The female of the two cots that hatched on October 8 laid her first egg today. This was one day short of 10 weeks, which is right on schedule. This egg is smaller than usual, but that is how it goes with young layers. She’ll produce bigger eggs after she has had some practice. Quail […]
Two of the youngest quail got out of their pen. So, it was time to remove the brooder. While they were still feathering out, I had the infrared border in their pen to keep them from getting too cold. They have been fully-feathered for some time, now, but they like having cover and removing
In order to move the cots to the coop, I first needed to empty at least one of the quail pens. There was no point in dividing up the job so I harvested all the adult quail at once. Three quail don’t amount to much meat, but it takes little effort to clean them. It
The Last Quail Harvest Read More »
Quail are not intelligent birds. That has always been clear. However, one of the cots just distinguished itself to win a Darwin Award. Last night, after feeding the cots, I counted heads and one was missing. I looked all around the basement, thinking it had somehow gotten out of the pen. Every few hours, I
During the week, we had six more cots hatch. Unfortunately, the last three had leg and foot problems. We have seen, in the past, that late hatchers have a higher percentage of leg problems. Two of the three died on their own. One had legs that stayed straight and had toes that wouldn’t uncurl. Because
Yesterday, one of the quail eggs from the last shipment hatched in the afternoon. By bedtime, there were some more. This morning there were six cots all dried off and ready to move to the brooder table. The two cots from the last hatch are not fully feathered, but they are too big to be
The incubator now holds the last batch of eggs we will try to hatch this year. This batch of eggs is the replacement order sent by the hatchery after the last batch was so delayed in arriving. They sent a tracking number for the box and I had been checking on it, daily. Last night,
Last Eggs in the Incubator Read More »
Against the odds, two of the quail eggs hatched. The cots dried off much more quickly than in the past. I suspect that the addition of the humidifier is the reason for the improved drying. If the air is dry, the residue from the egg would probably dry quickly, get stuck to the cots’
The hatching eggs were supposed to arrive between September 11 and 13. Hatching eggs, like live chicks, are held at the local post office for pickup. This shipment was greatly delayed. It sat in the Ohio post office for 6 days before being sent along. The rest of the trip was made at a normal
Unfortunately, the experiment was only a partial success. The addition of the humidifier seems to have been a positive. There is every indication that the humidity stayed within the appropriate range the whole time the eggs were in the incubator. On the negative side, none of the eggs hatched. I always do an autopsy
The Incubator Experiment Results Read More »