I don't usually separate my birds for a few more weeks. I let them live as a family unit for a bit longer. You can always tell when you absolutely MUST separate them, by the level of chaos in the cage!
The best thing that you could do is to start hatching or get a few hens from someone else. Good luck! I am low on hens right now, but I have been able to put one aging male in with a younger male. It isn't ideal, but I am expecting hatching eggs in the mail any day!
Even having the males in separate cages will be a nuisance because they will become exceedingly loud without access to females and will crow all day and all night long.
I had an injured male that I removed from a cage that had one too many males in it. Though he was healing in a separate cage...
My quail hens begin to lay like clockwork at 6 weeks of age. Below, you'll find an article that I wrote for Backyard Poultry magazine a few years ago:
http://www.backyardpoultrymag.com/issues/5/5-2/smooth_quailing.html
My birds never had hiding places for eggs but someone shared this...
I am currently looking to expand my quail flock and would love to have eggs for any of the following types: Golden, Texas A&M & Tuxedo. I currently have Texas A&M's but want to inject some new blood into my aging flock. My preference is to get an assortment of eggs to minimize the shipping...
Hello, Everyone!
I am TheMartianChick (Earthname is Carolyn). My family and I live in Central New York State. When I was around 7, a friend of the family gave us some poultry. My father built some pens and houses for the Silkies, Guinea Fowl and Muscovy Ducks. Notice that I said that he built...
I have an Octagon 20 and an Eco that I bought a couple of years ago. I have used them to hatch both chickens and quail and I've never had any problem with them. I have found that placing a few small pieces of kitchen sponge into the water troughs help to keep the humidity just right for our...
I'd worry about the cold unheated truck if your outside temps are really cold or if the truck route would pass through cold states. Eggs in my coop often freeze (and break) if they are not gathered twice per day during the winter. This year, we've had unseasonably warm temperatures and haven't...
I can't wait.... This movie is a tradition in our household! We own it on dvd but never took it out of the package. We only watch it when the rest of the world is watching it!
I just picked up a couple of Hylines from a (somewhat) local egg farmer. The birds were fairly friendly considering that they weren't raised by us. I was so grateful to get a couple of chickens to provide company for the single lonely hen that remained after a raccoon attack. From what I could...
We are currently looking for a couple of hens (two or three). We recently lost most of our flock to a raccoon near the end of the summer and are left with only one Black Copper Marans hen. We really aren't too picky about the breed (mutts are fine!). Standard breed birds would be best but I'd...
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The babies are in a mini-brooder on my dresser until tomorrow. Hubby just went to bed and I heard him mutter that they sound like mice caught in a trap! He questioned me pretty good about the reasons for setting these eggs in the first place.
So far , we have 5 chicks! Not a bad ratio for setting eggs from old birds...I announced my intention to set 4 more Texas A&M's in the incubator... Hubby rolled his eyes at me!
Oooh, that would make you a hatchaholic! I'm watching the first one hatch and planning to set some of the Texas A&M eggs... I had forgotten how much fun this was!! Hubby would probbaly divorce me if I tried to hatch more than 15 right now.
Hi, everybody!
I haven't posted here in a long time. My original flocks came from 2 posters here at BYC (Pop57 and Linebacker) but I haven't hatched any quail or chickens in about 2 or 3 years. Today is the day! I have 7 eggs in the incubator and at least 4 seem to be about to hatch. I've got...
I would love to get some Mandarin Duck eggs, as well. However, I have heard that they are difficult to hatch in an incubator and I don't have any hens that are old enough to go broody to hatch some out for me. Maybe next year...(sigh)
Unfortunately, an electric fence is illegal in my city (or I'd do it!). The dog pen is made of chain link, but the quail cages are made of welded wire/hardware cloth that is 1/2" x 1/2" and 1/4" x 1/4" on the bottom. I think that the hardware cloth would solve the problem of raccoons being able...
I know that many people here raise quail outside in cages. My question is: Do you have problems with predators like raccoons? Do other people's dogs often bother your birds?
I live in a city, but I have a large dog pen in my backyard. It is currently unoccupied, but I am wondering if I could...