Meet my new...Jumbo Coturnix Quail

2

Comments

  • COWLOVINGIRL
    COWLOVINGIRL Posts: 954 ✭✭✭✭
    edited April 2021

    @LaurieLovesLearning Fun, fun! I am planning on getting chicks for my egg business next week!

  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,576 admin

    They are fun. Make sure you share some pictures once you have them!

  • COWLOVINGIRL
    COWLOVINGIRL Posts: 954 ✭✭✭✭

    I will!

  • Monek Marie
    Monek Marie Posts: 3,539 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Part of raising animlas is learning to accept that some will die. I think that was the hardest reality for me to accept when I started with my animals.

    I can usually look and tell which ones I may have to watch for illness or weakness.

    I finally came to the conclusion even if there life was short they had one and it was probably for the best they passed.

    But it always seems it the one I am drawn too and favor, that does not make it.

  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,576 admin

    @Denise Grant I agree, and it doesn't get any easier, whether its livestock or livestock that has turned pet...short or long term. This summer/fall, we will be putting down our old family cow, who has been with us for 15 years. She is healthy and content, but moves very slow. We love her & her stand-offish personality. She would still steal anyone's calf too and gets so excited & lively around them, even if she has no milk. She would mother them without a second thought. She is an awesome cow and is THE QUEEN of the herd. You don't mess with her wisdom & power. Lol We don't want her to have to go through a potentially hard winter and so, our decision has been made.

    My daughter's friend just texted yesterday morning about a 20 day old silkie chick that she thinks suddenly has wry neck (there is a good chance that it's a head injury if not seen previously). We gave her information & instructions, but our policy is to just put those down. It is the most humane and best for the future health of a flock if it happens to be gene related. An injury like that, if an injury, doesn't resolve either. It is never easy, though. My daughter said that the friend needs to learn that helping doesn't always result in success, so she wanted to let her try to save it to learn about the difficulties of livestock keeping. So, my daughter understands. Our other kids here do too and learn early.

    I even get sort of sad about a blood ring in an egg. I had to discard one yesterday. The culling of bad incubator eggs has begun. :( I hate dead in shell chicks (of course, that's worse), splayed leg and star gazing/wry neck. Fail to thrive is difficult too. I am sad a little while, but at least with chicks, you can start to refocus on the healthy ones who still need your care.

    Miscarried calves, births that are so hard you lose the calf...an infection, bad injury, etc...never easy.

    Such is life with any animals. The kids discovered 4 beautiful, but dead white very newborn kittens in a cat's nest just this morning, all together, cords all trimmed neatly. The dog took them away (mostly gently) and put them together far away. We then took them from him to dispose of them properly. So sad.

    Livestock is life...and death. It is important to learn and never easy. They hold lessons that are valuable to anyone who is willing to learn from them.

  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,576 admin

    We have a little injury. We don't know how and it didn't tell us, but we have a little quail with what appears to be a broken leg below the knee. He is limping, not putting much pressure on it and moving a bit slower, but otherwise okay.

    We put comfrey-horsetail salve on it and will try a double toothpick-sportstape splint on it tomorrow.

  • Monek Marie
    Monek Marie Posts: 3,539 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited May 2021

    @LaurieLovesLearning I had to move my one batch of baby ducklings indoors for two days. The nights have been cold and I felt better if they were in a draft free area.

    So I went over by the quail and I noticed they are all hanging out in the cage area where they can watch the ducklings better

  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,576 admin

    Hahaha @Denise Grant! They sure are curious little things!

    Our little limper has a larger hard spot now where the break happened, but is running around like the rest of them. It is developing some red on its chest, so we are thinking that it will be a male = food.

    I really wish nights would warm up here. It would be a nice gift, as would rain.

    Our first round of quail eggs are now in lockdown. Hatch day tomorrow. Day 16 for my 26/38 large fowl chicken eggs. Soon we will have a whole bunch of fluffy butts only to turn around & do it all over again (and again...3 hatches...with all 3 incubators running...is enough for me)!

    By then, we should (hopefully) start to get thunderstorms, so, power surges & outages, etc. that could interfere too much with the incubators. July 1...what is our (previously wonderful) Canada Day, is usually my personal cut off date.

    I just hope that I can find room for everything that (I hope) hatches well.

