First off, hello! My name is Heather and I've been a lurker here for a while now. That has satisfied the questions I've had as I've started this quail raising hoopla.... until now (more on that in a moment).
Recently I hatched my first batch of jumbo coturnix quail. I ordered the eggs from Turnbull farms and ended up with nine chicks, which from the other threads I've been seeing, isn't bad for a first time incubator with a batch of internet eggs from Turnbull. If it is lousy, let me wallow in my delusion please >.>
The chicks were/are adorable, healthy, and I think I'm hooked. I know, I see that phrase all over these forums, but its true, I'm pretty well hooked on these critters. I have experience with chickens and goats, but quail are different- and they are the first livestock my family is raising on our fairly small suburban plot. Chicken are out for us, but quail seemed like a good bet after doing the research, and here we are, and finally with our first hurdle that lurking can't solve.
I plan on having a self sustaining flock (one of the reasons chickens are out, no roosters in my area). In the first hatch, of nine that hatched, three seem to be female. I'm judging this based on breast feathers, I haven't vent sexed yet, but I'm pretty sure on this (thanks to Monarc23's Basics thread, that was really helpful for me overall). Anyway, of the three females, one if probably going to end up culled, or at the very least, not let in to the breeding population. She's about half the size of the others, and while she's also the tamest, my practical side wins out over the fuzzy-wuzzy side. Anyway, this leaves me with two potential breeding females, and from a diversity stand point, that means I need to order more eggs.
My question here is: Where do you folks order your eggs? I know a lot of you incubate eggs from your own flock, but do you have any recommendations on where I could order besides Turnbull farms? I could throw a dart at any of the ones I find using google, but I thought I would dredge the waters here first and see if anyone had any positive experiences they'd be willing to pass on. For the record, I haven't been able to find anyone in my area who raises this sort of quail (button and bob white, but no coturnix), so on-line is my primary option.
Thanks in advance for your time and knowledge and I hope to get to know you all!
Recently I hatched my first batch of jumbo coturnix quail. I ordered the eggs from Turnbull farms and ended up with nine chicks, which from the other threads I've been seeing, isn't bad for a first time incubator with a batch of internet eggs from Turnbull. If it is lousy, let me wallow in my delusion please >.>
The chicks were/are adorable, healthy, and I think I'm hooked. I know, I see that phrase all over these forums, but its true, I'm pretty well hooked on these critters. I have experience with chickens and goats, but quail are different- and they are the first livestock my family is raising on our fairly small suburban plot. Chicken are out for us, but quail seemed like a good bet after doing the research, and here we are, and finally with our first hurdle that lurking can't solve.
I plan on having a self sustaining flock (one of the reasons chickens are out, no roosters in my area). In the first hatch, of nine that hatched, three seem to be female. I'm judging this based on breast feathers, I haven't vent sexed yet, but I'm pretty sure on this (thanks to Monarc23's Basics thread, that was really helpful for me overall). Anyway, of the three females, one if probably going to end up culled, or at the very least, not let in to the breeding population. She's about half the size of the others, and while she's also the tamest, my practical side wins out over the fuzzy-wuzzy side. Anyway, this leaves me with two potential breeding females, and from a diversity stand point, that means I need to order more eggs.
My question here is: Where do you folks order your eggs? I know a lot of you incubate eggs from your own flock, but do you have any recommendations on where I could order besides Turnbull farms? I could throw a dart at any of the ones I find using google, but I thought I would dredge the waters here first and see if anyone had any positive experiences they'd be willing to pass on. For the record, I haven't been able to find anyone in my area who raises this sort of quail (button and bob white, but no coturnix), so on-line is my primary option.
Thanks in advance for your time and knowledge and I hope to get to know you all!
