Likely hens, locally sourced, and if not, then eggs if you have to ship some in, from what I understand, quail chicks are a bit delicate in shipping, but then again, eggs come with the cost of an incubator, with quail specific egg turners. But with day old chicks or eggs, at least you can have...
I don't know all that much, but the Gambel's are some of the most fun interactive little birds, given ours were imprinted on people, but they're very flighty if not. And be careful to have an extremely shallow water for the first 3 weeks, or put marbles and pebbles in there just so they can dip...
Howdy, what are you hoping to learn? is there any advice You'd like? I'm new here myself, but I've had chickens about all my life and had a whole range of experience, and some limited experience with Gambel's and coturnix quail.
Thanks for joining!
okay, so first things first, deep breath, things happen, and you can't control everything with incubation, even in the best of circumstances. So, candle them, go into a dark room and with a flashlight check the fat end of the egg, see if the beak of the chick has pierced the air cell, and if...
Hey, thank you, and a happy new years to you as well. Sorry for the late reply, I was out of state and didn't have my laptop, which is the only way for me to access my account.
They remind me of biefelders and rhodebars, and in a sense, they will come out like them, just meatier, cool project! I'll be following
You could try to breed auto sexing into them.That would be neat and very handy for you.
Oh, my bad, so, it'll work, and yes, do choose, it'll be ringnecks if your in the states, and yeah, look at laws, but it ought to be fine if they are already releasing them anyway.
Keep them penned until they are done being brooded and fed by mom, and then you could cut 'em loose, and with hen raised pheasants, there is a much higher survival rate than with pen raise and incubator hatched pheasants. The Brits do it often using game hens because of how active and fast game...
To be honest, I want to try Iowa Blues, because coopers hawks are big enough to be tough and small enough to be swift, unlike a big ol' slow red-tail or a little bitty sharp shinned hawk, and it takes a chicken with enough muscle, brains, and speed to deal with cooper's, and more bankavoid type...
The cooper's have been horrendous on this side of town too, I lost a d'uccle, an old english game bantam, and several cochin mixed pullets to one particular larger-ish adult female cooper's hawk.
Hey, if you are still having issues with feed, I work at the Olsen's right there across from Mortimer's (you know where I'm talking) and I've heard great reviews about the Don Roberto's El Cantacor feed. It's a mix of grains, peas, sunflower seeds, and mineral and vitamin pellets, my hens love...
So, don't be worried, hens tend to feather out on the wings faster than roosters, and like I said, size has nothing to do with it, my 11 pound buff brahma rooster was about the size of a golf ball when we got him, now he's massive, and all the hens we got with him when they were chicks were far...