The hatch

[boneaddict]

Bunch of baby quail showed up tonight.  Big hatch!  Hopefully the rain holds off for a few days. 

[True Sportsman]

I was cruising timber last week and I had a momma grouse fluff up and charge me! It was pretty funny  I backed away and she had quite a few babies that were hopping after her. Made me smile. It was neat hearing the sounds she made gathering all of them up after I left. I love being in the woods...

Dumb question, because I'm not a bird hunter. Why is the rain bad for the hatch? Why is bad for the new chicks?

[Sumpnneedskillin]

They get wet, get hypothermia and risk dying.  The longer the time between their hatch and rain the better.

[True Sportsman]

Learn something new all the time I guess. Thanks for the info...

[ribka]

Hope for a good year.

I saw baby huns today

[Machias]

I couldn't be any worse than last years, possibly the worst hatch year I've ever seen!

[Birdguy]

Just keep the good weather and hatch report coming  . Gives me a little more motivation each day to work with the dog. If all else fails I have a couple hundred chukars in the brooder so he will get his either way .

[dscubame]

Baby Robins above my deck looking good.  After I got rid of those starlings (thanks to the information on this site) the Robins went to work nesting and hatching.

[Justin7mm]

The farmer where i hunt says he has seen a pair of quail with about 10 babies this last week. Looks like nothing but good weather on the horizon

[Justin7mm]

Dumb question, because I'm not a bird hunter. Why is the rain bad for the hatch? Why is bad for the new chicks?

Sumpnneedskillin is correct that the young chicks cannot regulate their body tempurature and that they risk dying if they get rained on.  Most game birds will re-nest several times though if a nest is destroyed or if a clutch is lost.  What is really bad is when almost an entire clutch dies and maybe one or two chicks live. The parents will raise one baby if that is all that's left as opposed to re-nesting.  Game birds have a very high mortality rate (70-80%) as it is, so they depend on large hatches to keep numbers up year to year.

[MtnMuley]

Saw a lone Blue chick with mommy
 on Saturday out hiking. 2" tall. Only birds I saw. Usually see 10-20 on that hike. I guess thats a start.


 

[shorthair-on-point]

I have not seen many chicks yet, it has been a very wet year in the Columbia Basin.

[Sumpnneedskillin]

Still seeing pairs of quail running around and a few pheasant hens. 

Talked with my parents last night and Mom said that she's seeing only male quail right now at the house in Yakima.  So it appears the hens are sitting there.

[deereman]

I saw my first batch of pheasant chicks the other day, must have been at least 10 chicks that came out of a hay field.  Hopefully a few more will hatch before the hay swathers get in the fields. We are 20 days later than normal cutting our hay so maybe a few more chicks will make it this year.

[JackOfAllTrades]

We are 20 days later than normal cutting our hay so maybe a few more chicks will make it this year.

Up here in the north interior, many farmers are a month behind for the first cut. I know dairy farmers that completely ran out of bails. There was one weather break where many cut grass for silage then it rained again and most couldn't even get equipment on the soft/wet fields. My field was nearly four feet tall last week. My neighbor came and cut it, tetted over two days, then it's rained again. I'm sure he won't be able to round bail until this weekend. That puts my relatively dry field about a month behind. I heard of one big tractor last night sunk to the frame down the road from us on a field that's normally cut long before this time of year. Not good... .

-Steve