There have been lots of developments since I posted that Big John and I were preparing to pick up some bobwhite quail. A little over two weeks ago, Big John finished his 4 story/12 box breed cage.
We headed over to our neighbors and gathered up 48 birds - 12 roosters and 36 hens (more or less!) I was in charge of counting, while the guys were "herding." Turns out quail line up about as orderly as a bunch of 6th graders in May. They were pretty hard to count - but I think we got close.
Big John sorted the birds into groups (one rooster to three hens) and we set up our temporary feeders and waterers. We're running one step behind this bird project, and our bona fide quail equipment hadn't been delivered yet. We had to scramble a little bit - hence the neon pink and green!
We positioned the bobwhite cage beside the coturnix cage - all in the goose pen. The geese were quickly running out of room. Big John's plans were that we'd gather eggs during breeding season to incubate, then sell the chicks or raise them and sell as grown birds. That would give us time to get a shed and flight pen built - once again, just trying to stay a step ahead.
But because these quail were riased on the ground, they didn't really take to life, however temporary, in a breed cage. Within a week, it became pretty clear that we needed to get the flight pen built ASAP. Big John made a run to town and came home with a trailer-load full of material.
And early this past Saturday morning, construction began.
At some point on Sunday afternoon, there was no time left for pictures. We were up against the clock, trying to get the shed and pen complete and birds transfered before Monday morning. At ten o'clock Sunday night, we were hauling quail from the breed boxes to the new flight pen. It was a very long weekend. But here's how it looked on Monday.
The birds are much happier in their new surroundings.
And the cows are welcoming them to the neighborhood!
Other bird news:
The first set of bobwhite eggs are set to go into the hatcher tomorrow. There were two more batches added to the incubator after this picture was taken.
On April Fool's Day, we set 3 goose eggs under Cloud. (That seemed like an appropriate date!) She set diligently for the first 2 1/2 weeks, but had kind of fallen off the job in the last few days. I'd pretty much given up hope for any hatch, and was waiting for Big John to candle the eggs this weekend. When I got home today, one of the goose eggs had hatched - but the bird didn't survive. There were freshly laid chicken eggs in the nest, so I'm guessing it was sat on by a hen. Boy do I feel guilty. The other two goose eggs are safely in the hatcher, just in case they're fertile. I'm now determined to hatch some geese!
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