Arizona Chickens

[girlchick]

Congratulations.. Photo's.. ??

Tomorrow, promise.

 

[kevs-chickadees]

Just call me the "enabler".

Yes you need an incubator. They never go broody, if one does it makes the quail news and people all over the world talk about it. Seriously. I've found them easy to raise, and since they are mature by 8 weeks quick to get meat and eggs.

Awesome to get bigger CXs for that price! What a deal!

There are always quail listed on Phoenix Craigslist under farm and garden. I've seen them at The Stock shop occasionally, usually mature roos. I sometimes have quail to sell depending on what is in the incubator and brooder at the time. I don't usually sell eggs or chicks, I raise them up, keep the biggest for breeding, cull the extra roos (freezer camp) and set up breeding groups to sell.

Ever thought of a quail processing class? I've heard that its totally different than chickens right?

 

[DesertChic]

Hatching babies sure does sound like a lot of fun. I have a lady who was pecked really hard and her whole face was bloody. I cleaned her off and she scratched her face. So its still bloody. I isolated her and restrained her feet so it was time to scab over. I felt so bad doing it but at least she should stop bleeding now.

This might sound crazy, but someone on another thread mentioned treating wounds with Desitin...the diaper rash ointment...to help them heal faster. I gave it a try, and it REALLY seems to help. I even use it on myself now as I'm always getting scratched and cut up from work and hobbies. There's an odorless one too.

 

[aviddamy]

Her wound is actually really small from what I can see under the mess. At this point I'm just letting her rest and letting the wounds close well. I'll probably put some ointment on her. I don't have Desitin but I do have neosporin type stuff without pain relief.

 

[girlchick]

As I promised, here is a pic of the babies so far. I have 2 more in the bator, one who has to finish absorbing the yolk sack, but it's down to a stringy gunky thing that I am going to remove soon. I couldn't put that chick in with the hellions until that was gone. LOL I moved the 7 to the brooder. I left the last little olive egger in with the yolk sack chic for company.

I think I am going to have to do another assisted hatch here in a little while. The chick is cheeping fine, but seems unable to turn and zip. I opened a bit of the pip hole that wasn't really open, just cracked, to ensure adequate air and have wrapped the egg in a moist paper towel for now. I hate doing this, but I also don't want a dead chick only because it couldn't turn and zip.I also have a rockin' roller egg that's been doing that most of the day. Can't see a pip tho'.

I set 23 eggs, but that's not to say some were already quitters, just couldn't see inside and if it looked all dark below the air cell, I put it in.

The little olive egger who zipped only part way was a bit sticky when I zipped the shell for it, so the black chick with the strange looking back is the one. Stuff is coming off pretty easy with some gentle fingernail scrapes. Chick looks better now than in the picture.

My DH is fretting about these eggs and chicks, tickles me to listen to him worry and stress over these eggs.

He just knew that the chick I assisted was not going to make it and that it was too weak. Wrong, little beastie is bopping all over the brooder.

I'm hoping for a couple more eggs to hatch tonight or tomorrow, but I will keep them all in the bator for a while longer, and wait.

With the Post Office holding the eggs for 2 days before they sent them on their way and the delay in delivery, I'm pleased to have as many hatch as they did. No complaints on the packaging, the seller does a great job with that.

Here is the crew, minus 2:

 

[DesertChic]

As I promised, here is a pic of the babies so far. I have 2 more in the bator, one who has to finish absorbing the yolk sack, but it's down to a stringy gunky thing that I am going to remove soon. I couldn't put that chick in with the hellions until that was gone. LOL I moved the 7 to the brooder. I left the last little olive egger in with the yolk sack chic for company.

I think I am going to have to do another assisted hatch here in a little while. The chick is cheeping fine, but seems unable to turn and zip. I opened a bit of the pip hole that wasn't really open, just cracked, to ensure adequate air and have wrapped the egg in a moist paper towel for now. I hate doing this, but I also don't want a dead chick only because it couldn't turn and zip.I also have a rockin' roller egg that's been doing that most of the day. Can't see a pip tho'.

I set 23 eggs, but that's not to say some were already quitters, just couldn't see inside and if it looked all dark below the air cell, I put it in.

The little olive egger who zipped only part way was a bit sticky when I zipped the shell for it, so the black chick with the strange looking back is the one. Stuff is coming off pretty easy with some gentle fingernail scrapes. Chick looks better now than in the picture.

My DH is fretting about these eggs and chicks, tickles me to listen to him worry and stress over these eggs.

He just knew that the chick I assisted was not going to make it and that it was too weak. Wrong, little beastie is bopping all over the brooder.

I'm hoping for a couple more eggs to hatch tonight or tomorrow, but I will keep them all in the bator for a while longer, and wait.

