Your Opinions Again.... :/

[First To Hatch]

Ok I have made my venture into j clips and wire...

***Cortunix Quail***

So far I have built one cage 5' x 2' its pretty good doors are on the top its all made out of just wire. I was thinking about making it a cage for colony breeding. And then I have a 4' x 3' hutch I bought last year I was also expecting to make a colony cage.

But I was thinking of using that 5' x 2' cage I built as a growout pen. The 4' x 3' cage as a colony pen, and then build 12, 2' x 2' cages for 5 birds to a cage.

So what do you guys think? Stick to my original plan or go through the expenses and build the 12 cages?


Also my incubator hit 106 temp today thats not to bad right?

 

[farrier!]

I would love pictures!...

Also how did you work the doors?

 

[shelleyd2008]

It's totally up to you. I like the idea of colony breeding, since there would be more than one male. I feel this would increase the genetic diversity. Now if you are breeding for specifics, like size or color, colony breeding wouldn't be your best bet, but if you are 'just' breeding them, a colony would work very well.

I personally have one colony cage and 3 'breeder' cages, basically because I only have one cage big enough for a colony! It's 2 1/2' by 3', and houses 11 birds. The other cages are 2x2. One has 6 birds and one has 5. Then I have another cage that is about 1 1/2 by 2ish, and it also has 5 birds. If I can ever get more of the colors I don't have (i.e. dark tibetans and goldens) I'll have more colony cages!

I'm actually planning on getting 2-2x6 cages just for colonies, then using my 2x2 cages for the ones that I don't have as many of.

I think that if you were to have just breeder pens, with 1 male to however many females, you would need to keep the chicks seperate, so you don't breed the babies back to the parents. With colony breeding, there is more chance that the babies have at least one different parent, so they would be okay. I don't like to breed siblings together unless I have to...

As for grow-out pens, young coturnix can be kept almost on top of each other with little to no trouble. I keep my babies in smaller cages, this helps with warmth also.

I can move them outside as early as 2 weeks old, as long as they are big enough to not get out of the cages

 

[cawooduck]

Quote:
Ouch, that could be really bad, anything over 104 is not a good thing. I am worried about my Ring teal nest because it was 104 degrees here yesterday, im hoping the hen got off the nest to cool down and absorb water enough times yesterday.

Hopefully things turn out alright for you.................Jason

 

[shelleyd2008]

106 air temp is not that bad so long as the insides of the eggs didn't get that hot. It really depends on how long it was at that temperature. It takes a while for the insides of the egg to get as hot as the air temp.

 

[First To Hatch]

It was 106 for 6 hours tops...

And then I barely filled my water troughs and it hit 72% HUMIDITY! I was so upset.

 

[First To Hatch]

Sorry but I took the pics from my phone..

 

[First To Hatch]

The black stuff is electric tape so far its working it keeps my arms from getting cut when I reach in. The latches I made from wire cloth hangers... I just cut a couple pieces attached them to the door with j-clips. The door is also attached on with j-clips.

 

[JJMR794]

Suggestion....

Instead Of Electrical Tape Go To Your Local Autoparts Store And Buy Some Of The Door Trim They Sell To Go On The Edge Of Your Car Doors--- Its More Durable, Cheap, And Will Last Longer And Work Better In The Long Run!

 

[First To Hatch]

Quote:
Really? Idk i think I'll stick with the electric tape on this one if I see it not working I'll try the door trim.