What's New at NowHere?

 

We had a great time at the market this past weekend.  We took 24 dozen quail eggs and sold 23 dozen!  The English Muffins are gaining in popularity, and I found some young readers who needed new bookmarks.

I thought this past weekend was the Garden Festival; however, the Garden Festival will be this coming weekend, Saturday, February 22.  There will be a LOT going on; Boy Scouts with trees to give away in celebration of Arbor Day, the announcement of the winner of the Garden Festival Art contest, visiting dignitaries, and the honor guard from the local high school.  

Meanwhile, things are moving along on the homestead.  

Over the weekend we had a decent hatch from our oldest incubator; so far 18 of 36 eggs.  While fifty percent is not really anything to brag about, there was a lot stacked against this hatch.  It was the first time hatching from the group hatched in December.  With eggs from eight week old quail we are happy getting a 50% hatch rate!  Also, we were using an incubator which is 4 years old and not keeping its temperature and humidity as constant as I would like.  Several times the temperature dropped under 99 degrees.  We will let this one go into a well-earned retirement after this hatch finishes unless we have a critically urgent need.  

 

A week after collecting the eggs to go into that incubator, we collected 61 eggs from the same group and put them into the newer ~ and very reliable ~ Brinsea incubator.  This one has nailed the temperature and humidity and the consistency is beautiful.  We went into lockdown just this morning and are eager to see what happens.  

 

What is lockdown?  This is where you remove the egg turners, place the eggs flat on the floor of the incubator to let the babies get into position, and turn up the humidity to 65% to soften the shell a bit.  We do this is on day 14 in anticipation of the hatch starting on day 16.  Some people prefer to do this around day 15 assuming the hatch starts at day 17, but our experience has been the first one comes at day 16.  We are hoping for at least another 30-45 babies mid week.

Mid week.  

We began watching the weather prediction for this week a bit anxiously last week thinking, "Surely not!"  "Maybe they will amend the forecast when we get a little closer".  They have.  The predicted low temperatures have gone from the low 30s to the mid to upper 20s now.  

We usually move the babies from the incubator to brooder boxes in the quail shed; but new babies cannot survive, even with heat lamps, if the ambient temperature is under 50.  Thus, here we go back to having babies, and possibly some plants, in Cletus' workroom for a few days.  Poor Cletus!

Usually we share inconveniences like having our work areas be taken up with babies and plants, but since I am working on some Mardi Gras and Easter shawls right now this is not an option.  Having the odor and the dust from the quail in the same room as the yarn is not a good idea!  

That paper towel has been there for just a few hours.  Yes.  Yes they do.  A LOT.

 Meantime, we have quite a few plants in the ground already.  We will watch the hourly temperatures and set appropriate alarms to go turn on the sprinklers once the temps get down close to freezing.  Moving water should keep them from freezing ( I may have to dig out a copy of Farmer Boy to re-read the chapter about the family pouring dippers of water on the corn to save it on the Fourth of July!).

 

Otherwise things are rolling along.  After some experimentation and consideration we have come to some new conclusions about quail housing; I will tell you all about that later this week.