    A little exciting news today...one of our guinea hens finally laid. They were late in starting last year too, but once they started, they laid fantastically! I will check fertility, sell what I can, and hatch a few of those too. That's just what I do...

  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,576 admin

    Well, our first tiny, tiny quail chick worked it's way out at 11:35 this evening. Once it stated unzipping, it quickly emerged in just over 14 minutes.

    If I get a chance tomorrow, I will post a shortened version of it hatching. It is a loud one, but is quite tired after all that work. It will call the others out as it peeps, so it shouldn't take overly long for others to follow.

    They can only stay in the incubator for 12 hours max, unlike a chicken's chick that can remain safely in an incubator/hatcher for 24.

  • Monek Marie
    Monek Marie Posts: 3,539 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited May 2021

    @LaurieLovesLearning The one thing I love about quail is they mature so fast. Before you know it you have meat and eggs.They are really so easy to raise and I just enjoy them.

    As soon as life quiets down I plant to start hatching out quail. I wanted to wait until the weather was warmer for any new hatchlings. I keep the quail indoors in our combo kitchen enclosed patio but even there if we get a cold snap I have small drafts and if electricity goes out, its always a challenge

  • Sara W
    Sara W Posts: 35 ✭✭✭

    Baby quil are notorious for trying to kill themselves. they will drown , smothe and pretty much jump to their deaths if given half an inch. I used to raise Jumbos and my gosh... I was more fussed by them than I was with my own children. I do love them so. We ended up makign a large run for them as they grew to Adulthood and had 3 different types of medium for them to dust bathe in. I used to sit in the encosure and play with the crazy things. Good luck with your eggs and babies too xx

  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,576 admin
    edited May 2021

    Well, here is a sped up 2 part short video of the first one hatching. It was clear when I made it, but was blurry once I published it. πŸ€” I took it late at night too, that's why is harder to see. I should add that in the second half, there is the sound of the incubator fan, and it could get loud.

    I included a picture of some of them with a quarter for size comparison and one with my daughters hand. They are busy, speedy little guys!

    Mothers Day quail! Haha

  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,576 admin
    edited May 2021

    Thanks, @lintonpair! These remind me a lot of guinea keets. I find the similarities interesting...as small as the tinier serama chicks, but more like keets.

    Marbles worked quite well for seramas in the waterer (a danger of them drowning exists too), but we thought in this case, the grip of rocks might be better than something polished.

    We ground the food into smaller bits, just as for serama chicks. Hopefully there is less wasted this way. Our one daughter put some food on the mat and tapped at it with her finger & the little ones came running to eat. That's so fun.

    These guys are in a pet cage in the house, for 1 1 1/2 weeks at most, as we build a short ceiling cage for the 3 1/2 week old quail to move into. The newbies will then get put in there with the heat mat that is already there.

    Tonight (and tomorrow), I lock down my chicken eggs in the other two incubators, for a hatch Wednesday/Thursday.

    Today is chicken pen fortifying & quail cage making day.

    @lintonpair I see you've been here for awhile, but I would like to officially welcome you to the forum!

    If you get a chance, pop over to our introduction section and also become familiar with our rules & FAQ in our Front Porch welcome. These exist to keep our community welcoming and to help you as you navigate the forum. Hopefully the intro section can assist you in connecting with like minded folks in your area.

    https://community.thegrownetwork.com/categories/introductions

    https://community.thegrownetwork.com/categories/our-front-porch-welcome%21-%28please-read-before-posting%29

  • Monek Marie
    Monek Marie Posts: 3,539 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @LaurieLovesLearning How many of your quail eggs hatched out?

    They are cute!

  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,576 admin

    14 little ones. 4 white.

    Locking down my other bird eggs tonight!

  • silvertipgrizz
    silvertipgrizz Posts: 1,990 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I have no birds except those that visit my yard where I garden..But as soon as I get back to the country living I'll have chickens and quail so thank you for all who post about your experiences and knowledge regarding both chickens and quail...and guinea etc....

  • Tave
    Tave Posts: 952 ✭✭✭✭✭

    What a beautiful video! Thanks for sharing, and look forward to the next round.😍

  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,576 admin
    edited May 2021

    You ladies are very welcome. I am looking forward to the next round as well of course. πŸ˜„

    Always learning, always sharing. That's what is so good about the forum!

