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.:star:.SILVER Member
Pooh-Bah
1,785 posts
Location: Bristol, United Kingdom


Posted:
As some of you may already know we've got an incubator and have been tring to breed quail. The first attempt was unsuccessful and we think this was because the quail that laid the eggs were past their peak laying age.



Three weeks ago we bought some free range hens eggs from the local farm shop and put them in the incubator, a week later we did the same with some quail eggs (so they would all hatch at the same time) and we have had success!!




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So far we have had two chickens hatch. We have also had two quails hatch - the stripey one in the middle and the other one is hiding behind the yellow chick. As you can see in the picture, another hens egg looks like it is going to hatch too biggrin



Once they have all dried out and gone fluffy we will put them under a heat lamp for a couple of weeks, then they will get to go outside into the run in the garden. I'll keep posting pics because it is quite amazing to see how quickly they grow up!



If any one can think of any name suggestions that would be great! (no fried chicken references please! biggrin )

EDITED_BY: .:star:. (1118526829)

.:star:.SILVER Member
Pooh-Bah
1,785 posts
Location: Bristol, United Kingdom


Posted:
My Quail are sick frown

Gita and Linden are all sickly, they are very weak and seem to have no energy.

I spoke to my dad (who is a vet) and he says that in the first week there are often a lot of casualties with quail and if they start looking sickly then the chances are they are not going to live frown He also said that there is nothing that we could have done better to prevent this. It sucks.

On a good note Wobbly (a we have named him cos of his wonky leg!) is getting mcuh better, his leg has straigtened out lot and he is walking much better, running around crazily then falling in a heap on the floor! He is quite the cutie!
I say 'he', I have no idea if wobbly is a boy or a girl and this breed of quail are really difficult to sex. the only difference between the sexes is a slightly different colouration on their heads.

I am sad frown The chick that hatched last time was sickly and died. I know that there is nothing that we could have done differently but i still feel bad. I grew up on a farm and an used to seeing this kind of stuff all the time but this is different because these are our first chicks.

mycoBRONZE Member
Pooh-Bah
2,084 posts
Location: melbourne, victoria, australia


Posted:
ohhh, i'm so sorry to hear about your poultry illnesses. i've got my fingers crossed for linden and gita.

yippee for wobbly though smile

flid: hug thanks for the info, i'll definitely go look into it. i used to be really up to date with laying conditions and all that sort of thing, but it was a good 10 years ago now, things are likely to have changed somewhat since then. i wasn't questioning whether eating unfertiliesed eggs was vegetarian friendly, but wondering whether free range chickens are more likely to become accidentally fertilised, and collected so they don't have the chance to grow. i often see specks of blood in eggs, and i'm never sure if this is the beginnings of a foetus.

i'm a lot less passionate about animal rights than i used to be, and its more out of habit thesedays than anything else. i can't see myself becoming vegan, although i totally respect people who are committed enough to change their lives like that.

sorry guys, not trying to start a big vegetarian discussion.

.:star:.SILVER Member
Pooh-Bah
1,785 posts
Location: Bristol, United Kingdom


Posted:
My dad used to work for DEFRA (department for enviromnent and farming something or other!)



Anyway, he sometime used to have to check the battery farm conditions and he said it was the worst think he ever had to seen. The conditions are awful. The conditions have changed slightly but not enough. The laws are not being changed because a lot of farmers cannot afford to completely change all their cages. IMO this is not acceptable!



There are also problems with other commercial egg production such as barn or free range eggs. Chickens like to be kept in small groups, they tend to get stressed when in massive groups, like they are kept in on egg farms.



The best place to buy eggs from is a local farm or somewhere where you know the chickens are kept well.

I found that this was rather expensive (more than double the price of supermarket eggs) and it is one of the reasons that we started keeping poultry.



