quail! (not quayle)

[kirkcudbright]

(This should have been at least two posts, but WTF, I'm lame...)

Starting last summer, at least two of our bantam hens have been going broody during the summer. This year, it's been pretty much just the d'Uccle and the Silkie, but pretty much full-time - sitting in the nest box, even on the extra-jumbo Rhode Island Red eggs, even when the eggs were taken away from them.

We can't have a rooster (can't even legally have chickens where we live - ssh!), but we'd been talking since last summer about getting quail eggs for the broodies to hatch - quail being small, inconspicuous, and not growing up into chicken roosters, which would make their presence known pretty quickly. So we (Francie, really) ordered bobwhite quail eggs a few weeks ago from McMurray. They finally came on 6/28, and I immediately put them under the hens, and then looked up the gestation - and found out that they're likely to hatch...in the middle of Baitcon.

We candled the eggs today (as best we could, with a mini-maglite), and there are definitely active embryos (in the eggs we checked (4 of 7 remaining (out of 10 shipped (out of 7 ordered)))). So I'm kind of conflicted about the Baitcon thing - I definitely want to go and see people (in general and in particular, y'know), but I need to get someone to look after the menagerie who's willing to deal with (and whom I'm willing to let deal with) the possibility of tiny baby chickies.

Comments

[weegoddess.livejournal.com]

Aw, hon. It'd be a shame if you had to miss Baitcon. Baitcon would certainly miss you.

That said, it's understandable that you might not have much of a choice. Would it be really naive to suggest bringing them?

(I grew up in Salisbury, MD and we used to bring eggs home, hatch them and then bring them back to the farm when they lost their fuzz. It was a long time ago, but I remember that we just built a little area in the back yard with chicken wire and they were fine. Then again, we weren't out in the woods.)

[mrw42.livejournal.com]

I don't know when Baitcon is, nor do I know what's involved in caring for tiny baby chicks. But, if I can help out with something, let me know.

[kirkcudbright.livejournal.com]

There are many reasons (present company included) I will make every effort to make it to Baitcon. I need to line up pet care anyway (cats, mice, fish, and chickens), and I can write up contingency plans (based on my complete lack of first-hand knowledge of hatching chicks).

I'd also thought about bringing one of the hens to Baitcon. The eggs are currently split between two of the bantams, but either one could easily cover both. A cat carrier would be plenty big enough, and broodies spend most of their time on the nest, but I'd still want to set up an enclosure for stretching her legs. But I'd have to run it by the Baits before-hand, of course.

Salisbury, eh? I had to look that one up. My aunt lives in Severna Park, and two of my cousins are still in Takoma Park or thereabouts, but I don't remember ever being on the Eastern Shore. (Although I remember traversing the Chesapeake Bay bridge/tunnel when I was 8 or so, but I don't remember anything about the adjoining land masses.)

[weegoddess.livejournal.com]

Salisbury, MD being the home of Perdue chicken; the chicken industry is (or was) the lifeblood of that geographical area. You could always tell that you'd hit the city limits from the smell of the chicken houses. Not a happy smell, IMO.

We actually lived a bike ride away from Frank Perdue, Sr. I would ride past his house in my general wanderings and he would always wave to me. My ballet teacher was after him for years as he was unmarried (widowed?) and had all that lovely money. And he really did look like his chickens. The commercials didn't lie.

When he passed away, my sister and I joked that millions of chickens got their wings. He was notorious for inhumane chicken-handling practices. I believe that Perdue, Inc still is.