I had to go to Korea last week, so I left my birds with plenty of food and water......and a red heat lamp on in the pen ceiling just to keep'em comfty. Well, got back this past Sunday, and had eggs all over the place......prolly 20 or so. Out of 49, about 40% are females, and had seen one breeding episode the evening before I left. Been gathering 6 or 7 eggs every evening since. I really didn't expect the frinzy to start this early, but I guess the longer daylight hours plus the heat lamp is driving the urge. It's still cold here.......matter of fact calling for significant snow here tonight/tomorrow morning. And what's even stranger, the calling has gotten full blown amongst all of them.......even the males doing their distinct call early in the morning and late in the evening. So, looks like I've got to get moving on doing some seperating a lot quicker than I thought. Is this normal for the mating activity to start this early......still in the dead of winter? Two weeks ago, they were acting a lot layed back compared to this week. Since it's so cold still, I think I'm gonna try pickling some of these eggs especially this early in the game. How long can I keep them (in a cool environment) before they're too old to pickle?
