Quail Update

Brown/wild-type quail

The quail chicks we brought home at 4 days old have now been with us for two weeks.  They've gone from tiny, fluffy chicks to almost adult birds in such a short time.  They now have mostly adult feathers and look like small versions of their full-grown counterparts. 

They've already been upgraded to a new home, since by the end of the first week their brooder was getting too cramped.  By two weeks old they were testing out their wings, so I had to add a wire cover.  

They still have their heat lamp, but I have been gradually raising its height.  Now that they have their feathers in, they shouldn't need it much longer.  The days are also getting warmer, so I will start turning it on only for the night. 

This was my first experience with chicks and a brooder, so I learned quite a lot (and I'm sure I'm not done!).  

1) Chicks are MESSY!  

2) They grow so fast

3) You better be prepared to move them into larger and larger quarters

4) They will find ways to spill their water

5) They will poop in their water and food every chance they get

6) They are practically born with a full range of adult behaviors (preening, dust bathing, pecking, scratching...)

Some things I changed as I went along:

1) Switched to pine shavings.  A website I read advocated paper towels for the floor of the brooder.  He said he cleaned them every few days.  WHAT!?!  I tried that and changed them out three times a day for the first few days.  It was insane.  Every time they got wet it spread through the entire floor.  The birds were constantly on wet ground.  Disgusting and unhealthy.  A deep layer of shavings effectively keeps them clean and every other day I can add new shavings on top, then clean it all out when needed.  For a while, as I was digging out my garden bed, I even gave them pieces of sod.  They loved it!  They explored the tall blades, pecked at them, and found the occasional insect.  

  

2) I moved them to a larger brooder after two weeks.  I could have started with the larger one in the first place.  Now I know!

3) After switching to shavings I had a problem with the water seeping out into the shavings, and recreating the paper towel problem.  When shavings get kicked up into the waterer it soaks up all the water - the chicks can't drink and the floor gets soggy.  So I put the waterer up on a brick.  They have to take a step up, and most of the shavings stay down.  Everyone stays clean. 

4) The birds are not discriminate about where they poop - not that I thought they would be, but that means I had to set up their brooder to keep things as clean as possible.  One DUH mistake I made at first was putting the feeder too close to the waterer.  When the birds were eating, they would poop with their bottoms right over the water... OOPS!  Figured that out quick and made sure they had enough distance between them!!  

5) It is amazing how much behavior the birds are born with.  When I added shavings they immediately freaked out and starting dust bathing!  It is adorable!!  They fluff out their feathers and shake their whole bodies to get the shavings running through their feathers.  I don't think shavings will really help them clean themselves like sand or loose dirt, but it still allowed them to express this natural behavior (they will have a sand box for bathing in their outdoor pen when they graduate up!).  They also began scratching and pecking through it like maniacs.  It was like watching someone whose hands have been tied behind their backs finally get to scratch that itch!  Watching them made me grieve for the millions of intensively housed birds raised on wire mesh floors who never, ever get to dust bathe, scratch, or flap their wings.  They are not fully birds without those basic bird needs being met. 

6) I added sticks, a "log" (big stick) for them to hide under, and hanging greens.  They interactive environment stimulates all their birdy instincts, gives them something to do, and keeps them active. Enjoy some pictures of their set up!

Exploring their sticks (collected by the boys).  A natural and stimulating environment is important for health.  Bored birds can develop abnormal behavior, including feather plucking, fighting, and even cannabalism. 

You can see the blurry head as one pecks at the hanging lettuce leaf.  This offers a nutritional boost as well as stimulating entertainment and exercise. 

You can see two color varieties here: the one center top with its eye on the camera is the wild-type brown, while to the back and slightly left is the tuxedo, with dark brown feathers and a white chest.  The one on the sticks is also a tuxedo, from the dark feathers and bit of white you can see near the eyes and chest.  

Daily Pickings: Enough to Share

My lettuce is growing like crazy!  I started with just two packs of lettuce starts: one red, one green.  Total cost was $4.  I've already picked about 5 grocery-store-sized bags of lettuce from them and the end is no where in sight.  With the mild weather we have here I don't think it will ever bolt or become bitter.  Woo hoo for garden investments paying off!

I picked so much this morning that I was able to knock on my neighbor's door and offer her as much as she wanted.  She took a big handful for a lunch salad.  

A separate, but related gardening update for today... I noticed the neighbor's fruit trees are starting to put out cherries, apples, and peaches, so I hope that we can arrange a trade: my veggies and greens for her fruit!  I don't think she and her husband do much with the fruit; they told me they bought the property with the mature trees already in place.  Perhaps we can make a neighborly deal and share the bounty :)   I wouldn't mind climbing up to the top of her huge cherry tree to get the ones no one can reach!

