Hmm, addiction?

[Bettacreek]

Well, I got an ambitious bug up my butt this year. I started out getting my quail again (buttons and coturnix). I hatched 70 eggs (20 coturnix and 50 button). I downsized to two coturnix (only one hen hatched, and I kept my best roo). The BF then talked about getting guineas to eat the ticks, and we decided on getting chickens, since they're less noisy and will produce breakfast eggs more regularly. So, I put some eggs into the incubator, then we ended up getting broilers and a barred rock roo at the feed store. I then of course had to buy barred rock eggs at auction for the barred rock roo. Unfortunately, after buying them, I realised that they were bantam eggs. So, I ordered some good dual purpose eggs from the egg chain. I also decided that if I had meat chickens, I might as well do some ducks for the dinner table, and ended up with two dozen duck eggs from the auction. I then figured, what the hey, I'll get two turkeys as well. I ordered a few pekins as well when I ordered my turkeys, since my eggs are mixed barnyard ducks. I'd then keep the pekins to breed meat ducklings in the future. I have also been putting my own quail eggs into the incubator every week. Now, I have seven meaties in the basement coal bin, two RIR or similar chicks, a barred rock roo and one turkey poult (I lost the other) in the small brooder upstairs, seven button quail eggs due tomorrow and a book full of hatching dates for the eggs that are overflowing my incubator and the incubator that's supposed to be a HATCHER! I need to get either another heat lamp or a dimmer for my heat tape and set up another brooder for my quail chicks. I think I've gone plum crazy.

 

[WingingIt]

But crazy is fun, isn't it?

And we need pictures!

 

[AhBee01]

Sounds busy, the only meat duck you don't have on your list is Muscovy, it is so lean, and beef like when cooked on the grill! When I serve it people think it's filet mignon. Have you ever tried Muscovy?

 

[Bettacreek]

Quote:
I have yet to try muscovy. I've only ever eaten duck once, and I can only assume that it was pekin. To me, it tasted basically like a chicken drumstick, but oh, so much juicier! As for the muscovies, I really had them on my list, but decided to go for pekins, since they mature faster, on top of being great meaties and layers. That's just entirely too perfect, I can handle a crappy personality and non-foraging behavior from them, since they'll be penned anyways. Now, if the scovies had been a fast grower as well, there'd be some here already.

I may still go with scovies later, but I need to see where I'm at with what I've got and what's coming in. I've had quail before, but, I'm venturing into meat rabbits, a garden, meat ducks, meat chickens and laying chickens. I don't want to become completely overwhelmed, so I tried to keep it as minimal as possible.

 

[saddina]

Get the scovies. Better flesh, better brooding, larger carcass, better foraging, and quiet. Snag a pair and do side-by side with the pekings, keep the one that works better, and the rest are delicious.