EWR Quail

Sad news!

2012-01-23T17:48:00.001Z

I'm no longer the keeper of any quail.... A hungry fox has managed to eat and/or free them leaving me with hutches and no birds!
Sadly the fox also got to our cat who is also no longer on this mortal world.
I won't be getting more quail, I'm not breeding birds to feed urban foxes!!

Stunningly good ice cream!!

2011-07-21T22:06:00.000+01:00

If you want to taste stunningly good ice cream get your hands on a tub (or two) of Red Lion Farm Jersey ice cream, it's wonderful!

Red Lion Farm

Quail about to expand!

2011-07-21T22:01:00.000+01:00

Now that the 2011 competition season has firmly been laid to rest I can concentrate on getting my quail into biiger and better accomodation. Hopefully with an increase in space there will also be an increase in numbers too.....

2010 in full flow.

2010-04-07T21:36:00.000+01:00

I'm finally back blogging again, despite being busier than ever!!
After a hectic Easter weekend my quail are now enjoying their spacious living quaters again - although a fox has tired to dig into the ark already!
The effort and extra greens (and apples) have already been rewarded with the first egg of 2010 which I'm, naturally, very happy about. I can't wait for the rest of the females to get the egg laying habit again.
I've got enough space for another 15 or so birds so may well kick start the incubator into life soon and see what I can hatch, there's also plenty of Spätzle to be made for my family of four - there were only three when I last blogged but Robert james West joined us on the 02.02.2010
I've been thinking about getting a duck or two but think they may have to wait another year or so, we'll see.....

Wrapped up against the coming cold spell.

2009-12-26T21:42:00.000Z

Despite not blogging about it my quail and I have seen a lot of each other recently! With the current cold snap and the impending next one I have been wrapping my birds up warm for the winter. Sadly they don't take kindly to thermal underwear so I've had to draught proof the hutches and protect the open fronts from the ravages of the English climate.

All this mucking about has convinced me that for the 2010 Autumn I will erect a nice , draught free greenhouse and move all my birds inside. I'm planning to have an electricity supply too so if the weather actually turns European cold (-20°C) I can heat it for them.....

That is all in the future, currently I'm taking them fresh water daily to ensure they always have water to drink, not just ice to stare at!

I can't wait for the winter to pass so the quail can be put out into the arks again! Not only that the longer daylight hours will see eggs being laid again! I know many people light their birds to encourage them to lay eggs for longer into the dark winter but I'm happy for my birds to lay to their natural urges without electrical interference - it was strange buying chicken eggs from Sainsbury's though.....

I'm selling of the last of this season's blown eggs on Ebay at the moment and getting the R-Com 20 ready for use just as soon as I have new eggs in 2010, both my son and I are looking forward to hearing the cheeps of newly hatched chicks early next year.

All that remains is to wish those of you reading this a Happy New Year, have a good (and safe) time and I will try to blog more often in 2010!

Ark malarky!

2009-09-16T16:01:00.003+01:00

The birds living in my large ark/run have developed a habit of digging a hole in the lawn! They only ever dig one hole, the majority of the time it's not by the edge so they're not digging to escape. Sometimes they'll then lay eggs in the hole other times the just seem to rest in it.

It's all very frustrating as it means I'm having to move the ark almost daily now just to keep the grass in good condition.

I've experimented to see if it was just one particular covey but no they all do it. The other ark doesn't suffer from digging so I'm at somewhat at a loss as to why they're doing it..... Diana certainly isn't overly impressed with her lawn starting to sprout craters!

All this has confirmed that this ark will be up for sale shortly, probably at the end of the month. It really is a great ark or rabbit run and I'd like to keep it but that's not a practical option so it must go.

Eggs.

2009-09-07T13:24:00.002+01:00

I've (finally) hit my stride with eggs on Ebay!!

I'm now offering blown, eating and hatching/incubation eggs on Ebay, naturally they're not all the same eggs ~ I've not studied biology but I don't think even the best incubator will get a blown egg to hatch.....

Prices start at £0.99 for 12.

If you're interested look for me as ewrallying.

