The Quail Blog

Hi All,

Well tonight Im having a moan. Its been a while since I had a good moan so here I go lol.

Firstly, I am soooo tired and exhausted and breathless. I am struggling to see to the birds if Im honest and I have been for some time.

Take tonight, well today, I fed and watered the birds in the brooder and then did a few jobs. I almost fell asleep at dinner time which isnt like me.

I sorted some of the young birds out to take to the quail shed, hens I hope but Im sure I have made a mistake and stuck a few males in there as well. If I have I will remove them later.

At the shed the bottom cages were set up and birds were transfered in and then I fed and watered the rest.

Tonight I cleaned out the 2 big brooders and fed and watered in the medium brooder.

I had intended to clean out the aviary but I am just too exhausted to do it.

Last Thursday I went to the Doctors for a set of blood tests and an ECG. Thursday evening I got a call from the doc, my blood count is 6.9 and should be 11 so thats why Im so exhausted. I think they are shitting themselves now incase they missed something lol, Ive been telling them often enough

Anyway, I went for more blood tests on Monday and I have an appointment for Thursday to see the doc so hopefully I will get sorted. (just hope I dont have anything too bad since the shed is starting to take shape)

I have 16 cages in the shed now down the right hand side, the bottom 8 are painted but I still have the top 8 to paint.

The joiner rang today saying he needs more wood to finish…………..hmmmmm I arent sure. Im thinking, just say to him to bring what he has done and then say good bye cos hes messed me around long enough.

I can build the cages myself, at least I will know they are done

Something else thats peeing me off is my fingers!

My legs still swell up and feet are chronic but my fingers are really fat now and I keep typing wrong things in lol.

Not only are they very swollen but they are cracking and they bloody hurt!!!

Im using hand cream all the time on them but its no better, they swell up and crack and hurt

Grrrrrrrrrr…………… peeing me off big time is this

Well, theres 12 araucana eggs in the incy and58 jap quail eggs. If the araucana hatch, any hens can go to the stables and free range, if not, or if they are cocks, then they will have to get sold. Never eaten a pure breed before (to my knowledge), I wonder if they will taste the same lol.

Right, I got to go, see you later, byeeeeeeeeee

Been a while since I updated thats cos Ive been working soooo damn hard lol.

Still no word from the joiner, he says hes done his back in, but i know he has another GF, so Im thinking its something else thats keeping him from making the cages.

He is now 21 days behind!!!

First of all it was the electrician, 5 weeks behind, and now the joiner, Im thinking Im cursed!?!

Dad and I have been making some cages ourselves. Ours are almost done. Theres 8 done, 2 rows of 4, one on top of the other.

Well, when I say done, what I mean is they are all put together. I now have to paint them and redo the hinges. For some reason Dad put the hinges on the door on the bottom, which isnt helpful when you are putting feed and water on the doors, so I have to move them to the side, like you get on rabbit hutches lol.

For the paint, Im using Dulux white silk emulsion, it will take numerous coats, I have applied 2 – 3 coats already and it will want more. Then Im going to give it a coat of gloss and then, once thats dry, Im going to use yaught varnish for the cage floor.

Im hoping to be in a position to move the cages in the shed by the weekend, thats if I can get my trailer back from the joiner.

Actually, scratch that, Im just going to take it and watch him panic pmsl hehehehe

Im going for a drive down to Clitheroe tomorrow, I need to get some more drinkers and feeders for if I do get the cages installed, hopefully then I will be in a position to start putting the hens in. I still need unrelated males though.

Think I might be able to get them next time I go to the auctions as Im not staying for the auction this week.

I have a doctors appointment on Thursday, supposedly, for some blood tests and a heart monitor teat, just to make sure Im still alive lol.

Was supposed to be going for the last 3 weeks but they have cancelled it each time! Its a fasting blood test, so I cant eat after 8pm, so cant stay for the auctons sadly unless I stuff myself silly down there

Well, better go, need my beauty sleep more than ever. This kid thought my Mum was my sister – and its not the 1st time!!!

I say its down to having parents like mine and driving buses for years that done it hehehe.

Night all xxx

Hi All,

Well, saw joiner and he still has his bad back. He said the cages are all cut to size and just need putting together. He also said his GF has done her knee in and cant walk so he has been looking after her. Well these cockerels wont wait. They already beginning to fight, so I asked Allison what she thought and she confirmed, make the cages myself!

I looked on a bird website and ofund japs point of lay for £1 each, so going to ring them tomorrow and hopefully buy bloody loads of them lol. I can even, hopefully, get some unrelated males. I need 6 – 10 of them. Colours preferred but not overly bothered.

Well, going to leave it here, short and sweet. Im knacked after seeing to them in the garage, then the aviary, then the shed and then moving chicks into garage and then feeding and watering again.

I probably wont be on for the next few days as I am hopefully going to get some birds and make the cages.