    I just looked at my posted pictures on my phone screen. Ack! They are sure stretched out! Does anyone else have picture viewing issues today, or is it just these, or did I cause some issue while posting? Feedback would be appreciated so that I know if it is something that I need to deal with here or pass on to higher admin.

  • Monek Marie
    Monek Marie Posts: 3,539 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited May 2021

    @LaurieLovesLearning The photos have stretched out since this morning. i noticed that half an hour or so and thought maybe I got too much sun today

  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,576 admin
    edited May 2021

    @Jimerson Could you take a look at the stretched out pictures above? Is this a system glitch?

  • Jimerson
    Jimerson Posts: 291 admin
    edited May 2021

    @LaurieLovesLearning Looks like a possible glitch due to the very large sizes. I sized them both down a bit!

  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,576 admin
    edited May 2021

    Okay, so it was on my end. I haven't had that problem here before and they were uploaded from my phone. The preview didn't show any indication of a problem.

    Thanks @Jimerson!

  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,576 admin

    We have our first 3 quail eggs as of today!

    The pointy eggs are guinea fowl. The brown one is a poor example of a marans egg. I think that one is off of one of my experiment birds.


  • Monek Marie
    Monek Marie Posts: 3,539 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited June 2021

    @LaurieLovesLearning I was just wondering how your quail were doing.

    That's why I like them. They are fast to maturity - plus they are fun to watch

  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,576 admin

    @Monek Marie Oh, but their crow is horrible! It sounds like a really hoarse duck that is getting stepped on. I was hoping for something cuter!

    They are getting much bigger. You can easily feel that breast meat. It will be a while yet before they are ready to eat.

    Our daughter wanted to turn right around & hatch more. I said to wait. βœ‹ I only have so many heat mats. We only have a couple pens. I have many expensive chickens that will need larger pens than those and they will need priority status. Hatching more (cheap & easy to obtain) quail can certainly hold off a bit longer.

  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,576 admin
    edited June 2021

    My daughter found this blue egg from the quail yesterday.

    These turned into mini deviled eggs. πŸ˜‹

  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,576 admin

    We sold 1/2 of our younger adult quail and will be getting 2 doz eggs of the Kentucky JMF Meat Maker line of quail shipped from Ontario. That was a surprise to find them up here! These can get up to 1 lb. standing weight from what I understand and they have no leg issues. I asked the seller his hatch rate & he said 90%. Some shipped to Nova Scotia got 95%. That's not bad at all.

    So, by the end of next week, we are hatching again. I suspect that not all will fit in our little brinsea incubator and I am not too sure that I want to incubate such a small amount in my styro, so we may put a broody silkie into service again. We will see. I've got a bit of time to let them settle (12-24h) once they arrive before putting them in anywhere.

    Time to give the hen her golf balls back and see if she sets again, I guess! I need all my options open.

  • karenjanicki
    karenjanicki Posts: 996 ✭✭✭✭

    Congratulations! They are so cute. I'd like to hear more about them. I think raising quail would be a cool experience.

  • soeasytocraft
    soeasytocraft Posts: 237 ✭✭✭

    @LaurieLovesLearning I'd love to try quail but so much on my plate these days! Are they winter hardy in our Cold Canadian climate?

    I thought a cage above the chickens might be possible housing option. The barn is not heated.

    Did you find they are fairly clean when you had them in the house? They sure are fascinating!

  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,576 admin
    edited September 2021

    @soeasytocraft Yes, they are! The lady that we first bought from had hers in an unheated space in our -50 some degree weather this past spring. They did well. I don't know if it was insulated. She gave the birds a light only to keep them laying.

    A cage above the chickens should work. A cage only has to be about 2' high. I think our pens are 2'Γ—4'.

    We had solid bottoms on our pens. I was concerned about bumblefoot, but I think we will switch to mainly wire bottomed pens with a tray beneath. They are messy and can have a high ammonia smell. They fling their food and bedding a long way. I think having a wire + tray system (with egg rollout) and being selective about the feeder style would make a difference.

    This guy has "meat maker" breeders for $10 each, I believe, and is from Komoka. A good starter group would be 1 rooster, 5 hens, or if you had a good incubator, the eggs are much cheaper. https://www.kijiji.ca/v-view-details.html?adId=1573691546