Bad hatch year?

[LDennis24]

I've seen turkey babies up North by the Aladdin Rd out of Pinkney and that's it this year. Down in my area I think there will be minimal successful hatches. It's so dry this spring, my guineas failed to hatch there large clutch they had been tending to. They just abandoned it all together about two weeks ago. I suspect they picked a new spot but the grass is so thick in spots on my place that I don't know where it is. I seem to have ample growth in my pastures but my ground is sub irrigated. My well has a static level of 9' and the spring is still running out back but the birds seem to be suffering. Anyone else seeing much for chicks anywhere? My silkie chickens have lost seven babies that couldn't get out of the egg due to moisture issues. Saved a few today that I found in time to wrap with wet paper towels until they break free of the membrane. Seven survivors so far out of about 18 eggs.

[hunter399]

Seen some Turkey chicks yesterday.
Did seen them next to a road ,headed to a creek.

[Dhoey07]

I've seen one batch of quail and one batch of turkeys.  Pretty small broods for each.  So far, not that great.

[jrebel]

Appears pretty normal in my neck of the woods and the turkey hatch are already getting big.  Quite a few babies running around.

[LDennis24]

Yeah the turkeys I saw were already as big as a hen pheasant! I was surprised.

[Ironhead]

The broods that I have been seeing seem less in numbers than years past. Probably has a lot to do with the weather in different areas of the state. It has been very cool up here this year until this week. The Chukar hatches have been 2-4 chicks . Turkeys are looking a little better but were huge last year. Quail seem like smaller numbers as well.

[metlhead]

Quail broods that I have seen are very large. Have not seen a single pheasant yet.

[RobinHoodlum]

The grouse numbers I'm seeing in the northwestern counties seem about normal. Not huge clutches per se,  but no shortage of chicks

[LDennis24]

Yeah I may have spoken too soon as I have been traveling from Whitman County up to Colville and Kettle Falls for a job and have been seeing more and more babies. Saw a cow elk get hit by the Pend Oreille river that looked dry. No calf. I always like to assume that every cow and doe gets bred every year but then I also had a few still born lambs this year for reasons I don't know. They were bred late so they lambed about two weeks ago so they should have turned out better but that was not the case. One Finnish ewe had four inside her all different stages of growth for some reason and all came out together, still born, even the full term one. Very odd and I couldn't find any info online about it. This is just an odd year with the dry spring and now this heat coming next week. It's gonna be detrimental to some animals in certain places.

[Birdguy]

Drove over 1300 miles last weekend. Saw dozens of pairs of valley quail and one batch of chicks of about 12, it was around Lake Alta. Saw 5 turkey hens with chicks in Chewelah average 7 to 8 chicks each from quail size up to small pheasant size. Not as many quail but talked to a couple folks who say they usually do not see many quail until after the 4th if July. There is still plenty of time. Will just hope they pull it off. That kind of heat cannot be good for much of anything.

[LDennis24]

I've been seeing fresh hatches of quail too. Good size clutches of 8-12 or more. Looking better than I thought I guess. I also looked back into my photos and my guineas didn't hatch a clutch last year until June 25th so I think this weather had me thinking it was time to see them already. Im not seeing the Huns and Pheasant babies yet though. I sure enjoy watching the Huns, they are a cool bird.

[sjhgraysage]

My wife rescued a brood of Valley Quail from one of the window wells of our house in Spokane yesterday. They could not have been more than 2 - 3 days out of the egg. There were 12 chicks in the bunch. Both parents waited impatiently near by, if they had not been hanging around the window well the chicks probably would have died in there in the heat we are having.

[bearpaw]

I've seen several sizes of turkey polts, some as large as grouse already. Too early for me to guess if it's a better or worse hatch than usual?

[Sandberm]

We had a dozen baby quail and parents running around my place, though I do not think I have seen them since the heat wave we had. I must say, they are much better then baby robins at avoiding my baby bird killing dog.

I like to observe the number of quail and rabbits i see to the number of Red Tailed hawk, Coopers hawk and great horned owls I see. I haven't seen our resident Coopers hawk in awhile and i also haven't seen any great Horned owls in awhile either 

[Dhoey07]

Second batch of quail hit the ground about two weeks ago. A ton of little fuzz balls running about.

[Jingles]

3 hens in the yard only 2 youngsters with them

[Lady Grouse hunter]

It's is a Great year here, Despite the heat/smoke this season. Had a nest just in MY Yard, July 1st. in 10n eggs, Candle-lighted them Dark and fertile!! here in Coulee City 
It will be a great shoot in Oct. Anyone have a good birddog to bring here?
Let Me know?
Redrocked642000@yahoo.com

[bearpaw]

Now that chicks are bigger the hens are bringing them out into the open daily, I saw at least two hundred birds in a short morning scout this week. If we have another mild to moderate winter we will have another excellent turkey season next spring!

[LDennis24]

Yes I've seen hundreds of birds since they harvested the fields here. I still have not seen any Hun chicks though. And smaller clutches of quail in the fields but larger clutches in the wooded areas. I think they faired pretty well for the most part. Huns sure didn't need this drought though. And Chukars I'm sure had a hard time too. Saw my first pair of Chukars on top of Steptoe Butte this Spring though!

[jrebel]

We have a group of 16 birds in our smaller food plot almost daily.  Two hens and 14 not so small anymore babies.  We had a very normal hatch in our area. 

[Lady Grouse hunter]

What about the Desert Turkeys???

[LDennis24]

If your truly referring to turkeys in the dry areas they did great also. I just had a couple guinea fowl hatch out 30 babies last week also. Nice and dry for them since they are used to African climate ancestrally. They are all in a glass brooder aquarium now staying warm and only lost one so far. They are pretty fragile chicks. If they get wet they are toast. Falling into a waterer even kills them. I have a spring water ditch and if I leave them with the mother she will lead them through the ditch and they will all die. Sadly I've let it happen hoping they will be smart and keep the chicks away but they trample their babies or lead them to their deaths so I take them after the mother's hatch them out. 

[h2ofowlr]

Seen a lot of turkey this past weekend and more quail than I have ever seen.  They were more concentrated towards water sources as it is very dry where I typically see them.

[IfItFliesItDies]

We saw great numbers of quail this weekend in Yakima. There were definitely some 2nd-hatch juveniles in the coveys, but they were a little bigger than I'm used to seeing on opening weekend, so I think it was a good year for them.

[Lady Grouse hunter]

A Third hatch here in Coulee City again!

[LDennis24]

My gunieas just hatched another batch of 13 babies! 
Now I get to run a brooder through the cold and hope they don't all die. Guineas can be the dumbest birds sometimes! They literally try to bring their young across the creek and drown them when they are too little to get across. They also peck and trample their young in an attempt to save them from predators too!  But they are damn good tick eaters! Lol