After the yesterday's fiasco (you're gonna wanna read about that!) I did not think I would get an egg from this little lady at all. Honestly the guy I got them from said she may not even lay until next year! I was disappointed to hear that yesterday, but I know how it works. Quail are seasonal layers. I guess I just missed the season, I thought.
BAM
Quail egg! Teeny tiny oh so cute! I had to message my friend and show him! She wasn't laying before because she was in a pen with some guinea hens and guinea hens are bullies. I guess little girl was just too stressed to lay an egg. You know what that tells me?
I'm doing a good job. My animals are happy.
It's only been one night and day, and I'm feeling pretty good about the decision to get quail. It's a sign!
My next step is to look up some instructions on how to build my own incubator. I know i need more girls, but the only way it will happen right now is to hatch my own. Quail in small quantities aren't easy to come by. I have seen some made from styrofoam coolers. Can't really afford a nice incubator at the moment (Steemit is failing me, ;) Hahaha), but hopefully I can hook myself up with a DIY one for cheap.
Edit to Add: Actually we caved and decided to purchase an incubator. You have to turn eggs like 5 times a day and I know damn well that I will be forgetting that all the time. So I bought an incubator that will turn the eggs automatically. Sometimes you just have to realize what your limitations are and work around that. Thankfully we just got paid. If everything goes well, once we do start hatching, it should pay for itself rather quickly. It was around $130 (including shipping) and should arrive July 19th!
Here's the quail egg (white - SO TINY) in comparison to the (ONLY) egg I got today from my chickens. Pft. I guess one did lay 7 days in a row... I suppose it can have a day off. Pft. So I am glad the Quail laid today!
Here I am. Photo taken at 9:30pm, I am tired. I had a nap so my hair is fuzzy and my make up is askew. Haha
Photos by me using my iPhone 6s, unless stated otherwise!
Check out my most recent Steemit Posts.
- How I Earned 300 Followers in 20 Days
- Tell Your Story Contest - My Story
- Steemit Blogger Central - A Real Great Community - You're Invited!
- It Was a Double Yolker!
- Suicidal Chicken...
- Four New Little Lives. I almost lost one... TWICE!
Blog Series
- Nature on the Farmstead - These posts will be educational and informative about the nature that happens on my farmstead. Look forward to posts about wild animals, birds, wildflowers and plants, insects, and more!
Badges by @daddykirbs and @allforthegood!
Absolutely on the right path....keep those animals happy. This is inspirational.
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Awe thank you!! Means a lot. I appreciate you taking the time to read and comment! Have a beautiful day!
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All right, first day and already laying! Gotta seize the moment with that incubator. I suppose $30 should get you ample material to build a deluxe one, or probably even less. Depends on what's around you. If you're lucky you may even score recycled material. In any case, now with your previous stories of birds and eggs we're all primed to read about your incubator. Looking forward to it!
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I am not very lucky, nor patient. Hahaha I probably wont find recycled material in an Adrienne-timely fashion. Hahaha
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You're right, time is a major factor. But location... you know, one of the things I really like about the States is that it's so easy to score decent quality stuff for free. That's the upside of the throw-away culture. But of course you can't get what you want right when you need it, so it's more like a long-term thing. Still, even if you get everything new, I'm sure you can still make a sweet incubator for less than a bought one.
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I did actually decide to go ahead and purchase an incubator that was recommended to me by the breeder. Only put me out $120 including shipping. Could have gone with half the price, but it did not have the automatic turner. You see... I realize my fallbacks. One of those is my memory. I know that I would not be remembering to turn those poor eggs 5 times a day. And, I am all about efficiency! So, if I can get something that does the work for me, then great! It will pay for itself in no time flat!
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You can make an incubator out of a heating pad and a styrofoam cooler, or foam insulation, thick plywood, you could even make a rubbermaid tub work. You just have to manually turn the eggs a couple or few times a day. The container can be anything that holds heat to the specified temp for the bird. Each one has a specific temp that will work the best, but it is all a grey area anyway.
