Illinois...

[Faraday40]

@MeepBeep
The CCL pullet we hatched from you, has given us 6 eggs in the last 7 days!!!!!
She's pretty, very people social, never skittish, and now a great layer. I really liked both females, but decided to keep the one with the brighter coloration.

@Junibutt
Brick is becoming a gentleman, and thankfully, all 3 roos get along very well. Godiva is still Brick's favorite, and she lays a torpedo-shaped light tan egg. It looks like she had a slight molt in Nov/Dec & is now laying again. "Oopsie" (The mauve that feathered in white) is another favorite here. Oopsie lays a more rounded egg about the same color. I have been finding her feathers blowing around, so I am beginning to wonder if she'll be molting next. It could also be from the roos. She'll squat easily, so I know all of her eggs will be fertile. Speaking of fertile eggs, if you want to hatch some of your flock's "great grandchildren" send me a PM. I have no broody hens right now, so our eggs are only being used for food.

@chickendreams24
Is your CCL laying yet? Mine went from 0 to master layer in less than 2 weeks!

BTW- My extra male quail tasted great. Never had that before & now I want to hatch more. (DD's been scolding me for such thoughts.) Today we got 3 quail eggs - 1st time!!! The white quail is the best producer. She was injured (beaten up by the brown quail) and got to be a house quail for the last week. I changed cages so now the quail can "look but don't peck." I hope I can put them together in a few more days.

 

[Junibutt]

@MeepBeep
The CCL pullet we hatched from you, has given us 6 eggs in the last 7 days!!!!!
She's pretty, very people social, never skittish, and now a great layer. I really liked both females, but decided to keep the one with the brighter coloration.

@Junibutt
Brick is becoming a gentleman, and thankfully, all 3 roos get along very well. Godiva is still Brick's favorite, and she lays a torpedo-shaped light tan egg. It looks like she had a slight molt in Nov/Dec & is now laying again. "Oopsie" (The mauve that feathered in white) is another favorite here. Oopsie lays a more rounded egg about the same color. I have been finding her feathers blowing around, so I am beginning to wonder if she'll be molting next. It could also be from the roos. She'll squat easily, so I know all of her eggs will be fertile. Speaking of fertile eggs, if you want to hatch some of your flock's "great grandchildren" send me a PM. I have no broody hens right now, so our eggs are only being used for food.

@chickendreams24
Is your CCL laying yet? Mine went from 0 to master layer in less than 2 weeks!

BTW- My extra male quail tasted great. Never had that before & now I want to hatch more. (DD's been scolding me for such thoughts.) Today we got 3 quail eggs - 1st time!!! The white quail is the best producer. She was injured (beaten up by the brown quail) and got to be a house quail for the last week. I changed cages so now the quail can "look but don't peck." I hope I can put them together in a few more days.

I sure know where to look for fertile eggs when needed. My first preference is to work on the choc mottled project though. Will definitely ask when ready to set some eggs. Thank you!

 

[Junibutt]

He hasn't moved from this tree since I chased him off of my poor girl. Almost 5 hours he is waiting for another chance.

Sorry to hear about your loss. These hawks are all over the place. My backyard/driveway got visited by one yesterday (even though I am in the middle of a busy traffic area) but it flew away when the hens made a lot of noise and made me go out. I am glad I am not letting them out these days and their run is covered.

 

[chickendreams24]

@MeepBeep

The CCL pullet we hatched from you, has given us 6 eggs in the last 7 days!!!!!
She's pretty, very people social, never skittish, and now a great layer.  I really liked both females, but decided to keep the one with the brighter coloration.

@Junibutt

Brick is becoming a gentleman, and thankfully, all 3 roos get along very well.  Godiva is still Brick's favorite, and she lays a torpedo-shaped light tan egg. It looks like she had a slight molt in Nov/Dec & is now laying again.  "Oopsie" (The mauve that feathered in white) is another favorite here.  Oopsie lays a more rounded egg about the same color.  I have been finding her feathers blowing around, so I am beginning to wonder if she'll be molting next.  It could also be from the roos.  She'll squat easily, so I know all of her eggs will be fertile.  Speaking of fertile eggs, if you want to hatch some of your flock's "great grandchildren" send me a PM.  I have no broody hens right now, so our eggs are only being used for food.

