New Arrivals (Few toe injury pics for those squeamish)

[Dadanga]

UGH! I did it again where I wrote out a post and didn't hit reply. So I just deleted since I bought a table and finally got the babies out. Wasn't a great success rate I think. I'll have to look at how many eggs I put in but I think I've pulled out 48ish and two were in shells stuck. One might make it and is fluffing out, one still hasn't found its sea legs.

As they get older I will separate the colors and the whites kinda like laundry before they get to that 'FU I'm a teen!' stage! It's super hot today. But the little bubbas still like it hotter as I had to lower the heat lamp. Guess the house is stopping some heat coming through.

One big knock on the incubator is that the area where the plastic gear sits is quite wide. Enough that one got trapped and died under there and another was sorta trapped but I fished it out. Another was dead just on the general floor of the netting. Can they get trampled? I wonder if it had other problems.

I'll most likely be taking all the hens from this lot and trying to reinforce the numbers and fill out the spare coop I've got. All colored hens will go into the main coop where the Gidge crew is and hopefully I can get the 24 in there. I'm not sure what to do with Jake's crew. Whether to reinforce his numbers or let the seasoned bastard keep his gals in his little aviary.

 

[Dadanga]

So a lot has happened kinda. Just today another 56 eggs have gone into lockdown. Next week I'll be hunting around for another heater to use for them since the others have only just turned one week four days I think. The one I helped out of the egg survived but the second one I helped ended up dying. Not sure what I could of done better, maybe just be a whole lot quicker and attentive.

Another freak accident occurred as I went to change out the feeder I found a bubba underneath dead. So. I'm really careful putting in feeders/drinkers now. I purchased a couple of mason jar drinkers that I'll use for the new hatchers along with another big 240L tote. I'll hang the heater from the mesh top and luckily the tote has high sides so the dogs shouldn't mess with it.

I'm really curious about the 56 going into lockdown. Two people in person have told me they have always dry hatched with quail and this time I did the same, using only water when I put the net in for lockdown. So I'm curious to see how many if any hatch out.

One of the surprises for me was how the whites developed a speckled coat and then I realized they weren't white at all. I believe there's around 29 english whites that I'll be separating into the multi tier coop, fishing out boys as I go. Would be lucky to get 15 hens and 3 boys.

As for the colors. I would really like to reinforce the number in the main coop with them so I have to think of a way of integrating them into the flock. Right now there's 3 males to around 12 females so it's not a really good ratio. Still trying to find the right mix of males. I'll be hoping for another 8 hens out of the 20 colored ones I've got and one more male.

I'm wondering if it's going to be smart to start separating the pharaohs and breeding them separately. I like the idea that they can be feather sexed.