themartianchick Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 My quail flock is aging. My birds were originally hatched about 3 years ago. While most of them are the white Texas A&M variety, I do have two brown quail that I always meant to breed. I had heard that the fertility drops dramatically after the first year so I knew that I needed to do something soon. So, I put 7 eggs in the incubator a couple of weeks ago and then forgot how long they'd been in the contraption. So two days ago, I guessed that I needed to turn off the auto-turner so that the chicks could get into position to hatch. Today, I see a few chips on the shells. We should have at least 4 chicks hatching today! I am so glad that I can spend the day at home watching for them to hatch! Link to comment
snapshotmiki Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 Congratulations on your flock increase!!!!!!! Link to comment
Dee Posted July 13, 2011 Share Posted July 13, 2011 What fun! Let us know how it goes. What do you do with quail? Link to comment
themartianchick Posted July 13, 2011 Author Share Posted July 13, 2011 So far, one bird is hatched and the others are in progress. This one had a problem with his feet...They are curled funny so I used a bandaid to splint them into the proper position. If that doesn't work, then I will euthanize it. It is very cute, though. We use the quail for eggs and can use them for meat, though we haven't really done that because I originally only had 16 birds divided into 4 cages. I could tell most of them apart which creates anissue for me as far as eating is concerned. Our original birds hatched a few weeks beofre I hatched out my chickens. By 6 weeks of age, the quail were laying and we were no longer reliant on the grocery store or the farmer's market for eggs. The chickens took almost 6 months to start laying. The best thing about the quail is that they are fairly quiet (except the roosters). Most folks who hear them assume that they are up in the trees somewhere. In fact, my birdies had an inspection for the National Poultry Improvement Program about 2 weeks ago. The vet tech was looking up in the trees for the source of the "AFLAC" sound...LOL Link to comment
themartianchick Posted July 14, 2011 Author Share Posted July 14, 2011 We're up to 5 chicks, now! Link to comment
ma & pa steel Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 congrats, new little birds are so much fun. I had a hen disappear from me a few weeks ago and today she showed up with 1 chick in tow. Link to comment
themartianchick Posted July 14, 2011 Author Share Posted July 14, 2011 I love those missing chicken stories that have a happy ending! Quail chicks grow up so fast ... but they are so much fun. I'm not allowed to hatch any more chicken chicks since my birds are kept undercover from code enforcement. I only have 8 chickens here and I could probably stand to reduce that number to 5. My girls are fairly quiet though and the sounds of the city sem to cloak their existence. Link to comment
Dee Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 How big is a quail egg? I think of them as very small. Does it take quite a few eggs to equal the size of a chicken egg? Did you end up with 5 or did 1 or both of the others hatch? Link to comment
dogmom4 Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 How big is a quail egg? I think of them as very small. Does it take quite a few eggs to equal the size of a chicken egg? Did you end up with 5 or did 1 or both of the others hatch? Very cool! How many total? Link to comment
themartianchick Posted July 14, 2011 Author Share Posted July 14, 2011 We ended up with a total of 5 chicks. I cracked the last two eggs myself because I wasnhearing any tapping from them. One egg had never developed and the other had a dead chick. It looked fully formed, though.The eggs are tiny... I tend to think of 4-5 quail eggs to equal one large hen egg. The taste is extremely similar and they whip up a bit better, Ithink. Link to comment
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