Post by Falcon Boy on Apr 15, 2006 15:57:57 GMT -5
Oh no i know you would have the permits i was just curious as to when i have the time to do it. I didnt know if there was a permit needed, it was more of a curiosity question to find out if you needed permits for candians or not. Sorry if it sounded questionable/insulting.
Falcon Boy Apprentice Falconry Administrator
Ethics make the individual, not the other way around.
Ah no man, i was just messin around, im not fussy about petty stuff. I believe that you are allowed to raise gamebirds without liscenses only if kept in posetion for less than 60 days, if your planning on keeping them you need the permit. Well they have pretty much tripled in size already. They re doing good. As for the quail they only have a bout a week and a half before they start laying eggs, yay!!!
My quail are laying like crazy along with my mallards and chickens. I use to raise alot of exotic pheasants red and yellow Golden's, lady Amherst, swinehoe, and ring necks. I also have raised wood ducks and mandarins. I just picked up a baby emu yesterday don't ask why you just have to see one to know.
Ok. Here is the scoop for the pictures of the baby quail you see pictured above. They are a breed called JUMBO BROWN COTURNIX. Also known as Japanese Quail/Pharoah Quail. The Jumbo Browns are bred to be twice the size of a normal Pharoah, reaching approximately ONE POUND. The grow EXTREMELY fast. Hatching takes 16 days. At 4-5 weeks they are about the size of a full grown Pharoah. Females will start laying an egg a day at six weeks of age. Full maturity and growth takes 8-10 weeks. I ordered the eggs at Lake Cumberland Game Birds Online Shopping - Quail Eggs, Quail Chicks & Supplies. I ordered 250 eggs (they added an extra 10) for $75. They pay the shipping. I was going to start out with just 100 eggs but decided to double it since shipping can and will take its toll on the eggs from successfully hatching. 16 days later, 165 eggs had hatched. The thing about qauill is that they require very little space to grow and to breed. I built a brooder (a box with 8 inch walls) 3 feet wide by 6 feet long. That is plenty of room for 250 chicks. I am using 2 - 250 watt heat lamps for right now. I am also using a 30 percent protein game bird starter that I bought from a local feed store for $10.95 In four to five weeks I will seperate the male from the females and put them in some small pens I made. I will put 100 in the freezer by the 6th week, and keep the other 65 for breeding. You can buy an incubator to hold 120/140 quail eggs (depending if you get one with an automatic turner) from anywhere to $70 / $160. You could even spend $499 and get one to hatch over 1000 quail eggs at one time. Anyway, the investment is cheap and can supply your bird and other falconers in your area for a much less than buying your food. You can get all the food your bird needs and much more if you start in May and shut it down in Sept. before trapping season. You'll probably even make some extra cash selling the extras. Something to think about.
Post by strixvaria on May 11, 2006 20:03:45 GMT -5
I thought this was interesting. Maybe someone else will as well. This chick has pierced the air cell but not pipped yet. You can see the shadow if its little beak in the air cell.
Yeah, my geese went into the air cell about 2 days before they pipped. What kinda bird is that an egg from? Oh yeah, and i must have all same sex quail cuz they aint making a woopie yet, my last set were on that in 6 weeks exactly. I have ordered more eggs to hatch anyway. My geese are feathering out now and are pretty large. They dont like anyone but me, they run from everyone else but will follow me anywhere. These ones should be good watchdogs for me, lol!
In four to five weeks I will seperate the male from the females and put them in some small pens I made. I will put 100 in the freezer by the 6th week, and keep the other 65 for breeding.
You mentioned the size of pen while chicks but not as adults. I was wondering how big of a pen you need for the remaining 65.
"Life is hard; it's harder if you're stupid." -John Wayne
Well, let me put it like this. After talking to a professional Quail breeder on the phone, he told me that each bird needs about 8-10 square inches. Other breeders suggests 10-12. I built a pen that is twenty feet long by 3 feet wide and a height of 8 inches. That should be ample room for 100 adult quail. This is my first hatch, and I'm thinking of building another pen approxiamately the same size for the birds I keep as breeders and using the other pen as a grow out pen for when the birds leave the brooder. This way, I can have birds laying eggs in one pen, others growing to full weight in the other, and then chicks in the brooder. I will time it so as to have the birds ready for the freezer in the grow out pen about the same time the chicks are ready to be moved outside. This way, I can keep a continous breeding and growing cycle going till mid September. I think I can easily raise 500 birds by September from this original hatch. If I could stop giving my bird a chick every now in again, I should have about 150 quail moved out of the brooder in about 4 weeks from now.
Post by rampager98 on May 22, 2006 22:56:50 GMT -5
Has anyone considered building an incubator out of a discarded refridgerator. I built one that will hatch all the eggs my birds can eat in a year in one setting. The great thing about it that it is cheap cheap cheap to build and you can hatch any size egg in it right down to a T-Rex if you can find one. Almost everything you need is there to get started. Most fridges come with two fans, light fixtures and plenty of wire to rewire everything. If your lucky enough to find one with an icemaker/dispenser you'll find yourself with a great motor and timer for an automatic egg turner as well. All you really have to buy is a thermostat (about 20 bucks). You can build your racks from discarded wood often found piled up on the side of the road near construction sites. The wood is good just a bit short for there need but perfect for this. Even if you bought the wood you'd be out 10 bucks tops You can get real fancy and get electronic thermostats and thermomethers but its not absolutely nessecery. Ive used it several times with no problems holds a perfect temp even in a power failure the temp holds for several hours if not opened. All in all if you wind up with a similar incubator to the ones that sell for over 500 bucks for less than the cost of a Hava-bator ($75) and thats if you splurged on the thermostat and accessories. All you need is basic carpentry skills and a free weekend.
Post by moredtailboy on May 23, 2006 13:20:53 GMT -5
Hay every one im ordering 100 coturnix quail eggs i have four pens and a brooder my pens are 12x4x8ins and i will have 60 breeding females by the end of the summer i will order one more batch of 100 and then i will get 2 more incubators then i hope to be up and running
Last Edit: Jun 9, 2006 8:20:01 GMT -5 by moredtailboy
well now there a bird in the mew im happy now the bunny slaying beggins