Welcome, quail chicks!

Today we picked up 16 four-day-old quail chicks! They are settling into their brooders. My boys absolutely love them. Hopefully half or more will be females and we will keep them to lay eggs. The males... well, we'll talk about that later when they're not quite so adorable.

Guess what we're getting!

Went shopping today...

Big Homestead Project - Fencing

Our fence needs a little work, huh?

This is our big project year.

White four board fencing is beautiful, but not when all the posts are rotten and it's falling over into the grass - and this picture was taken after the kind neighbor staked up the parts that were literally at 45 degree angles to the ground and held up by ropes and support beams!  When the former owner of the property installed this, he didn't anchor the posts in cement; they are buried in the dirt in a city that gets something like 250 days of rain a year!  It's not going to last very long!

(you might be an urban farmer if you look at this picture and don't see "weeds" - you see "forage," i.e goat food!)

The whole fence on one side of our property and along the back is coming down and getting replaced with a six-foot tall privacy fence.  We are so fortunate that our neighbor on that side is a contractor and is willing to build it and split the cost with us.

A privacy fence doesn't seem very homestead-y, but it solves a large number of problems for an urban or suburban homestead:

1.  A privacy fence will be secure.  Dogs won't be able to get on our property, livestock won't be able to get off.  Racoons can climb and hawks can fly, but from what I've read, almost all livestock losses are due to free roaming dogs.

2. The neighbor's Jack Russell terrier (hopefully) won't bark at our livestock (and us, and our dog, and our hose) all day if he can't see us.  He also (probably) won't be able or motivated to dig under a sturdy, well installed privacy fence.

3. On the flip side, our animals hopefully will not bark/cluck/quack/baa/bleat (or whatever) at the neighbors whenever they get home or come outside.

4. The sights, sounds, and smells of our homestead will be more obstructed from our neighbors.  Of course we plan to keep a very well-managed, clean, and tidy mini farm, but it can only help to have a little extra privacy to ensure the neighbor's good will.  If they want to come over and visit they can, but if they don't, they don't have to feel like they live next to a funny farm all the time.

5.  I feel pretty weird about the neighbors watching me pick lettuce or feed quail in my pajamas in the morning while they're drinking their coffee and getting their kids off to school... so a little privacy will be nice for me and probably help limit the level of insanity they perceive over here.

6.  When it comes time for unpleasant tasks (raking out deep litter in the poultry pens or slaughtering meat animals) or just ridiculous tasks (like chasing a loose quail around the yard in my bath robe), I won't have an audience and the neighbors won't have to see anything they don't want to see. 

So should every suburban homestead build a privacy fence right from the get-go?  No - I wouldn't say that, unless that is fully within your budget and would make you feel more comfortable with your farming venture.  But if the opportunity to build a new fence arises, give a tall, solid fence careful thought, it may be worth the money and effort.    
  

Daily Pickings

A cool, rainy day is perfect for picking a handful of lettuce for a lunch salad!  Picked at 12:10pm, eaten at 12:30pm.

First garden row is done!

It took a few weeks of doing just a little bit most days... but there it is!  A *fully planted* garden row 36' x 3'.  It is so nice to sit back and just look at the fruit of all that digging! 

Break time's over!

Now time to start row number two...

Daily Pickings

Daily Pickings

It's another BEAUTIFUL spring/summer day here in the Pacific Northwest! I can't decide what season this is since it is June, so that sounds like summer, but its been 65-70 degrees and sunny every day for six weeks, which very definitely not any sort of summer that I'm used to!  My idea of summer is more along the lines of clothes sticking to your back sweat one minute after stepping outside, taking a shower three times a day, and thinking you might actually die if you go out without your water bottle.   Apparently from June until September I can expect this amazing, refreshing, and perfect-for-gardening weather. LOVE IT.

Here's what I picked today:
Calendula, chickweed, plantain, and lavender to go in an herbal body oil.
Raspberry leaves and peppermint for tea.

Comparing Homestead Poultry

From Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks.

I was already pretty set on raising ducks and quail on our little homestead, but this chart helped solidify that decision.

Ducks seem to be the obvious choice for our very rainy climate and the accompanying slugs and snails.

I raised quail in Kentucky because they slid under the HOA ban list (technically they are "game birds" not the banned "poultry" and fit in a pen so small no one noticed). I loved them for their beautiful little sounds, pretty feathers, easy keeping, and delicious and decorative eggs.

A breeding trio of heritage ducks and an aviary full of coturnix quail are on my wish list for next year!

First Harvest of the Season