Small Blessings from the Storm

Sunday night was an absolute DOOZY. I kid you not, rain, thunder, wind, our internet going on and off (on a raid night this is VERY VERY annoying because I'm our guild's MT).

I finally packed up and went to bed. Then came back out in the morning to what I thought was going to be near catastrophe. The top of the quail pen had literally been lifted off of its hinges and was across the yard.

I took off running and found all but my one lone boy. Upsetting, but I placed the top back on and weighted it down with two bricks (Until Dad and I can go fix it) and went in muttering.

Last night when I went for chores, I poked in and there was a white flash. Seems the boy (I'm pretty sure it's Cracker, he's an obnoxious little boy) had been hiding under a pile of brown quail gals.

Thank God, having to raise another boy would put us behind for meat production that's for sure!

To answer Chai Chai's question in open chat (though I did answer it already in comments), coturnix are raised for both eggs and meat. The eggs are supremely tiny - it takes five to equal one chicken egg but they are spotted and very pretty. Hard boil them and they are a great snack food.

Quail are also good meat producers, taking only about 6-8 weeks to reach full weight, however they are rather tiny. (Not even a pound) The feed-cost conversion is quite good on them. Plus they are darling and full of personality.

Many people feed them gamebird food, however the breeder I got them from feeds the Meatbird Crumbles from Rural King and they are doing quite well on it. They need a higher protein than your laying hens do.

We have ours currently from Snoozin' Goose Ranch and they are healthy specimens. If you are in Indiana then I heartily recommend Seth for your poultry needs. He's got amazing birds! We're getting chickens and turkeys from him when they start hatching.

Quail Links:

Smooth Quailing
Coturnix Colors

In other news, Star, one of our does is about two weeks out, and as I'm constantly checking ligaments, etc right now I'm NOT the most popular person in the barnyard believe me.

Everyone else survived the storm nicely and other than wearing wellies everywhere we're in good shape.