Eric had made an offer to send folks some quail eggs, so I took him up. Today I received a box of eggs which will go promptly into the incubator. Should be fun, and hopefully I'll have something to report in 21-22 days. Only lost one, which was cracked upon receipt.


Thanks again!

Good luck! Let me know how it goes...

(I've got 21 new little fuzzies today in the incubator, more coming as I type... and 60 more that are 2 weeks old in the brooder...and 4 doz. more scheduled to hatch in 7 days... it's a busy time for quail!)

Checked the eggs tonight after I got home from work. Looks like 16 of the 36 (I noticed one was cracked) remaining are totally black inside when candled from the pointy end, meaning a developed chick!

A few others show either entirely clear, or some sort of mass inside of the clear. I'll wait a few days past hatching to see what they are going to turn out like before I perform an "eggtopsy".

I'll pull them out of the racks Wednesday, which will be day 19, and pile the good eggs in the center of the incubator as instructed, and pile the questionable ones around them.

Andy, if you have any adults you want to part with, my woman loves quail (as in to look at not eat). I would take a few off your hands and give them a home. ..

Sorry for the crappy pic.



7 or 8 so far!

10 hatched, 2 died. Made a quick grab for the 8 survivors and put them in the brooder.

Dismal hatch percentage. 39 eggs shipped, three cracked due to postal worker roughness? Dimes are thrown in for size comparison, and they get them to peck at the food and water. Glass beads in water keep them from drowning in the water. Food has been ground in our old Krups grinder. They are TINY.

Might be a few more, who knows.

One more pipping and chirping!

8 healthy chicks, 3 doa.

Dogfish-

I used to have a couple dozen quail yrs ago. I built a chicken coop like shelter for them with a few cone enterences so they could get back inside the coop but can't get out(kinda like a shrimp pot tunnel). I would release them in my field and then let my pointer point them and such then they would find there way back to the coop where the food and water were. Always leave a few in the coop to attract the ones that were released. Worked great! Just an idea. I don't know what your intended use is??

Don't fret the hatch rate too much. WIth quail, under optimal conditions, I hope for 60%. Remember too, that those eggs were collected during that super hot snap we had, where daily temps were hitting 99* here, thus not being real conducive to egg viability over the collection period.

As for chick survival. Damn things are small, and frail. Think of them as feathered sand shrimp. Sometimes you'll luck out and get a good batch, other times, you can kill'em by looking cross eyed at them. I had one hatch go 26/43, followed by a hatch that went 26/29... go figure.

Thanks Twitch. Whenever you have the time, a few more eggs would be appreciated if they are still producing. The boys really enjoyed finding the new additions yesterday. We still have the other eggs in the incubator, just in case.

Fishmaster, that is callen a "callback pen". I have seen the openings advertised on a few websites. I've heard they allow birds to be release multiple times on pay to play ranges. I know I can't release "just to have pretty birds around," and I need to pursue the birds that are released (bird-dog training, etc). I checked with the WDFW, and a call-back pen is good to go, so it looks like I'll set one up.

I think for now I'll have them in breeder pens until next spring when I can build them a proper aviary. They'll be a little cramped, but they'll be safe and relatively warm in the office located in my shop.

Hey Andy, no need to bring any up with you (not that it looks like you would have any extras anyway). Our locals showed up tonight, 2 adults and seven younguns scratchin around outside my office window. Young ones were about 2/3 the size of the adults so they seem to be healthy. I will try for some pics next time I see them.

I don't want to count my birds before I get eggs, or they hatch, but there may be a second hatch, so I may be able to swing a few your way, just a little later.

Keep me posted if you have any you wanna get rid of. Quail eggs are dee-lish.

7 survived a week!

You're past the critical stage now.... looks like you'll likely have a covey of 7.

I cleaned all the old eggs out fo the pen, to get ready to collect more for you... and they haven't laid an eggs in 3 days

I do have A LOT of juveniles right now. Maybe try to get you some of those somehow? Are you fishing B10?

I'm not, but a number of guys here are. I'll see if I can figure out a hand-off.

I am interested in some quail as well- I picked up a couple young turkeys off CL a few weeks back any ideas on the varities??

Looks like Bronze

I was feeding them and changing out their water today. One got out, so I took a picture.

Call Blades. He has a machine that will smear that poo around for you.

Awesome!

EXACTLY what I thought then I scrolled down and saw you beat me to it.

Nice! Still have 13? What is your ratio of male/female?

I should go try to get some pics of the ones I moved over to the hatchery display aviary. I think I have 26...but it could be anywhere from 13-40 the way they dart around and hide. They called a covey of 13 down off the mountain, and they now hang out in our yard everyday.

Down to 11. Had one die, then another, out of the batch I hatched. Not sure of my ratio of males to females.