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Post by herb on Aug 8, 2011 7:38:51 GMT -6
Finally managed to hatch me some lil quail.
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Post by gardendaddy on Aug 8, 2011 13:02:27 GMT -6
CONGRATS, Herb!!!! Wish you lots of good luck. I have always wanted some quail. I might try some next spring here in town. I have heard you should only have one cock to every two hens and keep them in threes like that....is that correct and would one have to keep them all separated in threes in individual cages or as I have seen when I was about 12 y/o while visiting in Louisiana once that there were literally hundreds of mixed birds and there were eggs scattered all over and the person that raised/owned them just picked up the eggs every day over the season. There had to be literally at least a hundred in each small probably 12x12 house/pen he had them in....any thoughts anyone, Herb, etc.?
Mike
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Post by chowdownsilkiefarm on Aug 8, 2011 13:37:17 GMT -6
I've heard of people keeping them in horse stalls renovated into pens and they just roamed around a couple hundred per stall. They just went in and gathered up the eggs. I prefer to keep them in separate cages off the ground with 3 or 4 hens to a roo. I found if something happens to a hen it's not easy to integrate another hen in the cage because they can be pretty mean and will peck the new comer to death. So I prefer to have more than a trio. If I loose one I still have a couple for back up.
I like the cages up high enough I don't have to bend to tend to them and gather eggs and I just rake up the poo off the ground. Last year I made the mistake of hanging the cages on the side of the shed and there was a concrete pad under them. I spent way too much time sweeping, scooping and hosing the concrete pad off to keep the fly population down.
They will lay all winter as long as they have 16 hours of light. We put ours in the shed with a florscent light over them. It's alot of work cleaning up after them but at least the flies and smell are held off by the cold.
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Post by gardendaddy on Aug 8, 2011 16:18:23 GMT -6
Yes, that is what I remembered as a kid...this guy had I mean BUNCHES in one pen, all running loose and he would go gather eggs off and on all day. He sold live and dressed birds, eggs, chicks, etc. I think from Alexandria, LA seems to come into mind. Visiting with my family at some family friends, etc. But he had probably I would say at a guess around 10,000 birds all told. It was his full time job, selling also to hunt clubs, etc. But I remember how nice they were and I loved the fact they were supposed to be wild but were pretty tame in those pens/houses. You know how kids memories are often wrong...but my thoughts all the same.
Off the ground sounds good to me as well. If one had say about 4-sets of 3-hens/1-roo making around 16-birds total, how many eggs could you get in a season, length of season, etc.? ANYONE?
Mike
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Post by chowdownsilkiefarm on Aug 8, 2011 23:13:30 GMT -6
I had a startling surprise when I feed and watered this afternoon. I was working my way around as I always do and was bent over tending to the pigeons when I looked up at one of the bob white cages to see what they needed and it wasn't food or water. It was rescued. There was a huge rat snake in the cage. It had gotten in and swallowed a bob white and couldn't get out. There was a dead one in there, I suppose broken neck from trying to get away from the snake or just freeking out watching it eat one of it's cage mates but there was another one still aliive and uninjured. So I gave the hubby a call to get over there NOW that I needed help. While he held the snakes head down and I got out the live bird so he could kill the snake. I've never been so close to a snake and never plan to be again. I'm scared of snakes but will kill one if I find one. But this was in such a place the bird had to be taken out in order to kill the snake and not the bird. So I lost 2 of my Georgia Giant Bob whites today. That makes 4 in about a week and a half. I lost 2 to a foot pecker. It was amazing that I actually had more eggs today than i've had the past 3 days too. I know why that is now too.
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Post by ellisfarms on Aug 8, 2011 23:33:34 GMT -6
what is a foot pecker lol . i googled it bad idea lmao
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Post by Timbo on Aug 9, 2011 23:17:34 GMT -6
lol! i cant begin to imagine what come up when u googled that. Sorry you lost your birds. Hope the foot pecking stops and the snakes stay away.
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Post by chowdownsilkiefarm on Aug 10, 2011 11:20:49 GMT -6
A foot pecker is a bird that goes after the other birds feet. I had to put one out of it's misery because it's foot was so bad that it had no blood flow and it turned black. The bird ws in pain and I prefer not to process a bird to eat when it's damaged so it became cat food. We haven't seen anymore snakes but I was missing an egg yesterday so i'm sure there is still another one around. Probably why I was missing more than one a day before that one got itself trapped in the cage.
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Post by ellisfarms on Aug 10, 2011 11:46:57 GMT -6
i killed one to day .was in back yard it was a chicken snake
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Post by chowdownsilkiefarm on Aug 10, 2011 14:43:58 GMT -6
Good for you. One less snake.
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Post by Backwood Barns on Aug 10, 2011 14:52:46 GMT -6
I haven't had a single predator problem yet except a hawk that is thinking about trying to grab one of my ducks. Haven't seen it for a few days so I hope it moved on. The snakes I get aren't simple chicken snakes, we have cottonmouths. Anybody want to trade pests?
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Post by chowdownsilkiefarm on Aug 10, 2011 22:39:11 GMT -6
I haven't had a single predator problem yet except a hawk that is thinking about trying to grab one of my ducks. Haven't seen it for a few days so I hope it moved on. The snakes I get aren't simple chicken snakes, we have cottonmouths. Anybody want to trade pests? NO THAN YOU!!! I tried to kill a copper head about a month ago then a week later I did kill either the same one or another one. It could have gotten me first because it saw me first and my foot was about a foot away from it.
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Post by chowdownsilkiefarm on Aug 10, 2011 23:16:53 GMT -6
Here's the new babies. I just cleaned the aquarium and put out fresh food and they played in it so much it's all over the place. Attachments:
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Post by Timbo on Aug 10, 2011 23:47:12 GMT -6
Them look realy good congrats Chowdown
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Post by Backwood Barns on Aug 11, 2011 7:02:06 GMT -6
How cute! It's amazing something so small can make such a big mess!
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