right now it seems there is only white laying. But I have only seen/heard 2 whites crowing. They are not giving me many clues
So I have 25 mixed coturnix in a 35sqft colony pen. They are just over 8 weeks now. 13 browns (some jumbo), 9 whites and 3 tibetans. I have seen all 3 tibs lay an egg, and there are 7 brown hens, I have 11 eggs a day so that's at least 11 hens (right?) but that doesn't make for a good ratio. I...
Today I found a stray duckling running along the side of the road. we are in a suburban area but there is lots of natural wildlife and i've seen adult ducks walking along the street before, there are creeks running through folk back yards etc. but no sign of mom or dad and the little guy was...
Lol love your descriptions. I have 8 week old whites and tibs that I'm having trouble with. How on earth do you hold them still so you can see? Mine are so frantic when I hold them! They'll let me picktbem if they can stand freely on my hand but if I try to hold around their body they freak out...
Congrats on the new eggs! We hatched a batch at the same time. I have a hen started laying at 8 weeks from a prior hatch but none so far on the younger ones. Looking forward to it though as there should be about a dozen eggs a day once my girls get going
After the first few days when mine were on paper towel, and I switched to pine shavings and took out the plastic lids I was using for feed, and went straight to the round chick feeder. They still kick some of the shavings into the feeder and a few managed to climb over and inside, but most were...
So I read through the sticky....and tried to see on a couple of my browns (who I know already 'cos their feathers tell me so) and I had real trouble. How do you hold a quail still? As soon as I tried to flip them over to see what was what I was being scratched by those claws and the back legs...
Seems to me from all the different opinions on humidity ideal temps etc that everyone has, things can be out of whack for quite a while (even the whole incubation period) and you can still get a good hatch. Just remember we as humans are trying to duplicate natural conditions (I know a lot of...