The foetus will only start to develop if the egg is incubated. If an egg is fertilised, all it is few tiny cells different to an unfertilised egg.
EDITED_BY: .:star:. (1118788850)

PhaerieBRONZE Member
veteran
1,240 posts
Location: Melbourne, Australia


Posted:
*sends many healing vibes to gita and linden* get BETTER!!!! cause little phaerie needs some quail friends!! all the chickens will confuse her *nod*

Only when you close your eyes can you really see...


GnorBRONZE Member
Carpal \'Tunnel
5,814 posts
Location: Perth, Australia


Posted:
Pooorr wee quails...

hug hug hug hug hug hug hug hug hug hug hug hug hug

Is it the Truth?
Is it Fair to all concerned?
Will it build Goodwill and Better Friendships?
Will it be Beneficial to all concerned?

Im in a lonely battle with the world with a fish to match the chip on my shoulder. Gnu in Binnu in a cnu


PhaerieBRONZE Member
veteran
1,240 posts
Location: Melbourne, Australia


Posted:
*bump*

they all must be getting super HUGE how... more than a month old... have they learnt any super-wonderful-chicken/quail like tricks yet??

bouncebounce2bouncebounce2bouncebounce2bouncebounce2bouncebounce2bouncebounce2bouncebounce2bouncebounce2bouncebounce2
bouncebounce2bouncebounce2bouncebounce2bouncebounce2bouncebounce2bouncebounce2bouncebounce2bouncebounce2bouncebounce2

Only when you close your eyes can you really see...


Sir Nuggit....is a liability
899 posts
Location: playing with traffic


Posted:
Check out the tcensoredts on this:


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Pull my pin out, roll me in to a room and see what happens ubbloco


.:star:.SILVER Member
Pooh-Bah
1,785 posts
Location: Bristol, United Kingdom


Posted:

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The look a lot more like chickens now!
They seem to really enjoy climbing, we put lots of branches in their run and they spend their days seeing who can get the highest! biggrin



The quail seem to have escaped the camera. I'll try and get some pics of them later smile

mycoBRONZE Member
Pooh-Bah
2,084 posts
Location: melbourne, victoria, australia


Posted:
oh my god they're huge! am i in this one? whose who?

margitaSILVER Member
.:*distracted by shiny things*:.
3,777 posts
Location: brizvegas, Australia


Posted:
yeah!! who's in this photo??? are gita & linden okay??? confused

biggrin hug

looks like you're doing a lovely job raising them!! biggrin

do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and good to eat!



if at first you do succeed, try not to look too astonished!



smile! :grin: it confuses people!


PhaerieBRONZE Member
veteran
1,240 posts
Location: Melbourne, Australia


Posted:
Yay!!!!!!!!!!

*dances around the chickens and quails causing a flurry of excitement*

Only when you close your eyes can you really see...


.:star:.SILVER Member
Pooh-Bah
1,785 posts
Location: Bristol, United Kingdom


Posted:
I can't tell the quails apart anymore! They were too small for leg bands and they are all identical. Only 2 of the 4 of them survived frown Their survival rate in the first week is rediculously crap.

Chicken - Myco - Red leg band - Black Chicken
Chicken - Dragon/Spike - Orange leg band - White Chicken
Chicken - Gnorc - Yellow leg band - Brown Chicken
Chicken - Angel - Green Band - White chicken

my neighbours keep threatening to BBQ them eek

mycoBRONZE Member
Pooh-Bah
2,084 posts
Location: melbourne, victoria, australia


Posted:
ohhh so myco's the one at the front? what a pretty chicky! i hope s/he's still being considerate and not pecking on the others anymore.

.:star:.SILVER Member
Pooh-Bah
1,785 posts
Location: Bristol, United Kingdom


Posted:
Now they are in their massive run with lots of fun places to climb and lots of dirt to scratch around in they are all getting on very well. There's no bullying anymore biggrin

DragonFuryBRONZE Member
Draco Iracundia
784 posts
Location: Adelaide, Australia


Posted:
i'm the highest! yay!
they look cook!

Do we sleep when we die?


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