California - Northern

[chiqita]

I am still waiting patiently for your Langshans to be ready for hatching eggs  I still really like the look of that breed.  Do you think you will have some ready by the end of May?
So are the huge quail as freaky as the smaller quail?  I put a net over my redneck box brooder for them and I see them popping up trying to get out but the net holds them down.  Looks a little like popcorn in there.  Based on what PetRock is saying about her quail, I am glad I got the Coturnix.  Even they are bananas but apparently not as bad as the Bob's.

Are you getting the bigger quail because you have a long waiting list of people that like to eat the quail or are you looking for bigger eggs?

I am a long list of people who want eating quail! Lol
I had fun developing tuxedos last year and want another quail project. And I think larger quail will be a good selling point too. Charge more for them and drive the regular sales too by making them seem a deal! I did get more interest from people when they could buy different colored babies people like their pets to be unique.

I also have a fantasy about finding someone who wants to raise ducks and trade processed birds. Can't have ducks here but mario would like to eat them.

 

[PetRock]

I am still waiting patiently for your Langshans to be ready for hatching eggs I still really like the look of that breed. Do you think you will have some ready by the end of May?

I hope that we will have some by then. The 2 eggs under my broody are the first that we have tried to hatch. We have 1 breeding pen almost done and 3 to go. I think that we won't be putting any of the Langshans in the first pen, however. We may be putting the Bresse trio in there so the grow outs can have their current pen. Unless you are interested in some mixed color Langshan eggs. It would be a case of whose your mommy and whose your daddy! Our roos are all Langshans and I can tell which eggs are Langshan so at least they would be 100% Langshan!

 

[Deerling]

Hi everyone! Sorry I've been MIA and missed commenting on so many posts. I am happy for the hatches! And thinking good thoughts to people going through rough things, especially health wise. That's so scary. I had/have precancerous cells on my cervix and my doctor wanted to amputate part of it - we want to have more kids and I had amazing pregnancies and water births (and my last baby was over 10lbs! 4 hour birth

) and I really didn't want to mess with preterm labor or possible infertility, so I went to a naturopath and with diet change and some supplements (mostly just green tea!) the cells are less severe and almost gone! It's amazing what diet can do for your body. I wish more people knew. I really struggle with healthy eating, though.

Has anyone ever used local honey to treat their allergies? We just had a man remove honey bees from our wall and are going to get some honey from him. I hope it helps Mark! He's got very bad allergies. Here are a few pictures from yesterday:







Clementine holding a drone. She sat out there all afternoon while the man worked and he told her all about bees. So cool.






He is relocating the bees and uses the honeycomb for candles and sells the honey! He is going to come back and put hives in our back pasture next year.




Yum! We got to eat some.



Our landlord finally came out Saturday and told us we have to move our chicken coop and he changed his mind about us getting goats. Very disappointed. He also told us we have to fill in the little pond the ducks swim in (that was here before we moved in). Can't wait until we can buy a house (which is like 10 years away, thanks student loans

). AND we've found three dog ticks in our bedroom... so, that's terrible.

All the chicks are doing well. Cleaning out the incubator today, don't think I'm up to doing eggtopsies on them. Just going to try and keep the humidity lower next time and see how we do. Really looking forward to our next hatch! Aiming to set April 25th. I need to figure out the best way to clean out our big brooder - it's wooden and has no floor or top. 7 ft long. We have a tarp under it. Any ideas? I did get the Oxine, haven't used it yet.

Well thanks to anyone who read that novel!

 

[chiqita]

Oh and on hoppers ( mario calls the jumping age quails little hoppers after the wire) they calm down.

The adults will come over and demand food. Still flighty but don't see you as quite the threat. I tell people to put them on the porch or garage when they are feathered out. I use 1/2 wire 1/2 sand when I can as wire is easier to clean but can hurt the feet if they have to be on it. Curing one hen of bumble foot was enough

 

[zooweemama]

a little dusting of duck love for you. Hehe

I candled quickly and pulled 3 dead duck eggs and my lone goose egg- also dead. I'm so sad about the goose. I opened the shell and she was fully formed and gorgeous.

