CurlyQuail
Songster
A big dump of everything that’s been getting me down.
Well first of all, work. Does any more need to be said?
Then one of my quail was dragging its wing and everyone in the poultry world said they either didn’t know what wrong, recommended culling him, or both. (I ended up calling the vet and they said they couldn’t be sure what was wrong until I bring him in. I took him in and he flew and the wing didn’t hurt him and he showed no other symptoms so the vet doesn’t know either
)
I got eight mixed breed chicken eggs from a friend as I wanted to get into chickens. I borrowed her incubator and kept her settings. The whole incubation process was much easier than I thought. One egg never developed but come hatching day it looks like we’ll have seven chicks! Now it was my first hatch and I was determined to stay awake for the entire thing. I ended up falling asleep (exhaustion, ya know) and when I woke up I found one chick had drowned in the bowl of water I used for humidity. I had a motion camera on the incubator in case I missed something and according to the time stamp, the chick died fifteen minutes after I fell asleep. If only I could’ve held out a little longer, or used a different bowl.
After this whole ordeal I wanted to hatch chicks again but this time it was low risk. I bought fertilized eggs from Trader Joe’s, so if none ever took I could just tell myself “oh well maybe they were just in the freezer for too long.” Well of the six (in hindsight I should’ve done more) I incubated, four ended up developing. On the 21st day we had a power outage. I had to take care of so many things that the eggs weren’t even on my mind. My the time I realized to check, the incubator had dropped to 75 degrees!! I wasn’t sure how long it had been this cold or if any of the eggs would survive but I decided to keep them in there a bit longer. On the 27th day of their incubation, one chick hatched. I wasn’t even aware they could hatch this late.Anyways, now she’s alone as the older chicks were being so aggressive with her she started to bleed. She’s got a plushie to sleep with and she has closely supervised play dates but it’s not enough for her. Once her wounds heal up I’m going to try sticking her in the other brooder again but for now I have a very sad, very LOUD chick.
I got my first ducklings! My dad isn’t a bird or farm person but what he does like are eggs. He came to me with a proposal that I should get ducks as they have bigger eggs and some breeds can outlay a chicken. I agreed on one condition, he pays for the shipping. We have a deal! Luckily the Newcastle Disease quarantine had just been lifted so I could order ducks from a reputable breeder rather than search Craigslist. I ordered two female runners, three female Khaki Campbells, and one male khaki Campbell. The boy came with a tag so I could tell who he is but it was getting right by the time he arrived so I cut it off a put a loose piece of floss thread on his leg. It was double knotted. The next morning I found the makeshift bracelet on the floor. I guess it was too loose? Flash forward to that night and I had a duckling that just would not quit crying. At first I thought maybe it was the brooder temperature or something wrong with the food. Nope, pasty butt. I wiped it off and put her back. I now realized I should’ve put oil or Vaseline on but I didn’t. Once again I wake up to tragedy. A dead duckling in the middle of the brooder. The other ducklings won’t go near. I pick the duckling up and she her hind end is completely full of poop. Another tragedy: I may have lost my only boy. The duckling was a khaki Campbell but since the boy had taken off his bracelet this could very well be him. I’m not comfortable vent sexing on my own so I guess it’s a waiting game.
Lastly, I had a fall on the horse I’ve been riding and looking to lease. He spooked at a bucket dropping which was disheartening on its own as I had been working on desensitizing him for months. He’s an ex racehorse so when he took off he went FAST. I fell of and got a concussion.
anyways these are just my sad tales. I have no idea why I’m posting this to be honest but here ya go
Well first of all, work. Does any more need to be said?
Then one of my quail was dragging its wing and everyone in the poultry world said they either didn’t know what wrong, recommended culling him, or both. (I ended up calling the vet and they said they couldn’t be sure what was wrong until I bring him in. I took him in and he flew and the wing didn’t hurt him and he showed no other symptoms so the vet doesn’t know either

I got eight mixed breed chicken eggs from a friend as I wanted to get into chickens. I borrowed her incubator and kept her settings. The whole incubation process was much easier than I thought. One egg never developed but come hatching day it looks like we’ll have seven chicks! Now it was my first hatch and I was determined to stay awake for the entire thing. I ended up falling asleep (exhaustion, ya know) and when I woke up I found one chick had drowned in the bowl of water I used for humidity. I had a motion camera on the incubator in case I missed something and according to the time stamp, the chick died fifteen minutes after I fell asleep. If only I could’ve held out a little longer, or used a different bowl.
After this whole ordeal I wanted to hatch chicks again but this time it was low risk. I bought fertilized eggs from Trader Joe’s, so if none ever took I could just tell myself “oh well maybe they were just in the freezer for too long.” Well of the six (in hindsight I should’ve done more) I incubated, four ended up developing. On the 21st day we had a power outage. I had to take care of so many things that the eggs weren’t even on my mind. My the time I realized to check, the incubator had dropped to 75 degrees!! I wasn’t sure how long it had been this cold or if any of the eggs would survive but I decided to keep them in there a bit longer. On the 27th day of their incubation, one chick hatched. I wasn’t even aware they could hatch this late.Anyways, now she’s alone as the older chicks were being so aggressive with her she started to bleed. She’s got a plushie to sleep with and she has closely supervised play dates but it’s not enough for her. Once her wounds heal up I’m going to try sticking her in the other brooder again but for now I have a very sad, very LOUD chick.
I got my first ducklings! My dad isn’t a bird or farm person but what he does like are eggs. He came to me with a proposal that I should get ducks as they have bigger eggs and some breeds can outlay a chicken. I agreed on one condition, he pays for the shipping. We have a deal! Luckily the Newcastle Disease quarantine had just been lifted so I could order ducks from a reputable breeder rather than search Craigslist. I ordered two female runners, three female Khaki Campbells, and one male khaki Campbell. The boy came with a tag so I could tell who he is but it was getting right by the time he arrived so I cut it off a put a loose piece of floss thread on his leg. It was double knotted. The next morning I found the makeshift bracelet on the floor. I guess it was too loose? Flash forward to that night and I had a duckling that just would not quit crying. At first I thought maybe it was the brooder temperature or something wrong with the food. Nope, pasty butt. I wiped it off and put her back. I now realized I should’ve put oil or Vaseline on but I didn’t. Once again I wake up to tragedy. A dead duckling in the middle of the brooder. The other ducklings won’t go near. I pick the duckling up and she her hind end is completely full of poop. Another tragedy: I may have lost my only boy. The duckling was a khaki Campbell but since the boy had taken off his bracelet this could very well be him. I’m not comfortable vent sexing on my own so I guess it’s a waiting game.
Lastly, I had a fall on the horse I’ve been riding and looking to lease. He spooked at a bucket dropping which was disheartening on its own as I had been working on desensitizing him for months. He’s an ex racehorse so when he took off he went FAST. I fell of and got a concussion.
anyways these are just my sad tales. I have no idea why I’m posting this to be honest but here ya go