March 4th, 2018: T-Minus 1 Day (give or take) However, I do have a pack of doggy wee wee pads (from dog sitting) that I could use as well… Not sure which would be better but I’ll decide when hatching day gets here. Once the first begins zipping, I will live stream the hatching on my Instagram is so exciting! I have all the stuff for their brooder set up, and bought a bale of wood shavings. Three of them are beginning to draw down their air cells so hatching will be imminent. March 3rd, 2018: T-Minus 2 Days (give or take)ĭay 15 and I re-candled them because the previous flashlight wasn’t good enough to tell me whether or not there was anything alive in the eggs–but today, using my husband’s phone’s flashlight (say that three times fast) which has a smaller light outlet, turns out that there were actually 7 duds, so there are currently 17 viable (moving) ones. I decided to lock down today because my incubation temperatures were slightly higher due to having to round up so there may be a possibility that a few will hatch early. I candled today as well and it looks like 6 out of the 24 never developed (because they were infertile or quit very early on.) I will still incubate them until all the chicks have come out as a precaution and then possibly open them just for the curiosity’s sake. I took the eggs out of the turner, moved them to the bottom tray (I don’t know if this was fully necessary as they have enough space to stand even on the top level of the tray.) I have to admit that I unfortunately forgot to give the medicine cup holder water–but it seems that dry hatching is okay too. Today is day 14 and I’m locking down now. March 2nd, 2018: T-Minus 3 Days (give or take) I also hear the eggs have a compound in them that can help alleviate allergies, so I’m looking forward to what they can do during hay fever season. I’m very excited as they grow very fast and will begin laying at 7 – 8 weeks of age, so by the time spring rolls around and they can go outside, I’ll have a steady supply of adorably tiny eggs. Coturnix quail have an average lifespan of about three years or so, the females laying up until the day they pass. I’m obviously not going to be keeping all 24 if they hatch, and would likely just keep three breeding sets to replace the ones that will inevitably pass every year. I’m not entirely concrete in what I plan to do in regards to their coop, but after they grow out, I might use a movable pen during the day, and lock them in at night to give them as much free range access as possible. So not only can they not be free-ranged the way my ducks can be but I have to be extra vigilant since all that flies in the sky and prowls on the ground will take a crack at them. I was on the fence about them because I’d like to be able to organically pasture my poultry rather than have them live in cages feeding on artificial feed–but literally everything wants to eat quail and predators come from far and wide to have a nab at them. Never tell your child about them until the day of–Sophie drove me nuts this week asking when we’d get the quail eggs! 100 degrees F (37.77 degrees C–which I rounded to 37.8) for 17 days (give or take) means I should have teeny tiny quail chicks (the size of a quarter, maybe less!) March 5th or so. I managed to stick 24 into the incubator before I ran out of space. In any case, I finally set my mind to it and picked up 50 Jumbo Coturnix (Japanese) Quail eggs from a local seller. I am on the fence about raising them for meat, but will probably have to process the males when the time comes. I’ve been wanting to raise quail for a while, especially for quail eggs for my bento.
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