Quail

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Originally Posted by GilpinGuy

Yeah, bird birthing porn is so hot. [LOL]

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You know what is better than Quail Porn? Bacon Wrapped Quail Porn.
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BWQP = NSFW

I can't wait to post my own BWQP. That looks awesome!

It's been a week since I got my first egg. Here's what I got in the past week, plus four more that I had for breakfast this morning (quail eggs, bacon and cheese on a bagel. Yummy):
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I was getting 1 egg a day for a few days, then 2 a day, then 3. Today I got 4. I have 17 hens so I expect to eventually get about 15 eggs a day. The other girls just need to catch up. When a hen lays it's first egg it's pretty small, but they get bigger. My first egg was only 7 grams, them 8, then 9. Now the biggest are at about 12 grams, which is about right.

It's been fun watching these birds. They are either mature now or very close. They have begun mating, wich is interesting. The males strut up behind a female, grab it's neck feathers, then do it's thing. Sometimes the feather go flying. The suggested ratio is at least 3 females per male to avoid battles between the males. I have 4 females per male so I should be good. If I need to graduate a male to the freezer due to misbehaving, I will.

The males are smaller than the females and the females are getting FAT:
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I started to throw some straw in the cages. The birds freaking love it. They toss it around like confetti and sit in it when chilling out. What's awesome is that almost all of it eventually gets sifted through the floor into the poop pans. It just gets composted with everything else. I was concerned that it would turn into a giant mess but it's not at all.

They also love dust baths. I give them a tray of sand every day. They immediately dive in and start splashing it all over the place. This is supposed to keep insects like mites and such away. The sand also ends up in the poo tray and goes to compost. Again, no hassle.

From what I've read, quail need at least 14 hours a day of light to make eggs. So I rigged up a bunch of LED Christmas lights on a timer for those hours that supplemental light is needed. Cheap and easy. This wasn't my idea - I read it on the quail forum at backyardchickens.com somewhere. Also, quail are super cold-hardy. So not much extra heating is necessary. Just enough to keep the eggs and their water from freezing. I'm still working on ideas for that.
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The eggs have a pretty tough membrane, so it's handy to have these cutters around. I got 3 cutters for $10 on eBay. They're basically like cigar cutters. Cut the fat end of the egg so the yolk can come out:
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All in all I've found that these guys are pretty damn easy to take care of so far. I spend more time just watching them than I do actually taking care of them. Anyway, that's what happening.

Well, I've had these birds for almost 2 months now. We are getting 14-16 eggs a day. Awesome. Soon I will start hatching for more birds. That will be so cool. The eggs are about 15 grams. The chicks come out of those eggs - they are gonna be so small. Amazing
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As someone posted, bumblefoot is a concern. I have 1 bird with it now and I'm treating it. I am also brainstorming for a better cage/bedding arrangement.

All in all, if 1 bird out of 20 gets it, I could just graduate it to the freezer. After all, these are not pets. They're food. But I certainly don't want to subject them to any unnecessary pain if it can be avoided. I love these birds.

Be careful. You get enough of them, they might love you one day.

In a bizarre incident, a gilpen county man was found smothered to death, when his cage full of quail mysteriously over turned. Investigators speculate all the birds suddenly moved to one side after being surprised by the owner, opening their cage.

Sell me some eggs.. Those are real good in porridge and lomein.. Damn I really need to go to federal to pick up some


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I got my incubator today. An IncuView. Supposed to be one of the better ones out there. I plan on putting 50 eggs in there on Saturday. They should hatch in 17 to 18 days. If I'm lucky, maybe 30 or 40 will hatch. If I get ANY to hatch on my first try I'll be happy.

Of those that hatch, the hens will be grown out and turn into egg laying machines. The males will be grown out and frozen.

I built a brooder for the new chicks this week and also started tinkering with an automated watering system. Changing out and cleaning the waterers is the biggest time sink, so it will be nice to automate that.

As for the birds that got bumblefoot, I treated them and they are either cured or looking really good. Not one bird lost yet, miraculously. I have been more meticulous with cleaning the cages and plan on using heavier guage wire for the new cages, which should be easier on the bird's feet.

ChunkyMonkey, I'll let you know if I come down that way. [Flower]

I should have some chicks hatching next Tuesday or Wednesday. Right before Christmas. The kids are gonna get a kick out of that.

Today I built a simple watering system. Just a 5 gallon pail sitting above the cage with 1/2" PVC running to watering cups in the cages. This will save me a ton of time cleaning the watering cans and running them back and forth to the shed. My guess is that I'll need to fill the pail once a week, but we'll see. I'll fill the pail with a watering can in the winter and just use the garden hose in the summer. I left the vertical stub so I can tap into it for cages that I'll build beneath the existing cages.

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The next project is either an automatic feeder or just a big ass feeder that I only have to fill once or twice a week. I'm feeding twice a day right now. The key is to build one that reduces the amount of feed they waste. The birds like to toss the feed everywhere. I have a few designs that claim to reduce the waste a lot. I hope so.

Oh yeah, I lost one bird the other day. I was checking out one of the birds that I was still treating for bumblefoot and she basically dropped dead in my wife's hands. My wife has handled the birds many times so she didn't squeeze it too hard or anything. All the sudden she just went limp. Weird, but I read that these birds will do shit like that sometimes. It took me about 3 minutes to dress her out and get her in the freezer.

Stupid question, but how does the head pressure from having 5 gallons above all the outlets not just let all the water drain out at once?

As for a feeder, I've seen a couple cool designs made out of PVC that are basically the same idea as your watering system.

Here are the designs I've been looking to recreate when I get back into this. Most of these are all so simple I feel dumb for not thinking of them myself. Looks like something like these might work for you since you have extra room up above the cage.

http://cdn.backyardchickens.com/e/e9..._IMG_2384.jpeg

http://www.avianaquamiser.com/20121106chickentrough.jpg

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7SaDatZhUA...r+close+up.jpg

This one has a flag that lets you know when the level is low.
http://prepforshtf.com/wp-content/up..._Indicator.jpg

This shield must be to keep other birds from crapping in the feed.
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com...24b9269e34.jpg

http://thishappyhomestead.com/wp-con...ken-feeder.jpg

The cups have little valves that the birds have to trigger to let the water out into the cups. They bump their beaks on the trigger when they go for the last bit of water at the bottom of the cup and that releases more water. Gravity is the perfect pressure for these waterers. Too much pressure and the birds won't be able to trigger the valve. It'll be too tight.

I've see most of those pics of feeders myself. I may try something just like one of those.