Knowing me I will be wokring 18hours+ per day until Im exhausted lol.

Wish me luck!

Hey up

Nothing much to write about today

I sold some silver japs, sexed them the best I could but they werent all mature so I did say that they were sold technically unsexed. He got a bargain anyway and seems quite happy.

Then fed and watered everything and had a sandwich of corned beef, onion and Branston Pickle before going to the quail shed.

They all seemed quite OK in the shed, they had eaten up but still had a bit of water so they werent exactly left to suffer. I will need some more water drinkers though when Im up and running properly.

I have made friends with the kids at the stables. Theres Shannon, Callum and Demi and each of them want a quail pmsl.

Shannon has adopted the runty one and called it Charlie and the other 2 are waiting for me to sex the hens out of the whites and ranges before they chose one. I told them they were best having hens then they could have an egg.

I took some males over to the shed today, just to thin down the numbers in the big brooders. I shall take some more tomorrow.

I started to paint another hutch up today. Still no word from the joiner :( Damn annoying it is!

Anyway, I asked at the stables and they have offered to cut the sheets of ply for me, so I will have to do a guesstimate and make the cock cages myself for the back wall, I dont think it will be too much longer before the males start to fight.

Right, thats me done for now. Must go to the market tomorrow, I need a washing up bowl and a soft sweeping brush and a hard hand brush. All for the quail shed. And if I can find it, a bucket with a lid lol lol.

OK, see yous all laters.

Byeeeeeeeee

ps: Baggins the lurcher was farting on my mother all night tonight, it was well funny pmsl

ey-yup

Well, writing thsi in the early hours of the 14th and guess what – Im awake cos I got myself a cold again. Yep, snotty nose and hankies at the ready

Went to Clitheroe last night, there wasnt much there, I think most people must have decided it was too cold to turn out, or the threat of snow again put them off. Yep, its snowing again here but thankfully nothing like it did last time, just a light dusting but its been at it for over 12 hours now!

Bloody stop!!!!!!!

Derek kindly bought me my bidding number for the auctions as part of my birthday pressie. Its his birthday soon so I am looking for something horrid for him, you know how I like to wind him up with silly pressies.

Jacko, the joiner man, is meant to be coming tomorrow to go for some wood and make a start on the cages. I hope so, really I do. Theres a wood yard on the Vickers Industrial Estate, just recently opened, I can get 8ft x 4ft 6mm pieces of ply for £9 each and 2″ x 1″ wood for 10p a ft, which is good prices. Jacko says the 8×4 sheets will go in the back of his car. But delivery was free if they wont. But I think I am definately going to go back to this bloke every time I need more wood, and his dad keeps bantams!

Not sure how much wood I will need just yet, but got £90 out of the bank so that should give us a good start.

Derek is coming down with 24 or 28 POL quail hens on Sunday so I need enough cages ready to house them at least!

Also I could do with another 2 being ready so I can put Russell and Jack in with some A&M hens and hopefully start to breed the bigger A&Ms. I eventually want to break the 1lb barrier lol

I got some lovely ranges, creams and silvers that I wouldnt mind keeping also but out of the lot theres 2 that are definately being kept regardless of what sex they are, thats the red eyed cream (whos eyes turned black and that why I couldnt find it again) and the silver with the scallopped pattern on the feathers. Derek says the Americans call them Rosellas.

I also need some more unrelated cock birds, but will look for them in the next 4 – 6 weeks when I know what sexes I have and how many hens I have.

Oh and almost forgot, I have some lovely red ranges and they are being kept also. I have a buyer for one if its a hen as she fell in love with the reds

At the auction tonight there was 2 continental giants, both females, rabbits. I have always wanted the giant rabbit so I bid on them but was out bid. The folk who got them were at the back of me and I have a feeling they would have carried on bidding no matter how much I bid for them. But anyway, I didnt have enough cos I had bought a load of trough feeders. The seller wanted £2.50 each for them, I just laughed at him and said I wasnt paying £2.50 each as I needed about 40+ once all the cages had been made. Anyway I haggled him and I got him down to £1.75 each, thats for the normal troughs like I got and will get more of, but also for a new design, clear platic ones with removable bars that you can hang on the doors. I might get some of those as well next time Im down that way, maybe in month I took his number so I could ring him with a my order, might as well at that price

Oh well, 5am.

Not slept more than 30 minutes cos my nose kept running and kept waking me up having big candles hanging off my nose and dribbling down to my chin – hope your eating when you read this – pmsl.

Fed up of this bloody cold! Had my cup of tea, had 2 glasses of hot Ribena while the tea brewed, might go downstairs in a moment to make some more hot Ribena, need the extra vitamin C and 38g of sugar (cos Derek was reading the label).

