Hatching Eggs / Paypal CHAT Thread

[emvickrey]

Oh yum, I didn't even think about eating the quail, I keep hatching them and giving them away because I don't know where to put them. 600 quail eggs if you had my neighbors and they heard that they would blow a gasket!! And we DO live in a farming community, lol

I sell some eggs and swap some but mostly hatch. I only sell or swap eggs when the bator is full. I had 3 bators and I sold 2 so I would stop filling them up with chickens. I think I've gained control over my hatching addiction. My bator is only half full right now and only because I added 8 eggs today. I process all the quail I hatch at about 6 or 7 weeks. My first couple of hatches I keep out 4 hens and a roo to make 2 more pens. This year i'll pick out more because i'll have room for more eggs. I process the rest. Those will be breeders till fall then they get processed also. I'll add whatever I need to my existing breeder pens in case of any deaths. They get put in the garage out of the cold weather for the winter and their light is restricted to stop egg production.

When I process I put 10 birds to a freezer bag. We usually have 2 or 3 left over for DH's lunch the following day. I have a brother n law that fishes all the time and he's always giving us crappie filets. I wrapped them in bacon for supper tonight. That sure was yummy. My favorite is cooked in a butter and lemon pepper sauce. BBQ is really good too

 

[tdhenson86]

Just further proof that we have some AWESOME people on this swap!!!
Quote:

 

[emvickrey]

I can't believe how crazy this thread has been today!!! so everyone seems to know what the mystery eggs are... can you tell what kinds of chicks you have now CPL??

Sorry to hear about your cold snap and the chicken losses... Here in Idaho we plan on some pretty nippy weather, also why I can't hatch until next spring, the little guys would pretty much have to be in the house for 2 months if I was hatching now, and I can't stand the thought of that... We've been working here and at my mom's house to get everything weather proofed and my youngest chickens are 4 months old.

I use my front porch for babies. I line the inner wall with brooders which are clear plastic tubs and 20 gallon aquariums. I have a power strip that has all the heat lamps plugged in. I use wood chips for the litter and change it once a week. I keep new chicks inside even in the summer. In the winter they stay in till they're feathered then out in the grow pen which is covered inside the garage with heat lamps. This year my juvie pen has guinea and our thanksgiving turkey in it so the juvies will have to be housed elsewhere. Don't know where just yet. DH will have to get those pens finished so I can use them.

 

[cluckitall]

Ha! A payment came in I didn't expect. I am now all caught up on swaps, armed, and loaded for bear! And I didn't even have to go to the bank -- gawd I love the electronic age...

What? What's that you say? All I can get is chickens????

Well...I guess I can settle for that. If I have to.

 

[KYTinpusher]

Here are this week's current standings as of 12:30AM, Mon. Nov. 5. For all potential new swappers, we welcome your participation, but please read the rules on page 1, post #1 of this thread.

Game #1 - Whenever someone goes over 7 swaps, they lose 2 swaps the following week. The first person to catch it and post "Jinx"- (name of person going over), gets an extra swap in the current week. If crazypetlady (CPL) goes over, everyone gets an extra swap that week, and the first person to catch her and post "Jinx-CPL" gets a special prize of eggs from CPL. Start stalking!

New Game! #2 - Whoever claims the 50th, 75th, and 100th swap of the day (yes, I think we will get up that high this spring or before) will win an extra wild card swap to be used in the winner's week of choice. The first winner with the 50th swap tonight is corancher.

Congrats!



Those in red are done swapping until 12:01 EST on Sun. Nov. 11. Those in yellow are getting close to a limit.


*current offer (posted tonight after I did the calculations, but before I posted them)

# swaps

Elapsed time​

h/m/s
beehappy4ever

3​

0:19:00​

cjwaldon

2​

0:07:00​

coldupnorth

1​

0:04:00​

corancher

3​

0:13:00​

crazypetlady

7​

0:10:00​

crfarm

6​

0:51:00​

Daloorashens

1​

0:05:00​

DMRippy

4​

0:50:00​

Herducks

1​

0:06:00​

kraftyladies

4​

0:06:00​

KYTinpusher

3​

0:11:00​

madamwlf

2​

0:10:00​

mzstre

1​

0:03:00​

Overoberyl

2​

0:03:00​

reesepoultry*

4​

0:50:00​

Sebrightmom

1​

14:07:00​

swindledana

4​

0:56:00​

tdhenson86

1​

0:10:00​

wayne813

7​

4:36:00​

OK, let me see if I can explain this better. Below is a list of the new swappers that still have to complete their initial 7 swaps, so are limited to one swap at a time until each one is verified. Once you have been cleared by crazypetlady, reesepoultry, kraftyladies, or coffeekittie for another swap, you may claim another, regardless of what my list says. I don't keep track of whose swaps have been verified, just the swappers that need to have that done. My list is only published once a night, but your swapping status may change a few times during the day. Once all of your 7 initial verified swaps are completed, your name will be moved to the big list. I may not have everyone's name here that is already swapping, but all new swappers will be added here until I hear differently. As long as all your previous swaps have been completed and verified, you are good to go! Happy swapping!

