"Springing in the Chicks" 2016 April Hatch-a-Long Hosted by Mike & Sally

[Sally Sunshine]

When I was raising quail thru the winter I housed them inside our shed. Which by no means was predator proof. I had all the quail in cages with 1/2" wire except for 2 cages and those where sitting on a counter. The other cages where fastened to the wall up high so I could reach right in and clean up under them easily. Well we had a ferel cat that figured out if it knocked the 2 cages to the floor it could reach in and grab a bird and eat what it could pull thru the bars.

After I got smarter than the cat he never did it again. I also started working in there at night which I think scared it away. I lost some quail to a snake once. A big copper head got in a cage and swallowed a quail and couldn't get back out. One quail killed itself from panicking and one survived. It wasn't easy getting a fat snake out of that cage either.

I also had a raccoon open a quail cage door. It got one and the other 2 escaped. We caught them in the woods the next day. I was covered in ciggers from rescuing them though. Those cages where hung on the outside wall of the shed. The raccoon had to get acrobatic and reach the door latch from the roof somehow. I put locks on all the doors after that.

I had a predator of some type eat the heads off of 4 guinea keets one night. They slept with their heads thru the cage wire. Thats how I found them too, headless.

I lost 2 to a storm. They where adult guinea and they roosted in the tree at night. We had 70 mile hr winds and they got blown from their roost. I found one the next morning and the 2nd one slowly bled to death. It kept getting away from me and I couldn't catch it to try to help it. It died later that night and we found it the next day.

We all loose our flock eventually in some form or another. I'm sure there are hundreds of stories and all different in some way. Predators have to get creative if they want to eat our feathered friends.

OMG copper head!!! much less getting a fat copper head out!!! holy molasses!!
Dont weasels eat heads off?
Goodness I am lucky here!

Good morning all! I have now read everyone's posts and am ready to join the hatch-a-long. I will be setting around 40 eggs I think, mostly barnyard mutts, and the guy at the Napa down the road is giving me 2 dozen bantam/Silkies. Going to use my neighbors incubator-she's had good luck with it. Probably set them on Saturday 3/26

Hopefully this time I don't cook them all

Welcome!!!! glad your with us!!! awesome!! and local eggs too!! I see a great hatch coming up!!

Update: 5 Brabanter left in MacGyverbator due April 1. 13 eggs from my mixed flock put in my new fridge incubator build (called Pleasant Row Incubator 2.0 or PRI 2.0) due 4/9. 12 Brabanter eggs being shipped to me should arrive on Monday and be set Tuesday morning and be due 4/12.

I cant wait to see the fridge hatching!!! Praying the Brabs come in good shape!!

All you IPhone/IPad users, there is an app called HatchaBatch. You enter the date you place your eggs in the bator and it gives you reminders ans a daily progress of what the development you chickies making that day. I am on day 6, it says "heart, brain, and eyes are more prominent. Beak and voluntary movement begins." You can name your hatches and have several going at the same time. By the way it is FREE

Thank you!!!

 

[mlm Mike]

Every time I try to do multiple quite on my phone I fail miserable. So, thank you all for the kind words. It helped immensely.

Incubating news: Storms last night = power outage. Thanks for the great info from @Sally Sunshine I had no problems keeping the temp of my incubator steady. My husband was on stand by to fire up the generator. I was like "It's fine"

and he was like "Just let me crank it up!"

. Who doesn't love the sound of the generator reving up?!

I guess we need to get through March storms for April Showers. Hope no one else has power outages this weekend.

Good news on keeping the temps with power outage.

When I was raising quail thru the winter I housed them inside our shed. Which by no means was predator proof. I had all the quail in cages with 1/2" wire except for 2 cages and those where sitting on a counter. The other cages where fastened to the wall up high so I could reach right in and clean up under them easily. Well we had a ferel cat that figured out if it knocked the 2 cages to the floor it could reach in and grab a bird and eat what it could pull thru the bars.

After I got smarter than the cat he never did it again. I also started working in there at night which I think scared it away. I lost some quail to a snake once. A big copper head got in a cage and swallowed a quail and couldn't get back out. One quail killed itself from panicking and one survived. It wasn't easy getting a fat snake out of that cage either.

I also had a raccoon open a quail cage door. It got one and the other 2 escaped. We caught them in the woods the next day. I was covered in ciggers from rescuing them though. Those cages where hung on the outside wall of the shed. The raccoon had to get acrobatic and reach the door latch from the roof somehow. I put locks on all the doors after that.