@chickendreams24

Is your CCL laying yet?  Mine went from 0 to master layer in less than 2 weeks!  

BTW- My extra male quail tasted great.  Never had that before & now I want to hatch more. (DD's been scolding me for such thoughts.)  Today we got 3 quail eggs - 1st time!!!  The white quail is the best producer.  She was injured (beaten up by the brown quail) and got to be a house quail for the last week.  I changed cages so now the quail can "look but don't peck."  I hope I can put them together in a few more days.

Responded to this yesterday but apparently the internet ate it or something.

The people on the English Orpington thread would like to see pics of our "mauve" girls if you don't mind getting on there and sharing. I will be trying to get some pics to share too. Apparently there's a much wider range of shades of mauve than I knew and our girls may actually just be mauve. Idk. If you go on someone posted a pair of mauves that are almost white on the thread a couple of pages back. If this is the case man I wish I had kept the cockeral I got last spring. Actually I just wish I had kept him anyway he was stunning and sweet I just figured being a sport he wouldn't work for my breeding program. Still I'm glad he went to a home with a very nice little girl.

Also my legbar isn't laying yet to my knowledge. Although we are getting a small blue pullet egg which I thought was from one of our EE I figured with the lengthening days perhaps she started laying again. I know this EE lays blue, but it could be from our cream legbar. Although she isn't very red in the face yet. Pink but not red.

Awesome about the quail! How'd you cook them? Well keep me up to date on the white girl also if you decide to hatch more we'll take more in a heartbeat. We still need to add more girls. Tonight we plan to mark all the boys since being sick stopped us last weekend and this weekend we will process most of them.

We still have 21 cockerals ready and waiting or almost ready to be done so lots of birds to do. Hopefully if it's half way decent this weekend we can do 4-8 a day. Hopefully. We want to start getting our breeding groups set up.

We still have more birds starting to lay and some that haven't yet. Separating them will also give us a better idea of who's laying what.
We still have three very steady broodies so we may have to let them hatch chicks so we can get some eggs from them at some point this spring. Especially as it's three of our most beautiful silkies including the one that has a very minimal crest, which I know you like @ Faraday40. Can't wait to see what we'll get from them this spring for chicks assuming they are laying when we collect eggs lol.

No news on the two youngest yet about gender. I believe our young buff is a cockeral but I'm really hoping the little blue silkie is a pullet.

So far for silkies we have a gray male (with red shoulder leakage), a partridge(red/buff) male, and the little buff suspect boy.
A paint female, a white female, a gray female, 2 white/gray females, and a partridge female. Plus the unknown little blue. We will probably be looking to rehome one or maybe two of the boys and adding more girls sometime just don't tell DH2B lol he calls them worthless chickens.

Oopsies's sister has really been reddening up in the face and I wouldn't be surprised if she's started laying. I still haven't found the right name for her.

@Junibutt
Also the chocolate I got from you in the last group of chicks that was a suspect cockeral did end up being a pullet.

 

[Junibutt]

Responded to this yesterday but apparently the internet ate it or something.

The people on the English Orpington thread would like to see pics of our "mauve" girls if you don't mind getting on there and sharing. I will be trying to get some pics to share too. Apparently there's a much wider range of shades of mauve than I knew and our girls may actually just be mauve. Idk. If you go on someone posted a pair of mauves that are almost white on the thread a couple of pages back. If this is the case man I wish I had kept the cockeral I got last spring. Actually I just wish I had kept him anyway he was stunning and sweet I just figured being a sport he wouldn't work for my breeding program. Still I'm glad he went to a home with a very nice little girl.