Hes turned into Mr Healthy-man now, not like me, Fat-Slob-Minger! hehehehe

Most folk bought me soap and smelly stuff and bubble bath for Crimbo – think they are trying to tell me something? I dont see why I need stuff like that anyhow – you cant improve on perfection can you? pmsl

Oh, having trouble burning my DVDs. I downloaded some films, (dont worry – I padi to be a member of a place to download films) anyway, I want to burn them onto DVDs so I can watch them on the telly in the front room. Im doing everything Im supposed to be doing and it burns fine for a while and then it just stops, it wont burn anymore. Usually stops at just after 1 hour 30 odd minutes. It just freezes up, I left the puter running all night the other night and 14 hours later it still hadnt moved from 1 hour 34 minutes.

Im using Nero 9 software, I down loaded another programme and that was crap, wouldnt work it, didnt know what I was supposed to do.

Thinking of downloading Nero 9 again and uninstalling and reinstalling it and hope that works. If not it might be the burner itself, but then if that was buggered why is it still burning CDs?

Fully qualified puter geek needed to explain it all to me I think lol

Oh well, suppose I had better go and stop boring the life out of you.

Piccies to be taken tomorrow to start my diary of the new quail shed on the forum. Oh and need to take piccies of chicks at 15 days old for reference section of the forum as well – remind me

OK see you all next time Im on – byeeeeeeeee

Hey up, it was above freezing today and its at +1c tonight! Yippeeeeee!!!!

Derek and I are meant to be going to Clitheroe on Wednesday, looks like it might be going ahead now if the roads become clearer. The ice is starting to melt here, I say starting, as its still trecherous, couldnt take the dogs out today as it was just totally ice, no way could you walk amd just because theres a bit of slish on the roads you should see the arses in the cars come around the corner They cut my corner like mad, its a 90 degree corner and you cant see around it,  but does that stop them??? noooo Theyd rather run over you or drive into another car!

I got let down again by the joiner I dont think this bloody shed will ever get done.

Anyway, Im off to measure up tomorrow, no excuses, market for filter tips and cig papers, Morrisons or Asda for my goat milk, then Im off to measure up and hopefully go to the new wood yard on the Vickers Estate, I hope they have some decent ply in at a good price cos I will need loads

I think I can finish the panelling of the shed and the building of the cages, Im just really crap at making the doors for the cages.

I have to get on anyway as I am now 5 weeks behind schedule and the chicks are growing up fast and the birds in the aviary need to rehomed into the cages as soon as possible really.

I would just like my pets and pensioners in there, so I can move my other pets into the aviary as my pensioners pass away.

Im afraid these chicks are the first in the line to be resold on as laying hens or the young males for food.

Not nice but must be done, I would prefer to sell privately as I dont fancy my hens being taken to Clitheroe.

Im too soft for my own good me.

Anyway, going to go get a cup of tea and then will burn some horror films.

bye

Brrrrrrr it blooming freezing – litterally!

Temperature in my area went down to as low as -10c last night, might have been -14c but I dont think it makes much difference when its that low

My blue car is now white! Jack Frost is definately having a party around here lol

My full stops still dont work by the way, I need a new keyboard but I cant find one I like   I like these little keyboards like you get on laptops, but you try and find one around here, ha – its easier finding rocking horse sh*t

I had some more boobs hatch, got 5 now in total although one has curled toes so I have taped them straight and put it back in the incy, hopefully it will mend the toes, dont like them with curled toes, sometimes they start to walk on their ankles and then their legs go, which isnt nice

Got 3 more struggling right now, they have come out of the shell but i dont know of they will make it or not   One looks to have a bent neck, if its not right in 30 minutes i am thinking of making a neck brace to see if it will straighten   I dont like having to cull birds so if I can get away with ‘making them better’ then I will certainly give it a go

I have a jap that has a bent neck, its in an S shape, but its eating, drinking and walking OK   It will never make a breeding bird but it might make a pet   I have Scalpie and Batty (so named cos shes going blind) in the big budgie cage so if Bently lives I can put Bently in with them

Scalpie is good with Batty, Batty follows Scalpie all over the cage cos she knows Scalpie will lead her to food and water, so Im thinking of keeping those 2 together forever   Bently can go in with them if it makes it

Well, the joiner didnt come again, it must be cos of the weather, it is litterally an ice skating rink outside   I have had to park my car on the road cos I cant get it up and down the drive   I was watching Ice Road Truckers this morning, taped it from the other night, and now I know what its like to drive on ice   Up there in Alaska they put 2″ of ice down on the road to protect the tarmac or something and to make it smooth, lol, we dont need to put 2″ of ice down, we have nature to do that for us

I lost one of my OAP quail last night due to the cold and IM expecting to lose 2 more in the morning, they looked a bit ill and ‘tired’ but they are old and now is the time when they are going to go I think

The chicks in the garage are all doing well though, I reduced their heat for a couple of hours today, I darent do it too much, not in these temperatures but Im making a start on them

The chicks up here are in the toasty warm, plenty of food and water and all doing well

Well, Im getting off, cup of tea time i think, byeeeeeeeeeee