Adorable! Oh my goodness I feel chick fever again!
Got 65 quail Yesterday. 45 are A&M, 12 Manchurian, and 8 Brown. The breeder told me how messy they were so I was thinking they were like broilers and put them in the broiler brooder. I was really wrong! They are much worse then broilers so I had to pull out one of the old industrial brooders from the barn (too cold out there to leave it there, I'd have to check every 5 min to make sure). Has anyone ever used one of those before? The bar across the top is warming along with the light but the light keeps flicking on and off and I don't understand why (first time with this thing). The heat is staying on and holding a good temp. I lost one of the A&M's last night to drowning in a quail waterer. I have another one that was given to me free that seems to have crook neck and is about half the size of the rest. I got her not only because she is a she, but also because she is the strongest, fastest, and most ample eater there is. She shoves everyone else out of the way to get what she wants whether it is food, water, or heat. These were taken within a minute of putting them in this brooder...see the mess already? At least this one has a wire floor....
Because of playing swap a roo with them and my normal cleaning schedule I had to put the chicken chicks in a bathtub for about an hour. This picture was taken right after I put them in there. They keep their brooder pretty well clean but make a mess in a bathtub. I blame the mess on the Polish! They figured out scratching outside the first week and now if supplied with a feeder without a top they go scratching away.
I lost one of the Molted Java last night and don't know why (hatchery chicks), so that leaves me with 5 out of 6 of them. It wasn't cold, not squished, acted normal up until it flipped over and died (yes, I mean back flip). The rest I got from Bugglesmommy. Look at her 2 polish staring at the camera! I have to build a better grow out pen for them to move outside. The one I have is for extreme heat not cold and they are too small to be dealing with this weather without heat. While doing all this I broke 3 heat lamp bulbs and need another heat lamp base. My big girls needed heat last night because once again they were wet from the rain. Every bulb was because I unplugged the lamp and put it somewhere that got knocked over by my butt. At least they weren't plugged in at the time! Did you know the quail make the prettiest calls to each other? I found that out last night. Pretty speckled eggs here I come!