So I have left 6 eggs in the bator - 4 are pipped- 2 of which have actual holes. And 2 are wiggling but no pips yet. On Monday I have 2-3 bantam blrw set to hatch so I should be locking down this weekend. All the ducks should be out by then.

 

[zooweemama]

I do have a question. I have 3 chicken eggs setup hatch this Monday and 3 more set to hatch the following weekend. I had to jack the humidity up for the ducks - will this hurt my chicken eggs?

 

[chiqita]

Hi everyone! Sorry I've been MIA and missed commenting on so many posts. I am happy for the hatches! And thinking good thoughts to people going through rough things, especially health wise. That's so scary. I had/have precancerous cells on my cervix and my doctor wanted to amputate part of it - we want to have more kids and I had amazing pregnancies and water births (and my last baby was over 10lbs! 4 hour birth

) and I really didn't want to mess with preterm labor or possible infertility, so I went to a naturopath and with diet change and some supplements (mostly just green tea!) the cells are less severe and almost gone! It's amazing what diet can do for your body. I wish more people knew. I really struggle with healthy eating, though. Has anyone ever used local honey to treat their allergies? We just had a man remove honey bees from our wall and are going to get some honey from him. I hope it helps Mark! He's got very bad allergies. Here are a few pictures from yesterday: Clementine holding a drone. She sat out there all afternoon while the man worked and he told her all about bees. So cool. He is relocating the bees and uses the honeycomb for candles and sells the honey! He is going to come back and put hives in our back pasture next year. Yum! We got to eat some. Our landlord finally came out Saturday and told us we have to move our chicken coop and he changed his mind about us getting goats. Very disappointed. He also told us we have to fill in the little pond the ducks swim in (that was here before we moved in). Can't wait until we can buy a house (which is like 10 years away, thanks student loans

). AND we've found three dog ticks in our bedroom... so, that's terrible. All the chicks are doing well. Cleaning out the incubator today, don't think I'm up to doing eggtopsies on them. Just going to try and keep the humidity lower next time and see how we do. Really looking forward to our next hatch! Aiming to set April 25th. I need to figure out the best way to clean out our big brooder - it's wooden and has no floor or top. 7 ft long. We have a tarp under it. Any ideas? I did get the Oxine, haven't used it yet. Well thanks to anyone who read that novel!

I dump the bedding and spray the sides with bleach. Oxines better I'd guess. Will the tarp fit in the washer? If so wash it with oxine. If not spray away. I also let it all dry in the sun to clean it that way. Bummer about the goats. At least you already had the chickens so he could not change his mind there. Maybe gunieas for ticks? When I lived in Australia I was planning on becoming a midwife. But it was too hard to do it and not enough training here. I assisted in a couple of water births. Soooo much easier!! Mario uses honey for allergies. Helps but not a cure.

 

[ronott1]

I do have a question. I have 3 chicken eggs setup hatch this Monday and 3 more set to hatch the following weekend. I had to jack the humidity up for the ducks - will this hurt my chicken eggs?

No, the humidity was not high long enough to hurt the chicken eggs.

Cabinet incubators are setup for staggered hatches like this and it works out fine.

Good Job on the hatch.

 

[chiqita]

I do have a question. I have 3 chicken eggs setup hatch this Monday and 3 more set to hatch the following weekend. I had to jack the humidity up for the ducks - will this hurt my chicken eggs?

The people I know who do staggered hatching say 7 days for eggs to recover from humidity changes. I just hatch in a hatcher, I'm lazy and have hens who sit on eggs and just add so I never know what is going to hatch when.

 

[ronott1]

We can get you there! It only take several Thumbs Ups too