Also my legbar isn't laying yet to my knowledge. Although we are getting a small blue pullet egg which I thought was from one of our EE I figured with the lengthening days perhaps she started laying again. I know this EE lays blue, but it could be from our cream legbar. Although she isn't very red in the face yet. Pink but not red.

Awesome about the quail! How'd you cook them? Well keep me up to date on the white girl also if you decide to hatch more we'll take more in a heartbeat. We still need to add more girls. Tonight we plan to mark all the boys since being sick stopped us last weekend and this weekend we will process most of them.

We still have 21 cockerals ready and waiting or almost ready to be done so lots of birds to do. Hopefully if it's half way decent this weekend we can do 4-8 a day. Hopefully. We want to start getting our breeding groups set up.

We still have more birds starting to lay and some that haven't yet. Separating them will also give us a better idea of who's laying what.
We still have three very steady broodies so we may have to let them hatch chicks so we can get some eggs from them at some point this spring. Especially as it's three of our most beautiful silkies including the one that has a very minimal crest, which I know you like @ Faraday40. Can't wait to see what we'll get from them this spring for chicks assuming they are laying when we collect eggs lol.

No news on the two youngest yet about gender. I believe our young buff is a cockeral but I'm really hoping the little blue silkie is a pullet.

So far for silkies we have a gray male (with red shoulder leakage), a partridge(red/buff) male, and the little buff suspect boy.
A paint female, a white female, a gray female, 2 white/gray females, and a partridge female. Plus the unknown little blue. We will probably be looking to rehome one or maybe two of the boys and adding more girls sometime just don't tell DH2B lol he calls them worthless chickens.

Oopsies's sister has really been reddening up in the face and I wouldn't be surprised if she's started laying. I still haven't found the right name for her.

@Junibutt
Also the chocolate I got from you in the last group of chicks that was a suspect cockeral did end up being a pullet.

Glad you got another pullet

 

[chickendreams24]

Responded to this yesterday but apparently the internet ate it or something.

The people on the English Orpington thread would like to see pics of our "mauve" girls if you don't mind getting on there and sharing. I will be trying to get some pics to share too. Apparently there's a much wider range of shades of mauve than I knew and our girls may actually just be mauve. Idk. If you go on someone posted a pair of mauves that are almost white on the thread a couple of pages back. If this is the case man I wish I had kept the cockeral I got last spring. Actually I just wish I had kept him anyway he was stunning and sweet I just figured being a sport he wouldn't work for my breeding program. Still I'm glad he went to a home with a very nice little girl.

Also my legbar isn't laying yet to my knowledge. Although we are getting a small blue pullet egg which I thought was from one of our EE I figured with the lengthening days perhaps she started laying again. I know this EE lays blue, but it could be from our cream legbar. Although she isn't very red in the face yet. Pink but not red.

Awesome about the quail! How'd you cook them? Well keep me up to date on the white girl also if you decide to hatch more we'll take more in a heartbeat. We still need to add more girls. Tonight we plan to mark all the boys since being sick stopped us last weekend and this weekend we will process most of them.

We still have 21 cockerals ready and waiting or almost ready to be done so lots of birds to do. Hopefully if it's half way decent this weekend we can do 4-8 a day. Hopefully. We want to start getting our breeding groups set up.

We still have more birds starting to lay and some that haven't yet. Separating them will also give us a better idea of who's laying what.
We still have three very steady broodies so we may have to let them hatch chicks so we can get some eggs from them at some point this spring. Especially as it's three of our most beautiful silkies including the one that has a very minimal crest, which I know you like @ Faraday40. Can't wait to see what we'll get from them this spring for chicks assuming they are laying when we collect eggs lol.

No news on the two youngest yet about gender. I believe our young buff is a cockeral but I'm really hoping the little blue silkie is a pullet.

So far for silkies we have a gray male (with red shoulder leakage), a partridge(red/buff) male, and the little buff suspect boy.
A paint female, a white female, a gray female, 2 white/gray females, and a partridge female. Plus the unknown little blue. We will probably be looking to rehome one or maybe two of the boys and adding more girls sometime just don't tell DH2B lol he calls them worthless chickens.

