I got 107 Chukar eggs from Tony at Cooper quail farm in North Carolina yesterday,,let them sit all night,and into the bator they went this morning.This is my first attempt at these,but with the poor luck I had from BJ's quail from Texas,someone out there has to be a better breeder or have better stock. I chose Chukar over quail because even tho they do take a little longer to mature and lay eggs,they are bigger in mature size.From all e-mails I have sent inquiring about them,they seem to do very well in a colony breeding situation,,not as much fighting as quail,and are just an easier to maintain bird,,plus I met a lady that will buy every one I can raise for her to sell in Chicago to specialty ethnic restaurants for a very good price.
As always with me,I buy the eggs first,and have the time before they hatch to come up with some sort of housing for them.So in the next few weeks I must construct a colony breeding cage for these.I am hoping to get at least 75 of them to hatch,and after they can be sexed,have 1 male to 2 hens as a final ratio for breeding.The buyer I met said she could buy as many as 100 of these from me per week,,given it takes 20-25 weeks for them to reach full weight,means a lot of pens will have to be made,if I decide it is worthwhile.So maybe,I can keep this thread going,starting from the eggs in the bator,to building the colony pen that I will need.
At this point in time,I plan on making a double high-stacked colony pen,with a hardware cloth 1/2"wire floor measuring 6 feet wide by 10 feet long,,with a fully enclosed "room" on the end,6 feet wide by 4 feet long.There will be a center access door for each pen,and a door to access each room on the side,and I want to make both floors sloping to retrieve eggs easier.(Actually the reason I hadn't started on this yet was because I wanted to wait until I got the eggs to know how wide to leave the gap for the eggs to rollout)
Since winter winds,blowing snow and subzero wind chill temps can be brutal here in Illinois,when I design the pen,I want to make it so around all sides I can bolt wood covers over them,to help enclose most of the pen to keep blowing snow and wind off the birds.Because one pen will be directly on top of the other,the top pen will need space to allow a droppings pan to be in place.I also want to locate the best possible automatic watering system for these birds.Feeding is another issue,,I don't want to have to open the pen doors every day to retrieve feed pans.Also dust pans,,does Chukars like dust baths? If so,part of the floor area can be dedicated to a sand pit,,also I want to incorperate a roost for both pens,and the room on the end will be insulated,and very draft-tight,with possibly a heat lite fixture for those cold winter spells we have here.
Anyone here have any advice on anything I may be missing,or need to include in this,please say so.I'm no construction engineer,or carpenter but I have been mulling over the housing-pen plan in my head for weeks now and have a pile of new lumber in the garage.I'd like to do this correctly the first time,and model any future pens after this "prototype" without making many modifications.So please jump in,and tell me whats wrong or modifications are needed before the circular saw starts cutting.
As always with me,I buy the eggs first,and have the time before they hatch to come up with some sort of housing for them.So in the next few weeks I must construct a colony breeding cage for these.I am hoping to get at least 75 of them to hatch,and after they can be sexed,have 1 male to 2 hens as a final ratio for breeding.The buyer I met said she could buy as many as 100 of these from me per week,,given it takes 20-25 weeks for them to reach full weight,means a lot of pens will have to be made,if I decide it is worthwhile.So maybe,I can keep this thread going,starting from the eggs in the bator,to building the colony pen that I will need.
At this point in time,I plan on making a double high-stacked colony pen,with a hardware cloth 1/2"wire floor measuring 6 feet wide by 10 feet long,,with a fully enclosed "room" on the end,6 feet wide by 4 feet long.There will be a center access door for each pen,and a door to access each room on the side,and I want to make both floors sloping to retrieve eggs easier.(Actually the reason I hadn't started on this yet was because I wanted to wait until I got the eggs to know how wide to leave the gap for the eggs to rollout)
Since winter winds,blowing snow and subzero wind chill temps can be brutal here in Illinois,when I design the pen,I want to make it so around all sides I can bolt wood covers over them,to help enclose most of the pen to keep blowing snow and wind off the birds.Because one pen will be directly on top of the other,the top pen will need space to allow a droppings pan to be in place.I also want to locate the best possible automatic watering system for these birds.Feeding is another issue,,I don't want to have to open the pen doors every day to retrieve feed pans.Also dust pans,,does Chukars like dust baths? If so,part of the floor area can be dedicated to a sand pit,,also I want to incorperate a roost for both pens,and the room on the end will be insulated,and very draft-tight,with possibly a heat lite fixture for those cold winter spells we have here.
Anyone here have any advice on anything I may be missing,or need to include in this,please say so.I'm no construction engineer,or carpenter but I have been mulling over the housing-pen plan in my head for weeks now and have a pile of new lumber in the garage.I'd like to do this correctly the first time,and model any future pens after this "prototype" without making many modifications.So please jump in,and tell me whats wrong or modifications are needed before the circular saw starts cutting.
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