Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

My Jap Quail hatched last night aswell - 6 of 12 so far , I really didnt expect any to hatch as I'd had them in an esky with a globe and was using a sheet to regulate temp , until I got a "covatutto" incubator to borrow

Theyre back in the esky now with a 75w globe , plus the wafer thermostat arrived today so I can whack that in the new bar-fridge incubator Ive built ready for the next lot

What are you feeding the newly hatched Quail BatonRouge Bill ?

shot of the newly hatched quail , plus the beer-fridge incubator

wafer thermostat arrived today so now Ive got to figure out where to mount it

Neat set-up BRB! Really in business there....

That opposum can eat your birds? We don't have that here that I know of... Looks like it could... looks like a giant rat.

BRB, the solution to your neighbor problem is a high powered pellet gun with hunting pellets (the have a conical head instead of a domed or blunt head). They are plenty strong enough to take out small game, and only make a "thunk" sound when fired. My father HATES squirrels and uses his pellet gun (with a 2" hunting scope) all the time.

Boris, I'm feeding the quail chicks regular high protein starter for chickens out of mason jar caps. Water the same way and believe it one managed to drown. I started 80 eggs and have been hatching 6-8 every 4-5 hours. I have about 3 dozen so far and only 2 strattle legs. I think the one that drowned may have been strattle legged. I like that incubator of yours, enough ventilation?
I think I need one of those wafer thermostats for the brooder.
Chelle they will definitely eat what ever it can. The way you tell what killed your chickens are if it eats the butt/guts first it's a possom, if it kills and eats around the neck,drinks blood, it's a mink, and if it eats the meat it's a coon. Coyotes, foxes and bobcats carry them off. No problems with the last three where I'm at. And yes, Tamo42 I need a good .22 caliber Benjamin air Rifle, no scope for night use.

I'm building a new coop too, but not a walk in this time. This one is small and has plastic siding so that its lighter, but water tight. I plan to make this a chicken tractor with big wheels. This will be for 6 egg layers.

The roost is placed so that the poop can fall through the hardware cloth bottom to the ground. It has 4 egg boxes and a rear opening door for easy access. I will install chicken water nipples to make watering mess-less and easy.

Put the quail chicks outside this morning. Those things need ridalin! Constantly cheeping eating and running around like piss ants in sugar. And starting to smell! Six weeks from now I will start putting the excess males on the pit!

Turned the chickens loose in the dog pen and I guess they weren't getting enough grit as the ate sand for about 15 minutes. Then they got into the BSF larva that was in a plastic concrete mixing tub that I dumped out of the composter. They were really enjoying scratching since they were not on wire anymore. I think that possum may stay away for a while. I moved the quail into the dove cage and they are really feeding. I lost a few of the small ones. I think next hatching I will seperate out the small ones as they seemed to get picked on by the larger ones.

Last month I incubated a dozen assorted eggs from my bantums and chickens. Five silkies hatched and one chicken. they are out in the silkie pen now after a month in the brooder. Last week four chicken eggs hatched out of 22 eggs. I believe my rooster is getting old so the rest of the eggs are infertile. Now that the summer heat is on i am only getting three eggs a day, barely enough for breakfasts and baking. Will try again in the fall. My layers are two years old and the rooster is three.

It is so dry here that a broody hen sit all month and not get a hatchling. The old incubator was difficult to control humidity. The new one has a sensor and pump and keeps humidity close to set point. This one turns the eggs nice and quiet, unlike the old one that made a racket.

I save up the egg shells and whiz them in the blender to a fine powder. I put some in the left over chicken scraps every morning. I also put some in the morning coffee grounds. When I make soup or stock I toss a few shells in there too. They are a great source of calcium for people too.

That is some really good ideas for the eggshells. I like to make my own stocks, chicken and shrimp I boil the bones of the chickens/turkeys and the shrimp shells. I don't boil the heads, there is an off flavor I don't like. But Check ebay for hatching eggs. There is everything from little button quail eggs to Ostrich eggs. There is even Emu and Rhea eggs for hatching. Lots of ducks,geese,turkeys,chuckar,pheasant,everykind of chicken imagineable. And the Ebay rules has to be next day priority mail for live animals including worms so watch the shipping cost.
http://shop.ebay.com/items/__hatching-e ... SRCHX:SRCH
I do not get the 80-90% they brag about usually only 60%. But I have an old still air incubator. I don't do it enough to justify a better one but I may be able to just add the fan which helps even the temps and humidity.

I finished up my new coop. Now I just have to build the chicken run and add wheels to it.

The coop


Self Cleaning Water Nipples


Not pictures is the back hatch to allow eggs to be collected from the laying boxes.

Been ages since I posted anything about our chickens. We still have our two originals from about a year ago and one of the 4 we got a little later. And then we have the eight we got all at once so the current count is 11 layers. Mostly Rhode Island Reds but two New Hampshire Reds in the mix. Our First hen to start laying seems to have quit or is molting for a long time but I think the rest are still laying. We get anywhere from 5 to 10 eggs a day, 6-8 is the normal number.

We feed crushed shells back to the chickens as well as having shell grit always available to them and they have as much commercial feed as they like/need. I regularly make yogurt and they do get that as a treat often. They also happily eat fish parts when we clean fish. They get leftovers and other scraps as well as the seeds from squash and melons. Actually most of the melons I've grown this year haven't been that good so the girlz have gotten lots of them. I also grew some jack be little pumpkins this season and they seem to be a good feed supplement for the chickens.

As to their run. We have a small perm yard for them covered in chicken wire right in front of the hen house (old dog kennel) but I then make a net tunnel that extends out from the hen house or the perm run to different garden beds that I can then put net over/around and let the chickens work over the garden bed during the "down time" of that area. Right now the girlz have a huge amount of space to roam. Chickens make really great little garden tillers.

BRB, is it true that the quail are quiet enough to keep in the house?

nope , not mine

2 weeks old and they squak all night .
Maybe they would stop if I turned the light of in their box , but thats providing heat .
I read somewhere that 24 hour light for the first 4 weeks makes them mature faster and start laying sooner

not sure about adult quail

Nah! not even with a 55% hearing loss! But it was the smell that really did it. Can't change paper often enough! It takes a lot of food thru put to support that kind of growth! The only time they are not eating or running around is when its dark!