GREAT NEWS!!

2009-09-07T13:17:00.002+01:00

Diana and I are expecting our second child on the 5th of February 2010!

We're both over the moon and Mark is looking forward to being an older brother. It does, however, mean that any plans I had for expanding my quail population are pretty much on hold. It also means that very shortly my newly acquired ark/hutch/run will be sold off. Both the birds and I think its fantastic but it just takes up too much space on either of our lawns so (sadly) it has to go. When it finally makes its way onto Ebay I'll post on here for those of you that follow this blog (I'm shocked that there are people out there who follow my ravings!!) can at least have a look at it first.

Numbers reducing.

2009-09-07T13:02:00.003+01:00

My 23 quail are now down to 16 as I've sold off a pair of range and a covey of 5 normal birds. Thus I now have 1 normal/wild pattern male, 1 golden, 1 tuxedo and 1 white. My females include 1 cinnamon, 2 fawn and 1 golden. I'm hoping to get a broader colour spectrum of females but time is flashing by so fast that I don't expect to be altering my coveys much, if at all, between now and Spring 2010!!

I've never been a big fan of the range marking, unlike most people, but I somehow always end up with a couple! Now that I have purged my breeding stock of them again I might try and incubate a R-COM 20 full of eggs once before the winter draws in (did we have a summer??), although other factors (mentioned in another post) make that highly doubtful.....

New birds.

2009-08-11T10:38:00.003+01:00

Mark (my son) and I took a nice gentle trip down the M40 on Saturday to collect 17 quail (13 females and 4 males). I'm now back up to 23 quail in total although I have a pair of range birds that are for sale plus I'm looking for a couple more females.

I now have a couple more non-standard (wild) coloured birds including a white male, a golden male, a pied male, a range male, a couple of fawn females and a cinnamon female.

Once I have added a couple of more birds and sold a few of the normal and range birds I'll start a breeding programme.

Feeding time.

2009-08-11T10:29:00.000+01:00

As a treat I put a bowl full of live meal worms into each quail covey. Once the birds discovered that the meal worms were edible a feeding frenzy ensued and the bowls were emptied post haste!
I supplement the Marriages Quail pellets (which I feed my birds with daily) with CJ No Mess Seed Mix, a wild bird seed mix from CJ Wildbird foods {link}. It contains a mixture of kibbled maize, yellow millet, sunflower hearts and pinhead oatmeal and is well received by the quail! Every other day they also get some grass and dandelion plus a couple of sprigs of chives too. The quail tend to just peck at the chives rather than eat them, still it keeps them occupied which has to be a good thing!

New housing.

2009-08-11T10:18:00.005+01:00

Above is a picture (from Ebay) of the latest addition to my quail housing. Collected last night it now sits on my left lawn awaiting a covey or two of quail! Its dimensions are 188cm x 105cm x 47cm (Length x Width x Height) so it offers ample room but should stop any injuries if the covey starts boinking.
I have plenty of quail who would really love to move into the new run but I might save it for my next hatchlings. Choices, choices.....

Trio for sale.

2009-07-14T13:20:00.003+01:00

At the risk of reducing my daily supply of eggs even further I have a trio of Japanese quail (2 females and male) for sale. These wild pattern birds are 4½ months old and they have been together since hatching, the females are laying an egg a day each. I'm looking for around £12.00-£13.00 for the trio.

Reduction in numbers.

2009-07-14T13:03:00.003+01:00

Through a strange set of circumstances I have reduced the number of Japanese quail I have down to 11 in 3 coveys.

All the birds I have now are ones hatched by me and all are the wild pattern except 1 golden female and 1 cinnamon female.

With so few birds my egg production has fallen right off and I'm looking at adding another 2 coveys of 4 birds just as soon as I can (especially as there's another large pen coming very shortly!!).

Quail accommodation.

2009-07-14T12:58:00.002+01:00

I now have a double housed ark on one lawn and I am collecting another run over the weekend for the other lawn. The birds seem to love the ark and being on the lawn.

