Early morning killing

His morning was a morning of death on the farm some imposed and some unexpected. One of the baby turkeys has unexpectedly succumb to eternal repose.   While the turkey incident is sad on a happier note we no longer have a mean male quail bloodily picking at the others. Our Italian quail, the bully, received a lecture on the repercussions of bullying and then quickly volunteered to be lunch. We appreciate his willingness to sacrifice and acknowledge his mean ways were wrong. The other quail do not miss him. 

Seasoned and ready to bake 

More animals

The farm continues to develop, rapidly by some standards and laboriously slow by others. This week we saw the addition of 19 quail bringing the total to 21 as well as one rooster and 10 baby turkeys. The rooster is nice as can be and will even let me pet him though he is in the market for a girl friend. Preferably a social gal that enjoys early morning singing and tasty worms. 

quail tractor at the farm

     The quail tractor is built. We built a little quail tractor to roll around the farm. It will mate up to a small "yard." We plan to use netting over hoops to create the yard. The idea is to raise the quail in a safe environment in a wire cage but also offer grass, dust and insects. The mix of safety and things that quail love ( dust and bugs) hopefully will yield delicious eggs. Tiny as they may bee quail eggs are reputed to be 3X healthier than chicken eggs. I can attest to them being tastier.
    Side note: most quail are raised "on wire." this means they are always in cages and go not have the environment they were created for. Quail naturally live in woodlands and prairies. They take cover in the tall grasses, clean themselves with dust, and fly straight up and away at the first sign of danger. They do not domesticate easily like chickens. They must remain contains or they will fly away.
    The quail tractor will function like a chicken tractor only it will have the "yard" function to keep them safe from hawks and contained. The tractor will allow for transporting them on the farm and keeping them safe from dogs and coons at night. Heres hoping it works.