Backyard Poultry Forum

They only take 17 days but other than that I think you can treat them just like chicken eggs. They are harder to candle because of all the spots but I had no trouble telling which were fertile at about 10 days.

The chicks do like high protein food (like 25-30%), you can buy special gamebird starter but I just add extra protein to regular unmedicated chick starter. Meat meal (from a feed store) or dried soybean curd (from an asian grocery store) are both cheap and have worked for me. In a pinch you could dry a tin of tuna (the springwater one) in the oven on the lowest setting and then grind that up as a protein source.

Good luck!

Thanks - the 17 days is the first step on the learning curve. If any hatch in the bator, hopefully I'll have a Silkie to adopt them

OMG this is gripping! I hope you will both continue the story!

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Staffordshire Bull Terrier, a tripawd Beagle mix, 2 Pekins, a Bantam Light Sussex, a Bantam Salmon Faverolles, a Bantam Australian Langshan, a Bantam Plymouth Rock, a Bantam Brahma, a Bantam Australorp, a hive of bees and a family of boys.

Mine are starting to look very grown up. They have figured out that they can fly and have been giving the stretchy screen cover on the brooder a good workout, it's like watching popcorn in a pan.



Two toes on the one that had club foot have curled again, but they don't seem to affect its ability to walk and it's probably too late to do much about it.

How are your eggs Sue? Candled them yet?

Not yet, will do so over the weekend - not too hopeful, I googled the supplier - they are a pretty big commercial set up so don't expect that they 'make mistakes'.

Well I've just candled them, had been putting it off as it was expecting disappointment, but there's 9 developing. Due on the 11th. First time I've ever thought "I need a smaller incubator". Just 9 quail eggs do look rather ridiculous in the Suro

Maybe I should get some more

What an amazing thing! So exciting. Can't wait for the next instalment. How are the popcorn going KChook ? When do they go outside?

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Staffordshire Bull Terrier, a tripawd Beagle mix, 2 Pekins, a Bantam Light Sussex, a Bantam Salmon Faverolles, a Bantam Australian Langshan, a Bantam Plymouth Rock, a Bantam Brahma, a Bantam Australorp, a hive of bees and a family of boys.

Whoa! This is so exciting!! Please keep the updates coming!

Wow that's fantastic Sue! I'll be interested to see if they are similar to mine.

The popcorn is done popping, they only do it if they get spooked now. They don't seem to need heat in the brooder any more but I'll wait a few weeks before I start introducing them to the adults, and hopefully at some point figure out what gender they are!

They both seem to be some variation on tibetan/range colouring, which I find a bit odd. I'd have thought that a quail farm would prefer the more common and much easier to sex wild type colouring.

Anything hatched yet?

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Staffordshire Bull Terrier, a tripawd Beagle mix, 2 Pekins, a Bantam Light Sussex, a Bantam Salmon Faverolles, a Bantam Australian Langshan, a Bantam Plymouth Rock, a Bantam Brahma, a Bantam Australorp, a hive of bees and a family of boys.

Yours are Rosetta coloured, KChook, pretty common, and I've noticed some breeders want them specifically.

You'll figure out what sex pretty quickly, either they'll crow or lay an egg, lol. It doesn't take long to find out luckily.

This subject is actually relevant as I just put a batch in of my own eggs that had been in the fridge. The ones I was collecting to incubate were accidentally put in the wrong cupboard and got too hot, so I threw in a bunch of old eggs from my fridge (some are well over a month old I think, haha, we can't eat them quick enough).

Most haven't developed which I expected, but I've got about 22 that have, and only a few of those are the ones that were stored incorrectly, the rest are refrigerator eggs. Goes to show how damaging heat is compared to cold.

It will be interesting to see how many make it to hatch and what sort of condition the chicks will be in, given the age of most of the eggs.

C'mon Sue55!
We're all waiting with baited breath.........
Any news?

Yesss

Just got home 3 out and at least 1 more pipping. I have a broody Silkie so will give them a couple of days in the brooder then adopt them out to her.

I never planned to have quail, but then I never really planned to have chooks, or ducks or geese (or hubby and kids )

Oh my goodness!! We need photos now.

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Staffordshire Bull Terrier, a tripawd Beagle mix, 2 Pekins, a Bantam Light Sussex, a Bantam Salmon Faverolles, a Bantam Australian Langshan, a Bantam Plymouth Rock, a Bantam Brahma, a Bantam Australorp, a hive of bees and a family of boys.

Sitting on hands. Don't open the 'bator.