To ensure there's space in the garden shed I have Freecycled and Ebayed a couple of my brooding cages, 2 small arks, a parrot cage as well as a small hutch and a square run.
To replace the brooder cages I am collecting two 90cm long fish tanks, I prefer tanks to cages as they keep the mess down and offer better heat insulation properties. Unfortuantely that means I will now have 4 tanks (including my original brooder) so there may well be a bit more Ebay/Freecycle action to come!

Time flies…

2009-07-14T12:56:00.000+01:00

I don’t know where the time goes. One minute I’m happily blogging about my Japanese quail experiences and the next 5 weeks have flown by!!
Well things have changed on a great deal and are continuing to do so almost daily. Read my other posts to find out what’s going on.

Interesting items at interesting prices.

2009-06-04T11:28:00.001+01:00

I’ve just had a delivery from a supplier in Germany and am now working my way round to getting a few of the items up on to Ebay. Quality is, naturally, second-to-none and pricing is equally impressive.
Not only that one range of products is the most environmentally friendly I have yet to see.
Check back later for further details!!

Warm scrambled eggs.

2009-06-04T11:26:00.003+01:00

Ingredients:~

8/9 quail eggs.
2 finely chopped spring onions.
1 tbsp chopped coriander (fresh if possible).
1 tsp vegetable oil.1 knob of butter.1 small tomato, finely chopped.1 garlic clove, finely chopped.
½ green chilli, de-seeded and finely chopped¼ onion finely, chopped.
A dash of Tabasco for extra oomph ~ if required!!
Salt to taste.

Instructions:~

Heat the oil and butter in a small non-stick frying pan. Add the onion and fry until soft.

Beat together the rest of the ingredients in a bowl and pour into the pan and scramble as normal. Take them off the heat when they are cooked to your taste.

Serve with/on toast.

Makes and ideal accompaniment to bacon, sausages, black pudding, mushrooms and grilled tomato.

Serves 2 comfortably.

Eggs, eggs and more eggs!

2009-06-04T11:26:00.001+01:00

I have 3 sets of eggs in various incubators across the country ~ some due to hatch very, very soon. I’m very curious to see {a} how fertile my birds are and {b} what colours are going to hatch. With a golden female, cinnamon female, fawn female and platinum male I’m hoping for a colourful selection of chicks!
Once I know what my fertility rate is and what is likely to hatch from the eggs (Japanese quail I know…..) then I will start offering my eggs for sale as incubating eggs, until then they make wonderful scrambled egg, omelet and spätzle!

Goodbye, farewell!

2009-06-04T11:25:00.001+01:00

I have parted company with two of my females, the brown & white tuxedo has found a new home in Birmingham and one of my wild pattern birds is now a resident of Perry Barr.
Both birds were beaten up in their hutches so after nursing them back to full health in a hospital cage (hamster glass tank) I thought it was best to move them on to other keepers.
I’m sad to see the tux go as she was really friendly but none of my other birds were friendly to her and it wasn’t fair keeping her all alone.

For Sale.

2009-06-04T11:24:00.000+01:00

I’m re-organising my breeding coveys and have a couple of males that are no longer required. So I have 1 sex mad range male (about 12 weeks old) plus 1 wild pattern for sale (or possibly free to good homes).
E-mail me (ewrquail {at} rocketmail {dot} com) for more details.

Long time no post!

2009-06-04T11:23:00.001+01:00

Time just rushes away from me at present, sorry that there have been no posts of late.
My Japanese quail are enjoying the sunny British weather and providing me with 12 eggs a day!
They’re enjoying life so much that they’re eating anything and everything they can….. They especially love dandelion, grass and chives (luckily I’ve got plenty of all 3!) as well as Marriages Quail Pellets, sun flower hearts and finch seed. They also quite enjoy a bit of boiled egg when they get the chance.
I’ve just been given a bottle of tonic for them so I’ll be reading what that offers before deciding whether it’s good for them or not. More info on that to follow…..

Enjoying the garden.

