all who are hatching quail

[oktx]

Lost one of my 9 so I'm down to 8. One is much smaller and hardly moves around although he seems plenty active if I try to hold him. I think he probably won't make it though. I think some chicks just have that failure to thrive thing.

Well my little small one was gone this morning. Personally, I am glad because it means he did not suffer long. The remaining 7 are all very healthy, running around eating, drinking and pooping and now I'm about to be off to build a larger brooder for them and then a grow-out cage. Got more eggs in the incubator so I have to get a move on here.

 

[~*MissouriSweetpea*~]

12 Jumbo Coturnix - my first batch ever - in!

 

[oktx]

Spent the day building the new much larger brooder and moved my 7 chicks to it this evening. They are on pine shavings now that I am fairly sure they are out of the hard part of being a newborn. Some of them even already have their tiny pin feathers on their wings. Forgot how fast these guys grow up.

On another note, finally got 8 eggs out of my colony today which means all 8 females are laying! Yay!

 

[KuroKitsune]

1 week till the hatch date for half my eggs so excited!! can wait to see the little chicks and be able to unplug and put away the incubator...darn thing is driving me insane with increasing or decreasing heat any time the temp in the house changes to much

 

[Momhunter]

I've seen fast growing chicken chicks but these coturnix quail grow amazingly fast. I actually left town for sat and part of sun, with daughter taking care of the animals. Couldn't believe how much the quail babies changed!! Also can't believe how much feed 90something of them eat, and boy do they poop!!! Feathers really come in after the 1 week birthday. I think they might outgrow my large water trough brooder before they get to three weeks of age.

 

[WayOutHere]

I am currently brooding my first batch of quail. I bought 30 day old Coturnix from a local hobby breeder on Thursday and since then they have been dropping like flies. 2 died Saturday, 2 Sunday, 2 today and 1 more sick as we speak. They seem to get weak very quickly and then they are either having seizures or they are just so weak that they are shaking from the effort of trying to stay upright. I have no idea what is happening. They are eating and drinking like crazy and are definitely growing. They are not medicated. I am brooding them the same way I did my chickens which is in a old water trough with pine shavings. I did notice the first night I brought them home that one ate a sliver of pine shaving which I'm sure doomed him/her. Surely they aren't all eating the shavings and dying. I haven't seen any others do it. Has anyone heard of such a thing? Should I switch them to another bedding? Any other suggestions on the possible cause of death?

 

[sphanges]

Just locked down my second batch of eggs. I candled and 28 made it to lockdown out of 37, with 6 which I suspected as infertile before I even set them, and the other three could have been old as a few day 8 and 9 eggs made it in because I had space. Not too bad considering I went away over easter and there was a power failure while I was gone which my pet sitter told me about!

Two questions for any experienced people out there:
1 - 4 of my candled eggs have something in them but I couldn't clearly see the air cell - does this mean the are rotten? or just thick shelled?
2 - of the infertile eggs, is it ok to cook them up thoroughly and feed them to my other quail? Or are they really a bit stale? They are true infertile ones with no blood rings inside them and when cracked they aren't smelly and look normal.

B

 

[chantopz]

I had the most remarkable time Sunday night. I had set 100 quail eggs in my still air hovabator on quail rails, then moved the to a homemade hatcher Friday morning at day 14. Sunday night they started popping out faster than I could count them. I gave up counting at 80 but I think only a few hatched after, anyway I threw away 11 eggs, Now I have a big brooder full of tiny "Jumbo" coturnix peeping and eating and pooping. Somehow I had 3 blondes in the group (A&M?). I think I am over quail hatching until these start to produce their own eggs! Usually I had 30% hatches so that is why I set so many. Wish I could show you pix but for some reason the pictures won't load on this site.

 

[McPhersonFarm]

I had the most remarkable time Sunday night. I had set 100 quail eggs in my still air hovabator on quail rails, then moved the to a homemade hatcher Friday morning at day 14. Sunday night they started popping out faster than I could count them. I gave up counting at 80 but I think only a few hatched after, anyway I threw away 11 eggs, Now I have a big brooder full of tiny "Jumbo" coturnix peeping and eating and pooping. Somehow I had 3 blondes in the group (A&M?). I think I am over quail hatching until these start to produce their own eggs! Usually I had 30% hatches so that is why I set so many. Wish I could show you pix but for some reason the pictures won't load on this site.

LOL yeah I normally get about a 60% hatch. I'm setting mostly all my own eggs now though, so I'm interested in seeing with no travel or packing what my hatch rate is. My first batch of my own eggs is set to come down tomorrow. I'm running into the problem of I can't get enough eggs. I have a buyer who will buy up to 1000 a week from me and my quail are only producing about 60-100 eggs a week. I am keeping back about 10% from each hatch to add to my flock so that I have new breeding stock as well as younger birds. Has anyone found a good supplier for large quantities of eggs? My only concern is that once they are shipped my hatch rate will decrease which will increase the cost and buying 1000 this guy doesn't want to pay very much for them only 75 cents. The blondes are A&M and will be white. You can tell by the coloring what they will be as adults. The lighter ones with stripes are going to be speckled/Italian

 

[Michael_H]

Hi all,,,Just for reference,just because a bird is white doesn't mean it's a A&M,just a white bird.White is recessive..English white is dominant pied....

Here I can get feed for $20 a bag which makes my cost per dozen right at .75 cents...That's maintaining 250 hens figuring 20% don't lay on a daily basis..Then theirs collecting,sorting,washing and packing.Food for thought anyways....I personally wouldn't add hens without a contract with this person....