any iowans here

[mobe_45]

Am I the only Iowan here?

[Chagrin]

 
I'm over in Dubuque. Not as lucky as you to have a company like McMurray in the city.

I've just recently started killing quail eggs. I'd say "hatching", but my rates have been miserable. Hopefully in another month or so my oldest will start laying so I can stop having to mail order the eggs.

[mobe_45]

welcome to the site.
What kind of incubator are you using?
I have used the hovabator circulated air and was getting 65% hatch. The guys here say thats about normal for mail order eggs.
After culling infertile eggs from my home laid ones I am getting 95% hatch. Only 67% fertile eggs though. I've been told the male to female ratio is most likely my problem. Too many males.

[brokenantleracres]

I live in sw IOWA well 2miles from the mo border and 25 miles from ne border

[mobe_45]

brokenantleracres, looks like northboro from your mileage.
i used to hunt some near Bedford. I had a buddy that lived there about 30 years ago.

[mobe_45]

Last hatch this year from my home birds. This one is at two minutes old.

[Little Bear Game Farm]

Its fun watching the little guys get out    I've got a set hatching next weekend and have a bunch of people staying at my place for a ball tourney and they are all pretty excited to see how they do it.

Anyways, I was wondering how bad the spring weather you guys had has affected the pheasant population.  Some friends of mine and myself go somewhere hunting each year and we had planned on going to Iowa this year.  Are you guys able to tell the affects of the flooding yet?  We had been planning to go hunt near the northeast corner but I think thats where they got hit the worst with the flooding.

[Chagrin]

What kind of incubator are you using?

I built my incubator myself; I'm fairly handy with cabinet building and tinkering in general. My temperature only varies +/- .5F but it's the humidity I'm having a really hard time keeping above 50%. 

[mobe_45]

This is a link to the iowa upland game survival estimates.
http://www.iowadnr.com/wildlife/pdfs/2008_snowfall_pheasant_estimate.pdf
 The whole eastern third and the south central part is estimated to be way down due to 71 to 110% above normal snow this past winter.

The north central and NW areas are suposed to be the best for pheasant. http://www.iowadnr.com/wildlife/files/upmaps.html

In August the DNR takes roadside surveys and will post the results online.

Since the flooding I haven't seen or heard much from the local (central) pheasants.

[Little Bear Game Farm]

Thanks Mobe.  It almost seems wrong to worry about the bird population and my hunting aspirations with what they had to deal with this spring. 

 

[mobe_45]

We are about an hour north of Des Moines. We were lucky as the flooding was only a bit worse here than in '93. For a week there were about four blocks in town that were under water. Some fields here got redrowned in the low areas this past week with the rains. Those spots won't yield anything. Most fields look fantastic here though. All the tornadoes were south and east of us this year too. One of my coworkers had a daughter who lived in the town that disappeared from the tornado a month ago. Her photos are incredible. Animals wandering around the town in the rubble. Not even foundations above ground. A 24 inch steel culvert is stuck through a tree about fifteen feet off the  ground.
Our yard here is soaking wet right now.

[brokenantleracres]

 "looks like northboro from your mileage"



Well mobe_45 you are close I live between blanchard and college springs

[Chagrin]

The August survey data is out.

...it's not good.

http://www.iowadnr.com/wildlife/files/uproadd.html

[Little Bear Game Farm]

Wow, I knew populations would be down but wow

[tweezy50]

   Hi all.  I'm located just outside Sioux City, Iowa.  Have been raising cort.  quail for 2 years now.  Just on the hobby level now, but have sold enough to pay for the feed, (just barely)
   Got a question........................ has anyone got ideas on what to do with the eggs after you are done hatching the season's hatches?  I have been blowing the eggs out to use for crafts and then dehydrating the "insides" to use in recipes.  Works well.  Problem is , my quail just keep layin' and layin' and layin'  I have them inside the garage in wire pens and there seems to be no end in sight on the layin'!  Any ideas, goofy or otherwise??