2009-05-14T12:36:00.003+01:00

After cleaning (and re-housing) the quail out and the weekend I pottered around the garden, mowing the lawns, weeding, tidying and replenishing the feeders. I then sat on the garden bench and thought about what we have and what it attracts and was pleasantly impressed.

Both ponds are full of life, the frogs and toads have spawned and pretty much left the ponds now. The newts have eaten all the spawn and are still swimming about happily. The water beetles are doing what water beetles do and the odd dragon and damsel fly visit in a flurry of colour and speed.

Our bird feeders continue to attract a host of different species, including gold finches, long tailed tits as well as common birds like sparrows, blue tits, green finches, coal tits and the like. The collard doves, wood pigeons, blackbirds, magpies and starlings eat anything that falls from the feeders as well as eating the scraps we put out for them.

Another visitor who feeds off scraps on the lawns is a hedgehog. We now hide treats round the garden for our prickly visitor (including specialist hedgehog food, dried fruit and egg). Watching the little 'hog scurry round our patio snuffling between wheelie bins and crunching its way through food is most enjoyable. I'm unsure if the hedgehog is sleeping in the hedgehog house we have hidden in the ivy by the cherry tree ~ I'd love to check but won't because I really don't want to disturb it.

Foxes still visit and pay the quail a visit but since the security upgrade all they can do is sniff the hutches and dream of what might have been. They can still be seen soaking up the sun very occasionally during the day but Mark (3 last Saturday!) makes enough noise to keep them away 'til dusk falls.

The quail have helped me re-find my enthusiasm for our garden after my accidents and I'm really enjoying the time I spend in it. We're all looking forward to harvesting the apples, cherries, plums and strawberries later in the year, I still can't get excited about the lawns though.

Quail travails.

2009-05-14T12:15:00.006+01:00

First job of the weekend was to re-house my female tuxedo Japanese quail (she had suffered a bit where I bought her from ~ an over amorous male had given her a bit too much attention round the head.) from her hospital cage back into a covey. She's now with a male and female wild pattern and seems to settled in very nicely indeed, even better she's still laying too!

I cleaned all my coveys out which was quicker to do than beforehand, practice really does make perfect! As a treat for being amazingly cooperative They all got fresh grass, finch seed and wild bird seed. Next weekend after cleaning out their treats will be crushed boiled egg, some millet and cress. They get grass and/or dandelions daily plus Marriages quail pellets and sunflower hearts.

I'm off to collect some more females this coming Saturday which will bring my coveys up to full strength. I've opted to get locally reared wild pattern birds meaning that my coveys will be as follows:~

(1) wild male, cinnamon female, golden female & wild female.

(2) wild male & 3 x wild females.

(3) wild male, tuxedo female & 2 x wild females.

(4) platinum male, golden cinnamon female, range female & wild female.

I'm now working on getting power to my shed to start incubation and brooding with the aim of adding another 2 - 3 coveys to those I have already. Ideally I'm looking for 1 complete cinnamon covey with the others being mixed or golden.

Toad in the hole.

2009-05-12T13:44:00.003+01:00

Ingredients:~
225g plain flour
salt and freshly ground black pepper
35 quail eggs
600ml milk
50g dripping
12 medium size sausages ~ I use venison but any good quality sausages are ideal.

Instructions:~
Place the flour with a little salt and freshly ground black pepper into a bowl. Add the eggs into the centre of the bowl mixing in with a whisk (hand or electric) before gradually pouring in the milk. Be sure to mix slowly to prevent lumps forming.
Cover the bowl with clingfilm and chill in the fridge ~ overnight is best but anything over ½ an hour is good.
Preheat the oven to Gas mark 7 (220C). Grill sausages under a hot grill for 5 minutes. Put the dripping (or vegetable oil if you have no dripping) into a non-stick pudding/oven tin and place in the oven until the dripping (oil) is smoking hot. Remove tin from the oven and quickly place the sausages in. Then fill with the batter mixture. Return to the oven and cook for 20-25 minutes. Turn the oven down to Gas 5 (195C) and cook for a further 10 minutes.

Remove from the oven and serve as quickly as possible.

Quail eggs for sale.