I had a predator of some type eat the heads off of 4 guinea keets one night. They slept with their heads thru the cage wire. Thats how I found them too, headless.

I lost 2 to a storm. They where adult guinea and they roosted in the tree at night. We had 70 mile hr winds and they got blown from their roost. I found one the next morning and the 2nd one slowly bled to death. It kept getting away from me and I couldn't catch it to try to help it. It died later that night and we found it the next day.

We all loose our flock eventually in some form or another. I'm sure there are hundreds of stories and all different in some way. Predators have to get creative if they want to eat our feathered friends.

You've had your share of a variety of predators.

Good morning all! I have now read everyone's posts and am ready to join the hatch-a-long. I will be setting around 40 eggs I think, mostly barnyard mutts, and the guy at the Napa down the road is giving me 2 dozen bantam/Silkies. Going to use my neighbors incubator-she's had good luck with it. Probably set them on Saturday 3/26

Hopefully this time I don't cook them all

Welcome to the hatch a long!

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Good Morning Awesome Mike!!!

 

[mlm Mike]

Good Morning Awesome Mike!!!

Good Morning Sally!

Whatever I did, I'm going to go do it again!

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Quote:

 

[mamahmendez]

I do that with that AP too

Awesome news!!!  how did you keep it warm?

I wrapped it with a towel. I was filling up ziplock bags with warm water to put at bottom of bator too. (Kinda like you can have them do with shipped day old chicks. I didn't need the bags because the power came on quickly and the dropped temp very little. They were short outages but I was PREPARED. (I live kinda rural and we've only lived here 2 months; we didn't know to expect for length of power outages). The eggs would not have even cooled off. My candling skills at this point were more risky!

 

[mamahmendez]

Update: 5 Brabanter left in MacGyverbator due April 1. 13 eggs from my mixed flock put in my new fridge incubator build (called Pleasant Row Incubator 2.0 or PRI 2.0) due 4/9. 12 Brabanter eggs being shipped to me should arrive on Monday and be set Tuesday morning and be due 4/12.

Where did you get the Brabanters? And I saw in you signature you have Pavs. I am searching for those too.
Best luck on your hatch. I can't wait to read about it and see pic!

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Quote:
good job!!!

 

[Penny Hen]

I am wanting to join. I am planning to hatch some local Silkies and some Bantam Silver Penciled Wyandottes. I also might throw in some of my OE's. Right now my bator is full of Texas A&M quail. and 5 OE's. I'm wondering 1 dozen Silkies or 2? I am wanting to put the Silkies under my BSPW roo. I am wanting his color pattern. Does anyone know what color Silkie would work?

 

[Penny Hen]

When I was raising quail thru the winter I housed them inside our shed. Which by no means was predator proof. I had all the quail in cages with 1/2" wire except for 2 cages and those where sitting on a counter. The other cages where fastened to the wall up high so I could reach right in and clean up under them easily. Well we had a ferel cat that figured out if it knocked the 2 cages to the floor it could reach in and grab a bird and eat what it could pull thru the bars.

After I got smarter than the cat he never did it again. I also started working in there at night which I think scared it away. I lost some quail to a snake once. A big copper head got in a cage and swallowed a quail and couldn't get back out. One quail killed itself from panicking and one survived. It wasn't easy getting a fat snake out of that cage either.

I also had a raccoon open a quail cage door. It got one and the other 2 escaped. We caught them in the woods the next day. I was covered in ciggers from rescuing them though. Those cages where hung on the outside wall of the shed. The raccoon had to get acrobatic and reach the door latch from the roof somehow. I put locks on all the doors after that.

I had a predator of some type eat the heads off of 4 guinea keets one night. They slept with their heads thru the cage wire. Thats how I found them too, headless.

I lost 2 to a storm. They where adult guinea and they roosted in the tree at night. We had 70 mile hr winds and they got blown from their roost. I found one the next morning and the 2nd one slowly bled to death. It kept getting away from me and I couldn't catch it to try to help it. It died later that night and we found it the next day.

We all loose our flock eventually in some form or another. I'm sure there are hundreds of stories and all different in some way. Predators have to get creative if they want to eat our feathered friends.

I am so glad to see you post. Haven't seen your eggs on Ebay in a long time or seen you post on the Middle TN line. I was sorta worried. Hey maybe you know the answer to my post about what color Silkie should I pair with my Bantam Silver Penciled Wyandotte roo to produce chicks with his color pattern.