# swaps​

Elapsed time

h/m/s
checoukan

0​

0:00:00​

chicken fever

0​

0:00:00​

chicken stalker

0​

0:00:00​

Chicky Dee

0​

0:00:00​

cluckitall

0​

0:00:00​

filumene

0​

0:00:00​

JulieNKC

0​

0:00:00​

mendocinosunris

0​

0:00:00​

mstricer

0​

0:00:00​

MyTDogs

0​

0:00:00​

pastrymama

0​

0:00:00​

Phage

1​

0:30:00​

RedBrush Farm

1​

0:02:00​

superjjf

0​

0:00:00​

Suspended list: The following swappers are prohibited from claiming additional swaps until further notice.

funnmomm

 

[cluckitall]

I process all the quail I hatch at about 6 or 7 weeks. My first couple of hatches I keep out 4 hens and a roo to make 2 more pens. This year i'll pick out more because i'll have room for more eggs. I process the rest. Those will be breeders till fall then they get processed also. I'll add whatever I need to my existing breeder pens in case of any deaths. They get put in the garage out of the cold weather for the winter and their light is restricted to stop egg production.

How do you process quail? Is it different from doing chickens? (Well, besides smaller...) I have to admit I've never tasted quail. Or pheasant. I LOVE the little cornish game hens, tho (which of course aren't game hens, but hey). I need a chest freezer.

 

[emvickrey]

How do you process quail? Is it different from doing chickens? (Well, besides smaller...) I have to admit I've never tasted quail. Or pheasant. I LOVE the little cornish game hens, tho (which of course aren't game hens, but hey). I need a chest freezer.

I use only a sharp pair of scissors. I put a plastic grocery bag in a bucket and have a water hose nearby. I hold the bird with it's head down and left hand over it's wings and legs back or they will scratch the dickens out of you. I cut the head off with the scissors and hold it over the bucket and wait till it's heart stops. It will try to thrash if you don't have a good hold and the wings held down your gonna get bloody. When it's heart stops I cut off the legs at the hock then the wings off at the shoulder. They don't have enough meat to take the time to skin or pluck in my opinion. Then I put the scissors just under the skin at the neck and slide it just under the skin down the breast to the vent. Then I peal off the skin starting at the neck and work my way down to the tail. I pull the legs out like a pair of pants. Then just pull the skin off. Then I cut starting at the neck opening and down each side of the spine being careful not to cut any gut. Then I put my index finger inside the neck area working around the crop and heart keeping the bird with breast up. Insert finger working the insides away from the inside cavity then pull the spine out and it takes the guts with it. Then a couple of snips with the scissors around the belly skin and it's all out. I keep the liver, heart and gizzard for fish bait and the rest goes in the bucket.

I can do a bird in about 3 minutes . You can do it inside as well. I keep a stock pot with ice water to put the processed birds in to cool them down. When i'm done I go back and wash them and make sure all feathers and guts are cleaned off. Sometimes the lungs don't come out with the rest.

Sounds grusome but it's just part of the processing process. Some people don't even use scissors. They just rip their heads off and break off the legs and wings then rip the skin off and use a finger to clean out the guts. I can't stomach ripping off the head of a live animal. I don't know why I can cut it off but not pull it off. My way seems more humane. I can't kill anything else but quail by I can do the rest.
There is a video on youtube that shows how to do it this way. There are several videos but I preferred this way.

 

[cluckitall]

Our boundaries of what we do and don't feel comfortable with aren't always rational, that's for sure

I've helped two friends process their chickens, and it didn't bother me in the least. Well, okay, it's sticky and messy, but emotionally it didn't bother me. Some of the chickens I have now I could process myself without much of a twinge -- but a lot of them I can't. I like them. On the other hand, I'd have to be really, really attached to a chicken not to be able to eat it. Not, at least, after someone else has butchered it

And since mstrice told me where there's a good, reasonably-priced processor in the area, I doubt I'll bother processing any of them myself -- that's a sticky enough job I'm more than happy to pay someone else to do it!

Thank you so much! I hope you don't mind -- I pasted your post into an email and mailed it to myself so I don't lose it. I definitely want to try a few quail sometime -- I have a friend who's an honest-to-God chef who'd rave (and cook me dinner, lol!) if I got him some fresh quail to work with.

 

[cluckitall]

Oh, another question for y'all: what is an "outside line"? When someone says a breed bloodline is from outside line X, what does that mean?

I've got a TON to learn about genetics and breeding before I start actually doing it. Other than the fourteen CM/rock crosses I hatched because, well, I had an incubator and eggs Plus I was curious what would happen -- I suspected they might be exceptionally big, hearty birds and so far I'm right. The 10 week old roos are quite meaty enough to process already, if I wanted to. I wanna see how the hens develop as layers, too, just for fun, but that's sure not what I'd call "breeding". This is pretty much how I do things -- decide I want to do it, start learning as much as I can (I was a member of BYC three months before I got my first chickens, just reading), and then at some point plunge in

. Do it for a while, realize how much I don't know -- but by then I usually at least have an idea of what things I don't know that I need to learn...like basic genetics, lol!

So what's an outside line?

 

[cluckitall]

I'm sorry, that's not accurate -- I didn't actually join till I'd gotten my first chickens. But I started researching poultry-keeping in March, and found this site pretty early in my search