Minnesota!

[KlopKlop]

Still not about chickens but now about quail:

bobwhites are very different from other quails, they mate for life!  live 7-10 years!  mourn for a month or so if their mate passes.  I didn't realize I was making a decade commitment to the little buggers.

How interesting! Are they laying eggs yet?

 

[lalaland]

aussiegal, best wishes for your husband.

my mom had 3 months of daily hyperbaric therapy at abbott. that will wear you down ! don't forget to caretake yourself.

 

[lalaland]

How interesting! Are they laying eggs yet?

nope. unlike other kinds of quail, which can start laying at 6 weeks!!!, bobs don't lay unless it is laying season (probably April or May through Sept or so), and don't lay until they are mature at 5 months or so. So.....they should start sometime next spring.

Bobwhites are still pretty wild and undomesticated. They might tame as chicks but at 3 or so months revert to wild and can go into shock and die if you try to handle them.

 

[lalaland]

a cool thing is how they roost in a circle:

not my pic. guess they have each others back

 

[NathanZee]

@Minniechickmama I don't think I explained, I only let the ducks fly once a day when I am sure there are no wild ducks around, the rest of the day they are in a pen with netting over the top.

I was looking at their site yesterday, it looked like 15 was their minimum? They sound like really nice birds though... where are you located and do you ever sell hatching eggs? OH MY GOSH WHAT AM I SAYING?? I DON'T NEED DUCKS!!

You're as much of an enabler as Minnie! that's all we need around here....another enabler.....

Edited to add: I looked at Metzer again and the minimum is actually 10, but you can do a special small order of 2 but it costs an extra $52. Those would be some expensive ducklings!

Oh, I didn't realize it was so expensive to get only two! I'm by Alexandria, and I just got my ducks this spring so they aren't laying yet. I would be happy to sell you some eggs sometime when they are laying, but I don't know how you ship them.

 

[Minniechickmama]

@Minniechickmama I don't think I explained, I only let the ducks fly once a day when I am sure there are no wild ducks around, the rest of the day they are in a pen with netting over the top.
Oh, I didn't realize it was so expensive to get only two! I'm by Alexandria, and I just got my ducks this spring so they aren't laying yet. I would be happy to sell you some eggs sometime when they are laying, but I don't know how you ship them.

I just was wanting to make sure you knew that info is all. That is great that you can let them get out and stretch their wings, and if they are happy there and nobody comes to lure them away, then it is all good.

Runnings got their ducks from Metzer last year, but I don't know about this year. They used to get them from Hoover, I thought, like they did the chickens. That is at our Runnings, but I know those places tend to get theirs from whoever is closer generally.

The is way expensive to just have 2 shipped. You are better off getting a bunch then selling some you don't need, or go in on a batch with some other people who are only looking for a couple and ordering the minimum.

 

[Minniechickmama]

a cool thing is how they roost in a circle:

not my pic. guess they have each others back

When you are food for other critters, that is what you gotta do. Yaks do that too, although, I am not sure what predators live in the Gobi desert?

 

[NathanZee]

I just was wanting to make sure you knew that info is all. That is great that you can let them get out and stretch their wings, and if they are happy there and nobody comes to lure them away, then it is all good.

Runnings got their ducks from Metzer last year, but I don't know about this year. They used to get them from Hoover, I thought, like they did the chickens. That is at our Runnings, but I know those places tend to get theirs from whoever is closer generally.

The is way expensive to just have 2 shipped. You are better off getting a bunch then selling some you don't need, or go in on a batch with some other people who are only looking for a couple and ordering the minimum.

Okay thank you! So just your local runnings got theirs from metzer, or all of them did?

 

[Minniechickmama]

Right, not due til next week but they are thinking of inducing because she has some of the symptoms of preeclampsia. I think that is why I am jumpy....I had that, and back then they put you on strict bedrest. So...6 weeks of laying there, was allowed to get up once a day for a meal, the rest to be eaten laying down. No surprise, baby never dropped and I went into labor with her up by my ribs. So all the muscle contractions were below the baby. Useless labor for 24 hours and then a C section.

Now, they know bedrest doesn't make a difference. I tell you, it was a hard recovery not only from surgery but from 6 weeks in bed!

She is at the clinic now for assessment (blood and urine tests).

Thanks all for tolerating way too much information, and a total departure from our regular chicken programming.

My grandmother told me after my first that they would keep women in bed for 10 days after giving birth. How crazy is that?!?! She then commented about how constipated one gets from laying in bed that long. That was my grandma, who then followed up with, "Did you know diarrhea is hereditary? It runs in the genes(jeans)." Then she would roll over laughing. And people wonder where I get it from?

It is best to get right up and moving again unless you had complications. I hate laying in bed all day. If I am sick and must be in bed, I get so sore, it is almost worse than the illness.

 

[Minniechickmama]

Okay thank you! So just your local runnings got theirs from metzer, or all of them did?

You'd have to ask when they get them again in Spring. I had to ask.
I got ducks from Metzer two years ago (2013) and I was SO not impressed. I got a bunch of garbage birds, very poor examples of their breeds, about half died before a week old or we DOA, some were evidently crossbred, just a mess. I swore I would never buy them from there again. Then last year we got them from Runnings since we couldn't find breeder quality of the breeds we wanted, and they were only for 4-H and then to sell. Anyway, the quality was WAY better that time. I then found out on discussions online that they had gotten a lot of new breeding stock from Holderrads, which has probably the best quality of a big hatchery for waterfowl.
I know most people aren't looking for show birds, but when anyone gets birds with serious defects that cause them death or disability, then that is bad for anyone. The good news is, they got better birds.