A Final Farewell to our Quail--

We've had our quail since some time back in November 2013.  Neat little birds that were something different for our farm.  We learned that they don't co-habitate well with chickens.  They are at the bottom of the pecking order.  After starting with 18 we were down to two.  Those two quail flourished and grew into pretty little birds. Benjamin dutifully fed and watered them each and every day.

On Tuesday afternoon, Benjamin excitedly told me that they had laid their first eggs! How exciting!  The eggs are a khaki color with black splotches on them.  I think they're really pretty.  You can see them in my hand:

Pretty Quail Eggs

I've eaten pickled quail eggs before and we were looking forward to trying to make our own.  Yesterday afternoon I rushed out to the hen house to check on our quail to see if they had laid another two eggs and was greeted with this discouraging sight:

The open door

The door to the cage was wide open and the quail were nowhere to be found.  I looked and looked with no success in finding them.  The door had a little abnormality that made it a little difficult to close and latch securely and in hindsight, I should have pulled the door off and repaired it properly.  But I did not.  Looking back now is like closing the barn door AFTER the horse quail is already out.

And thus ends our experiment with quail.  I have learned through this experience several things:

1. You must be properly set up to raise different type animals BEFORE you take possession of them,
2. You must gain a working knowledge of how to raise new fowl BEFORE you take possession of them,
3. You must ensure that the enclosures are secure and gates are closed.

Two eggs over easy

One final lesson:  Although we haven't eaten the first (and last) quail eggs produced on Our Maker's Acres Family Farm yet, there's no way that the taste or nutrition derived from them will exceed the time and cost put into producing them.  We also learned that there is truth in some old adages:  

The old adage, "You live and Learn" is true in life and true on the farm.  The old saying, "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush" is true also. Unfortunately, we have NO birds in our hand, and BOTH of our birds are in the bush...