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Well, right now I have 9 empty cages.
Plenty of room for more birds. Plus, 2 of the 3 pens with coturnix in them now are underpopulated for what they can comfortably have in them.
I used to do the same with chicken roos. I had a whole row of roos in bachelor pens. They seemed pretty happy (well, except for two birds that were Satan's spawn).
Perhaps I should clarify that I'm only hatching til I get my egg layer population where I need it. Then, I'll only hatch more when others decline too much in production. Then, soon after that, my egg needs will decline a bit because my son will be off on his own in life and it'll be just me. So, I will never need a huge number of birds around.
Of course, that assumes my hatches start to approach normalcy and actually result in some hens. If I get all boys again this time, well, I'm going to have to figure something out...
Clarification: The reason I don't "Rehome" is because with quail that means send them to someone else to be butchered or used for dogs. That doesn't work for me.
To each of us our own, eh?
Since you have empty pens and DH told me today I had to get rid of the chickens except for the silkies, maybe we can help each other out. I also have quail but I hatched out a bunch for exactly what you don't want yours used for. They go to freezer camp. I do have 17 Bob Whites that I want gone. They're just chicks now. I have 5 EE's and 1 is a rooster. I have several EE chicks I hatched out also. There are some that are PR/EE mixed. I have a lavender orpington cockerel and a black one with the lavender gene. There are 4 Buff Orphingtons, 1 is a roo and 1 is a mixed hen. Those are about to lay. I have 4 RIR's but he said he may want to keep those. Of course because they're his. lol I think we should keep the BO's for our own egg supply at least. The EE's are in a molt right now so they look ragged.
I live in the nearly farthest north west corner of Tennessee. If your interested in any just PM me or if anybody is interested. Oh, and I have a Pekin duckling that I was going to get a friend for but since they have to go I guess it does too.
Thanks, but I'll have to decline! I don't want to mix quail & chickens, and I really want to stick with coturnix. Bobwhites aren't as good at laying eggs.
(Plus, once I have birds, I try to avoid bringing in more birds from outside. I practice a pretty intense biosecurity. I won't even put up wild bird feeders. )
I do appreciate the offer, though.