With the Post Office holding the eggs for 2 days before they sent them on their way and the delay in delivery, I'm pleased to have as many hatch as they did. No complaints on the packaging, the seller does a great job with that.

Here is the crew, minus 2:

Congratulations! And well done! They're very cute!

 

[girlchick]

Thanks! It's been an adventure. The chick that I opened the pip hole for just could not zip. Lots of cheeping and attempts, but it wasn't moving. When I assisted and broke away the shell I saw that there was no way that chick would hatch unaided, it was packed in that egg so tightly it couldn't wriggle at all. I ended up breaking away almost half the front and top before it kicked out of the shell.. Chick is fine and vigorous. YAY!

The rockin' roller egg pipped and zipped and hatched within 30 minutes or less. No problems at all. Crazy how they are all different.

The chick with the unabsorbed yolk sack is another issue. What a mess that was. I finally had to put it under a small stream of warm water and soak the mess so I could see what was what. There was poo, egg shell pieces, slimey goo and a mostly hard glob. Poor chickie. I managed to get all but a small piece cleaned away and then could see that there was tissue and not something to tug on. I snipped the glob off and left what was attached near the belly. Checked for bleeding (none) and applied a glob of polysporin.

Dried the chick with paper towel and Kleenex and popped it back in the bator. It was 99 degrees in that bator, but the chick was cold and cheeping. (sigh) Got the hair dryer, set it on warm/low dragged the chick back out of the bator and dried the little beastie til she was toasty warm and snuggled down in my hand. Put her back in the bator AGAIN, and she immediately laid down and went to sleep. Must be a diva. Gad!!

Am I done? Nope. Cannot put the icky belly chick in the brooder on shavings with the rest of the chicks. Now I have the "nursing care brooder" set up and warming with a lamp to get the right temp. Floor of this tub is paper towels with shelf liner and I dredged up a couple shallow containers for food and water. Chick needs access to food and water now, so I had to devise something.
Since a single chick is a lonely and noisy chick, the rockin roller chick gets to hang out in the new brooder as company.

Sorry I wrote another book. LOL Gotta go check the temp. nite

 

[LopezChickens]

I believe ideal

What

 

[pins2danes]

I have a question. For baby chicks, it says to decrease the temp 5 degrees per week in the brooder until it's equal to the outside temp. What if the outside temp is higher than the brooder temp? My babies are a week and a half old and I'm worried about how they will handle the high heat when they get outside since it's already going to be 95 this weekend! Will it be harder on them to adjust to it being so hot already? And how old should they be before I let them outside either just to play or full time including overnight? Thanks for the info

 

[DesertChic]

Thanks! It's been an adventure. The chick that I opened the pip hole for just could not zip. Lots of cheeping and attempts, but it wasn't moving. When I assisted and broke away the shell I saw that there was no way that chick would hatch unaided, it was packed in that egg so tightly it couldn't wriggle at all. I ended up breaking away almost half the front and top before it kicked out of the shell.. Chick is fine and vigorous. YAY!

The rockin' roller egg pipped and zipped and hatched within 30 minutes or less. No problems at all. Crazy how they are all different.

The chick with the unabsorbed yolk sack is another issue. What a mess that was. I finally had to put it under a small stream of warm water and soak the mess so I could see what was what. There was poo, egg shell pieces, slimey goo and a mostly hard glob. Poor chickie. I managed to get all but a small piece cleaned away and then could see that there was tissue and not something to tug on. I snipped the glob off and left what was attached near the belly. Checked for bleeding (none) and applied a glob of polysporin.

Dried the chick with paper towel and Kleenex and popped it back in the bator. It was 99 degrees in that bator, but the chick was cold and cheeping. (sigh) Got the hair dryer, set it on warm/low dragged the chick back out of the bator and dried the little beastie til she was toasty warm and snuggled down in my hand. Put her back in the bator AGAIN, and she immediately laid down and went to sleep. Must be a diva. Gad!!

Am I done? Nope. Cannot put the icky belly chick in the brooder on shavings with the rest of the chicks. Now I have the "nursing care brooder" set up and warming with a lamp to get the right temp. Floor of this tub is paper towels with shelf liner and I dredged up a couple shallow containers for food and water. Chick needs access to food and water now, so I had to devise something.
Since a single chick is a lonely and noisy chick, the rockin roller chick gets to hang out in the new brooder as company.

Sorry I wrote another book. LOL Gotta go check the temp. nite

You sound so much like me during a hatch! I had to rescue a "breech" chick during my last hatch because it pipped at the wrong end of the egg and was wedged in too tightly to be able to unzip the egg and find its way out. As soon as I got him out he was lively and active and has never looked back. He remained much smaller than the other chicks for the first three weeks, but not he's catching up to the others in size. *Sigh* What we do for our babies! LOL!