There are TONS of different DIY designs out there, you just have to deal with the materials you have or are willing to buy, and make it work.
Good Luck with the quail.
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Yay! Yeah! That's what I'm talkin' about!got me all excited! Gonna go source prices and materials tomorrow! Eeeeek!
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@farmstead I guess that makes you a great Quail Mama. Now you need the Moms on Steemit badge!. Seriously, congrats on your first egg. It's fitting that she gifted you when she wasn't laying in her previous home. Keep up the good work and let us know how things are going.
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I got my first chicken egg last Wednesday and first quail egg this Wednesday. Guess Wednesday is THE DAY! Haha. :D
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Hey girl fellow THL brother here. Great post!
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Thanks!
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@FarmStead... Your Posts are so Fun to read... it's like Your actually talking like we're right there with You. Excellent story-telling that is really enjoyable to read.
Good to hear You've got all Your livestock safe & protected...
Thanks Again Farm for another interesting post.
Cheers !!
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I am so glad and really appreciate the feedback! Gives me the motivation and courage to continue the way I am! Thank you!
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Nice!
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Yes! Those eggs are so jam packed full of nutrition. I'm so excited (I totally resisted the urge to spell that with "egg") for you in this adventure.
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DON'T RESIST THE FORCE.
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Hi...yes the styrofoam incubators is what we used multiple times. They work perfect. Just be careful. Hatching quail is difficult. We couldn't keep many alive. They were so darn cute too when they hatched. Like these little brown Puff balls. But, as they grew, they kept pecking each others long toes until they died. It was so upsetting. We had about 30 of them too! So...please look this up . I am sure there is some help you can get about this. Wishing you all the best!!!!
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I think all poultry will start to be destructive to each other if they are not in a big enough space.
You made your own incubators? That's what I'm talking here. There is an incubator that the breeder I got these ones from recommended, I just can't spend the money at the moment.
I always do research. :D And I have the guy I got them from as a resource. Thanks. :D
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That thing is tiny! And perfectly white! The quail eggs I've seen (only a handful) were spotted and tan. Congrats!
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Yeah! I had to double check with the breeder "They don't lay the spotted ones?!" Nope, not this breed! Georgia Bobwhites. :D
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Just a slight size difference, huh?
:-)
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Just a teensy bit! Hahahaha
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Congratulations on your quail egg!
I hope you don't get discouraged with steemit. KEEP POSTING! Your posts are always interesting, informative, and well written. Your followers and support will come.
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I am only a teeny bit discouraged. I just came at a weird time and the hopes kind of jerked me around a bit. Haha. Now, really I just joke. ;) hahaha. I am getting great response on this particular post. (apparently my funny posts aren't funny to anyone but my little circle! lmao. like the post prior to this one! Hahah).
I will keep going because I appreciate even $1 in earnings. It helps make me feel slightly more like a contributor to my family. Haha.
Thank you so much, I really appreciate you taking the time to make a comment and encourage me. Really. :D
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Seriously, you're articles are great! Give it time :)
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Thank you so much!
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Nice! but why so white?
quail eggs here in the Philippines look like this:
Followed :)
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Yeah! It depends on the breed! I was actually a little surprised to see plain white eggs also! These are Georgia Bobwhite quail. :)
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Awesome Job!! : ) I remember my neighbor was super excited when they had their first chickens eggs! So congrats on your first quail egg!! : D
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Yeah!! First chicken egg last Wednesday, first quail egg this Wednesday! Wednesday is THE DAY! Hahah. I was honestly surprised. Haha. I broke down and decided to buy an incubator with turner ready to to hit the ground runnin'. I hope all goes well!
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I'm sure everything will work out just find! Keep makin them Chickies lol.
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Oh my god it's so cute! I can just imagine that fried up next to a chicken egg looking all small and adorable! I did a big easter celebration one year and had ostrich eggs and quail eggs it was crazy to see them side by side!
So happy to see that your quails are already working out! See you on slack ( ;
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Ended up buying an incubator instead of trying to build one for myself. Haha. Once it came down to it, I am all about efficiency. And if it can turn the eggs for me, better for it. Hahah.
