| It all Started with these..... By: cujo |
| It all started with these... I was hooked when I was a boy of 10. Dad wanted some tame Quail to train a bird dog. We found a nest of eggs after cutting hay and incubated them in the little GQF mini-bator. Hatched out three clutches of 6 eggs and brooded them in a series of cardboard boxes under a desk lamp. Once they were feathered out, we moved them into some cages Dad had once raised mink in and I began earning my allowance-25 cents a week-by feeding and watering those Quail. Doesn't sound like much cash, but back then comic books were only 12 cents! To this day I remember those frisky birds every time I hear the Bobwhites calling each other. Later, I married a veteran 4-H chicken raiser and we began keeping chickens when we moved into our first home. Luckily, there were no zoning restrictions in our little country town. We moved to a mini-farm (6.5 acres) four years ago and I began building coops and pens after a real disaster of free-ranging experiment. We bought a flock of 4-H raised sexlinks and they would roost anywhere except in the barn; like the back of my front porch rocker, on top of the bedroom window airconditioner, tree limbs directly above my windshield, etc. Today I have four coops with another in design. All built with scrounged up lumber and sheet metal. I have a GQF Hovabator without the automatic turner, definitely my NEXT investment. Feel free to share my story if you like. Cujo |