Sunday, February 26, 2012

THE HATCH IS OVER!

We did it! Our first batch of coturnix quail has been hatched!


Between Thursday night and Sunday afternoon, 44 of the 56 eggs hatched. Four of them had to be culled, and 12 eggs never hatched at all. For our first attempt, a hatch rate of 71% is pretty darned good!!

We've learned a couple of things in the past few days. Just like chickens, quail chicks LOVE to scratch in their feed pans. In two days, they made quite a mess.


Big John came up with a great solution - he covered two Tupperware lids with 1/2 inch hardware cloth.


The chicks have adapted well, and it's cut down on a lot of the mess.


What a fun experience this has been! In just 3 short weeks, we went from this:


to this:


Big John is already on the hunt for more eggs!
Posted by at

2 comments:

  1. AnonymousFebruary 27, 2012 at 5:48 PM

    Your not going to eat them, are you?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Carancahua CreekFebruary 27, 2012 at 6:30 PM

    Coturnix are actually a meat bird, so technically, yes, they should be eaten. We've discussed keeping this hatch as our breeders, then selling the future hatches. We are trying hard to become self-sufficient and not rely on the grocery store for our food - that's just part of it. Or they may become pets!!

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)