My bees are putting in honey the last week like it’s going out of style. Normally a hive will run two honey supers, a friend of mine has 10 on two hives. He’s stacking them above his head and they just keep filling them with honey.
2 Likes
Quail eggs go into lockdown today. Brooder is set up, quail hutch/run still needs to be finished.
2 Likes
I just saw an egg shake! It has a crack in it, so there will be at least one chick by tomorrow.
2 Likes
Holy Smokes! You got one! 
1 Like
Lonely chirping chick is setting off kitty instincts. I have barricaded the brooder to hopefully keep curious felines out of it.
3 Likes
Quail #2 just hatched.
3 Likes
Quail #3 had problems. He had a really hard time getting out of his shell, and he couldn’t straighten his legs. He kept rolling around twitching. From everything I read, he wasn’t going to make it, so I culled him. It’s the first time I’ve killed a warm blooded creature.
I knew that this would be part of raising the birds, but I was hoping to wait a few more months before having to face it. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to do this with an adult bird.
Two more hatched during the night, one this morning. I don’t see any pips on the remaining eggs, so I think this may be it for this hatch.
Edit: Nope. One more. It rocked, and I can hear sounds coming out of it.
3 Likes
I think $Wife maya actually get some sunflowers this year. She’s had issues with squirrels and chipmunks eating them in the past.
Thankfully mine with issues have been dead before I’ve found them. But I imagine it would be easier than my Racoon issue.
Yeah. I’ve heard that raccoons will pull them through chicken wire piece by piece. My hutch and run have 1/2" hardware cloth, so hopefully that won’t be a problem. I also have skunks and 'possums in my area. And hawks.
I ended up with 9 healthy chicks. 11 hatched, 2 had to be culled. That was pretty awful. Taking a cut, fluffly, little thing that is looking at you as if it’s saying, “Hey, there! What’cha doin?”, then going snip with a pair of shears. 
Edit: Good grief these things eat a lot! Each one is about the size of a golf ball and eating over a teaspoon of feed each per day.
My mother once told me the formula she used to feed baby chickens, but I can’t remember the damn thing. (It averages a bit over 1 pound per bird per week by the time they are grown, but i can’t remember how it scales from hatching to maturity.) I do remember quail need higher protein feed, but that may be for meat birds, not egg birds.
And I’m sure you already know that. 
Either way, what they eat today will pale compared to what they will eat when they start laying.
Good luck and may they all grow up healthy.
Thanks. Quail do require more protein than chickens. I’m feeding mine game bird crumble. I have a big bag of dried mealworms for a high fat/protein treat, and they will have access to bugs galore when I get them outside in their run.
I’ll have to let everyone know how the next hatch goes in a couple of weeks.
I accidentally won an auction for 30 Falb Fee eggs. 
1 Like
The chicks are starting to get feathers already!
I just candled the 30 eggs I have in the incubator, and all 30 are fertile and growing. 0_0
2 Likes
The Falb Fee eggs went into lockdown this morning. There are 7 eggs that I know aren’t going to hatch, but that leaves 27. I saw movement in at least 5 of them 3 days ago.
How’s the first batch doing? They should be nice and fluffy by now.
They have mostly feathers now. They look a little pin-headed because their heads still have down, but the rest is all feathers.
I just lost one. I put all 8 out in the new coop, and when I went to check on them, a couple seemed hot, so I opened the coop up to put in some iced tiles. One that I’m pretty sure was a young rooster decided to cull himself and I think he startled up into the roof (only 18" up) and broke his own neck. I was watching the other birds and looked over in time to see him thrashing on the floor of the coop.
I’ve been using the term ‘skull-faced muppet’ to describe baby owls…
1 Like