Wow, that would be awesome to see them all side by side like that in person!
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Oh ok so ur trying to get more chicks. For some reason I didn't realize that, even though you said you thinking about making these your meat birds
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Yep! Or else it wouldn't be very sustainable. Haha. :D I guess I never really mentioned WHY we got quail. I bet people in my original post think they're some sort of pets... Whoops. New post in the works!! <3 Haha
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Super nice. So glad to see things are working out on the farm. Good luck with hatching some. I don't know anything about trying to raise those at all so it will be interesting to follow and see how this turns out. :) Resteemed. #thl
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Thank you!
I am still doing lots of research on them, of course, you can never learn enough! But I don't feel like I know a WHOLE heck of a lot. They're pretty skittish little things. Which, I am not really used to - the chickens were skittish, but they didn't basically try killing themselves (the quail jump straight up in the air with enough force to break their necks on the top of whatever they're in), I was so scared one was just going to die in my cage because of that! Eeek!
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That's a tiny little baby egg. You need more quail.
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That is definitely true enough! I might have to order some hatching quail eggs online... If she doesn't lay anymore. :(
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Did you leave the slack channel?
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I did, I'm sorry! You can catch me on Steemit chat, if you like!
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That was broke when i tried to join and i haven't gotten back to it. I'll sign up there. I went in to tell you that I stopped being lazy for a minute and finally posted something. something small, but something :) .... and you were poofed! Are you farmstead or farmsteadsmith over there?
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Farmstead. I also have FarmsteadSmith, but stick to farmstead. :)
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Congrats on your Quail egg! It looks like a tear drop. With me knowing nothing about the farming life except for what I learn from you, brings me to this question. Can you eat quail eggs? Do they taste different than regular eggs? Good luck with making your own incubator! I guess you won't be eating the quail eggs if you have an incubator since you need to hatch your own quail.
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You can eat any eggs! :) But quail eggs are a "delicacy". I wouldn't know tho, I haven't had them yet. But I think all different eggs have different tastes. Duck eggs are supposed to be more rich in flavor in comparison to chicken eggs - apparently duck eggs are better for baking! Sadly, the quail hasn't laid another egg. Which is too bad. I hope that once we get them in their big pen, she will start up again.
We did decide to actually buy an incubator because the eggs have to be turned like, 5 times a day. So I bought an incubator that turns them for me! I am aware of my capabilities, and memory isn't one of the strong ones. Hahah.
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First eggs are so exciting! ! I'll anxiously await a post about a homemade incubator. We're looking into getting one to grow our flock. But yeah, $$ isn't growing on trees here, either.
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We actually caved and decided to buy one because I'm aware of my abilities... haha which means, I know I won't remember to turn the eggs as much as I should! I should edit my post. But a homemade incubator is definitely something that still could be done at any time!!
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I'm in the same boat! It will be up to me, and I will have to put a poster on the wall to remind myself to turn them. Oy!
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At least we know where our fault a lie! Hahaha makes it a lot easier to work around!
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The egg is so wittle!
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It's ridiculously small! You should see it in my little egg holder. Silly even.
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Awww, such a cute little egg! Congratulations on getting an incubator, sounds like a good investment
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SO TINY. I got another one today! Where my chickens laid non... grumble Ah well. Hopefully they'll get back to it! It will be so exciting to hatch bitty baby quail. THEY'RE SO SMALL.
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...for the "Perfect 10 Egg Omelet"
:D
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Mmmm if only I had enough eggs! Hahah these birds (ducks, chickens and quail!) are slackers! Slackers, I tell you!
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Hey there! I just wanted to inform you that your article has been included and linked in the most recent issue of the Weekly Homesteading Newsletter! Please check it out if you have the time! Thank you and have a great day!
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Thank you!!
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Congratz!!
Having eggs start coming in is AWESOME!!!
Such a good feeling!
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It really is!! I just wish the chickens would start laying reliably! But it's only been two weeks so I have to be patient! Lol
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