Oopsies's sister has really been reddening up in the face and I wouldn't be surprised if she's started laying. I still haven't found the right name for her.

@Junibutt
Also the chocolate I got from you in the last group of chicks that was a suspect cockeral did end up being a pullet.

Glad you got another pullet

Thank you. I love all the birds from your flock they're wonderful calm fluffy things. in fact our flock loves to make chores difficult by standing on our boots as we try to walk lol. and while they love love to eat snow no one wants to step in it lol.

The boys have all really come into their own and we're to the point where we're going to be making decisions about which boys to keep and put with the girls. It's so hard when they're all such good nice looking birds! Lol will try to snap some pics ASAP. Phone still on the fritz think I may have found the loophole to exploit with my defective technology lol

 

[Junibutt]

Do you still have the black (split to mottled and choc) boys from July hatch?

 

[chickendreams24]

Do you still have the black (split to mottled and choc) boys from July hatch?

Yep we have the one I marked from the later date we met up and the first one I think I've figured out as there seems to be one black with a very English shape. So yep we have both of them I'm sure. We also have the legbar mixes. One found a home but the others are waiting to be processed. There again difficult because they are such nice birds to people I have discovered that the legbar mixes are not as tolerant of the other cockerals and tend to bully the other boys and are rougher with the ladies. This is funny to me since they were all raised together the same way. Did your legbar boy have any sass in him? They're nice birds and I'm not saying anything negative about your legbar just curious as I've heard temperament is passed down from the cock

 

[CherokeeFlats]

Does anyone here have Coturnix Quail??? looking for a few to see if its something we wanna do. I am located just outside of Farmer City, IL.

 

[Faraday40]

I'm too far north (near Chicago), but I recommend trying quail. They are different in many ways, but if you already know chickens, then you'll enjoy some of those differences. If you do not have any luck here, you may be able to get some quail eggs in spring off Craigslist or from a farmer's market. They are more seasonal than chickens.

I've been sharing my experiences on this thread. (DD hatched some eggs for a sci fair project.) I was able to find local eggs. We only kept a few, so we did not invest in cages & special feeders. Instead we modified what we already owned & made feeders from the recycle bin. It's been a fun experience and the kids actually tamed our quail. Their little eggs are super cute and easy to pack in lunches. Quail are not as docile as chickens, but it was amazing watching them mature. When beginning our research for DD's experiment, a BYC friend shared this:

Super easy! I keep Coturnix Quail. Lay like crazy, and yes very tasty eggs & meat! I would compare the meat more to pheasant, or turkey. It takes me 4 minutes "to do" a bird. Not noisy, or stinky, the boys have a raspy little crow, and the girls sound like crickets. They do sing an egg song also! There is a ton of info on the net about the healthy benefits of quail eggs, especially raw. One fact that impressed me is how the raw eggs help chemo patients with nausea and other issues. Quail live a shorter life span, 3 years is about max. I rotate my breeders about every 6 months. Mine are in my hatching and brooding trailer. I do use artificial light for my quail, I hatch almost year around on them. Caging can be community breeding or separated, at least 3 hens per cock. Most important with cages is a soft roof. Or in a breeder cage a very low roof. Quail have burst of flight when spooked, so a hard roof will cause them to bonk their head, and usually break their neck. They are cold hardy, just need shelter from wet and wind. Coturnix Quail will not brood and hatch, must be incubated, or some folks use a bantam to broody hatch eggs. (Its been bred out of them for 5,000 years lol!) Inside your coop would be fine. Some people argue exposure to chickens is bad, I have hatched them together, brooded together with no issues.
If you can't find eggs locally that are fertile, I highly recommend James Marie Farms... http://www.jamesmariefarms.com/index.html best shipping I have ever seen, they use foam boxes for the eggs. Shipped from LA to IN and not a single damaged egg. I started my flock over this spring with 50 eggs, 46 hatched! Robbie is an awesome fella for her to talk quail to, also. He has been in the business pretty much his whole life.