Illinois...

[Faraday40]

Tiring week....
Lots of fun things like a "long eared mule" rides around the neighborhood, Santa visit, cookie decorating, Christmas show at church, etc. We finally put our tree up today. However, we also had some tragedies this week. On Tues night, one of DD's friend's father died. It is so overwhelming when a man with young school age children passes. The wake was on Thurs & funeral on Friday. Even more unsettling was that on Thursday night, another one of DD's classmate's father died. His wake was tonight & tomorrow's the funeral. I was very impressed when DD told us that she wanted to go to the wake(s) to support her classmates. It was great to see how the entire class made it to both wakes. The kids have been together for many years and will graduate in spring.

 

[BReeder!]

What a weekend...
We have 2 laying hens again! We were down to just one due to cold and molting.
I got the incubator and egg turner tested and just about finished building 1 of 4 quail cages. My little guy helped.

The quail eggs are being delivered today! I have been checking USPS tracking all weekend.

We adopted a puppy. She is a hound lab mix (by their best guess) who we named Rudy (short for Rudolph). Her name was Hamilton up until yesterday when we adopted her - who the heck named a female dog Hamilton?! She is only 4-5 months, so we are training again. I woke up and found number 1 and 2 in our den since I didn't get a chance to clean the kennel last night. We last used the kernel to hide two young hens while introducing them to the flock and it had been outside since.

Fortunately, my wife and I got some fun time in before all of this chaos hit. We left the little man with grandma and went out on Saturday to an ugly sweater party that was adults only. I often forget that my wife needs the adult only time - she is a stay at home mom who spends most of her day having to communicate with a 2 year old, a dog (now 2) and 7 chickens (soon quail also).She appreciates a drink and some real conversation sometimes...

These next few weeks should be interesting, so look for updates from me.

 

[Faraday40]

Awesome quail cage! Sounds like your weekend was as busy as ours.

Funny coincidence about the name "Hamilton". Our dog's brother was named Hamilton and our male dog (now named Kepler) was called "Ashley" (They had a "Gone With The Wind" theme.) Although Ashley can be a man's name, the kids & I kept referring to him as a female.

 

[BReeder!]

About to freak out. My quail eggs shipped Friday. They were laid Thursday afternoon. USPS cannot tell me where they are, just that they are in transit to the next facility. They don't even know which facility is the next one. I hope they get here tomorrow. J am really worried about their ability to develop at 7 days. I read many pages that the eggs are viable for 7 days and then hatch rate quickly drops. Tomorrow will be 6 days and I want to let them settle for at least 12 hours prior to incubation.
USPS says it's the holidays and they are very busy. I say they should at least be able to tell me where the package is at. I have recieved a text message alert everyday since Friday starting that the package is in transit to the next facility. How does it bounce through a new facility everyday without being scanned in our out.
[EXPLETIVE!]

 

[Faraday40]

Hang in there! Let your mail carrier know about the eggs. Perhaps he/she can ring the doorbell so they don't sit outside your door all day. I think it's worth hatching up until 10 days, so it may not be as bad as you think.

 

[Faraday40]

The chicks are 2.5 weeks old

Blue orp (still looking female in the face) A giant in the brooder.... but mama silkie is still bigger.


Chipmunk serama (still "looks" female, but is ALWAYS sitting on top of feeder)


yellow serama - feathering in white (I thought female at hatch, but I'm changing my mind to male today)


white serama - feathering in beige (My fav..... so probably male. Comb looks female but I think I may see wattles forming) I like how its wings touch the ground.


silkie serama (no clue on gender / acts female) It's going to its new home tomorrow.

 

[BReeder!]

I like that male Serama. I would ask if you are parting with him, but I think my big hens would beat up a serama. I don't like keeping 1 flock in 1 coop and run. I am not about having multiple tractors, coops, or runs. That takes too much space and work. With that said, all my chickens need to get along.
I will have multiple catches for my quail, but that is actually for space saving purposes (stacking) and they are being built to be low maintenance.

By the way, I got ahold of the pussy officer again. They know nothing of my package contained 100 quail eggs. It's just ot the somewhere between Georgia and Illinois for 6 days now. I reached out to the hatchery in Georgia and they offered to send a new shipment of eggs on 12/26. Orchard Hill Poultry is their name. I highly recommend them since their customer services is superb. I believe they are a family operated farm run by a husband and wife. The wife is the one who answers the phone and emails in my experience. Very polite, responsive, and actually cares about the birds/eggs and the customer. I will use them again in the future should we decide to try shipped eggs again. They have quite a variety of chicken as well as the quail.

 

[Faraday40]

I like that male Serama. I would ask if you are parting with him, but I think my big hens would beat up a serama. I don't like keeping 1 flock in 1 coop and run. I am not about having multiple tractors, coops, or runs. That takes too much space and work. With that said, all my chickens need to get along.
I will have multiple catches for my quail, but that is actually for space saving purposes (stacking) and they are being built to be low maintenance.

By the way, I got ahold of the pussy officer again. They know nothing of my package contained 100 quail eggs. It's just ot the somewhere between Georgia and Illinois for 6 days now. I reached out to the hatchery in Georgia and they offered to send a new shipment of eggs on 12/26. Orchard Hill Poultry is their name. I highly recommend them since their customer services is superb. I believe they are a family operated farm run by a husband and wife. The wife is the one who answers the phone and emails in my experience. Very polite, responsive, and actually cares about the birds/eggs and the customer. I will use them again in the future should we decide to try shipped eggs again. They have quite a variety of chicken as well as the quail.

That is great customer service. (... and smart too) It's not their fault the package was lost, but re-shipping some eggs goes a long way to making long-term customers.
As a seller, I also do what I can to help people find the best chickens for their goals. Some want guaranteed pullets, some prefer day old chicks for lower cost - just buy some extras, some people need me to take back the males, some just want pretty laying hens, and some want lots of eggs (.... so to those people I give advice on which breeds to try and where they can go to find them.) In the long run I'd rather have someone enjoying their flock - even if it means getting chickens from someone else. Because that way, the daily care is spending quality time with pets rather than a chore. Many people who buy chicks from me end up coming back in 1-2 years for more.

..... It also helps that chickens are very addictive. LOL Now I feel like a drug king. "Here's a free bonus chick." I even got my dear, sweet neighbors hooked by giving them some fresh, backyard eggs. Whenever we have extras (which is NOT now), I can send the kids over to sell eggs. (We have a list of regulars that welcome the egg deliveries.) Although the neighbors do not have their own flock, they really enjoy sharing ours - especially when their grand-kids come to visit or when they have veggie scraps to toss over the fence.

 

[Faraday40]

Just look at the difference 1 day makes:
White & Chipmunk look about the same. (No real physical male traits, so gender unknown)

Yellow chick is getting pink. I'm pretty sure now he's male. Just look at much taller the comb grew in only 24 hours! When people told me how the serama combs just "pop" over night, I didn't think it was literal. They'll be 3 weeks tomorrow afternoon.

 

[Faraday40]

@BReeder!
BTW- If you seriously want a male serama let me know. Since we already have a beautiful male, I won't need this one. I plan to give him away. I found that bantams & large fowl can get along just fine. However, seramas can't take temps below freezing, so they're sort of a hassle in our climate. You'd either have to heat a coop or take them inside for the winter. Our spoiled boy spends his days in a heated coop until DD comes home from school. She brings him inside and he sleeps in her room. (in a little guinea pig cage when she's not holding him.)