2009-05-07T11:22:00.005+01:00

Quail eggs for eating @ £2.50 a dozen.

Blown quail eggs @ £4.00 a dozen.

P&P is £2.50 a dozen but does reduce the more eggs you buy. Collection in person from Burntwood, Walsall and Willenhall possible ~ naturally there's no P&P charges on any quail eggs collected from me.

Japanese quail wanted.

2009-05-07T11:19:00.005+01:00

I really need 3 more Japanese quail females to get my coveys up to full strength. Anyone got any?

All colours accepted although I'd ideally like Italian/Golden or normal/wild.

Ages of around 10 weeks would be ideal but most birds considered.

12 free eggs.

2009-05-01T14:36:00.003+01:00

I've posted an offer of 12 free eggs here on Coturnix Corner.
If you are interested in the eggs then please PM me through Coturnix Corner.

A nice little tipple.

2009-04-28T12:57:00.002+01:00

After blowing 48 quails eggs ~ now available to buy ;-) ~ to make our spätzle (see below) I was rewarded by Diana (my wife) with a glass of her 2000 vintage elderflower wine. It was absoulutely wonderful and has got me a tad more interested in doing some more!

Before Diana and I got married Diana made a large amount of wine which has since sat in our utility room gathering dust in various bottles and demi-johns. We're now in the process of bottling those that still need to be done (or pouring thr really rough ones away!).

Until now none have really grabbed my attention and made me want more than 1 glass but the elderflower is a different proposition ~ it really is lovely!!

We're now writing a list of those wines that are nice (including elderflower, strawberry, coltsfoot & oak leaf) and will start making more once there's enough room.....

Not all the wines have been great, gooseberry wine was poured away down the sink quickly, parsnip also proved to be more suitable for hand-to-hand combat (as per Monty Python) rather than drinking.....

Spätzle.

2009-04-28T12:48:00.006+01:00

Spätzle with cheese, ready for the table.

Spätzle in the pan.

Spätzle mixture ready to go into the spätzle press.

Eggs for sale (and some for free!!).

2009-04-22T12:19:00.007+01:00

With my birds happily laying now I have a surfate of eggs!! So I'm now starting to offer eggs for sale (both here and on Ebay).

As I have yet to actually incubate any of the eggs being laid by my birds I am somewhat reluctant to sell them as eggs suitable for incubating. Undoubtedly many of the eggs are fertile but a few of my quail hens have only just started laying so fertility is questionable.

Thus my Japanese quail eggs are being sold for eating. Available in packs of 12 I selling them for £2.50 a dozen plus P&P. Naturally there are bulk and wholesale discounts available.

I have also started selling blown eggs too. Ideal as an interesting and beautiful decoration a dozen blown quails eggs are £4.00 plus P&P. Again bulk and wholesale prices are available.

If you are interested in any eggs please do not hesitate to contact me (ewrquail{at}rocketmail{dot}com).

Soon I will be looking for a couple of people to incubate and hatch eggs for me (to give me an idea of hatching rates after the eggs have been through the wonderful British postal system). Those eggs will be F.O.C, all you need pay is the postage ~ and tell me how many hatch and what patterns they were. Once again contact me by e-mail if you are interested.

Predation protection.

2009-04-22T12:11:00.003+01:00

Before I had fully completed upgrading my quail hutches an unforeseen redesign was required, this design issue/fault wasn't apparent until my first lot of birds had settled in to the new hutches.

Unfortunately 1 of my coveys fell foul of a prowling fox with all 4 birds ending up as dinner for the reynard! My lack of love for the heart-shaped door latch was further enhanced when the fox was able to scrabble the door open and munch his way through my birds..... Apparently foxes are adept at scratching such latches open, a friend has lost chickens in similar circumstances.

A quick trip to B&Q later and padlocks were attached to each set of doors ensuring that even if the (bad taste) heart-shaped catches were scrabbled open by a determined fox the doors remain firmly closed. Mr Reynard will now have to learn how to pick locks before he dines on my quail again.....

Housing complete.

2009-04-21T15:47:00.003+01:00

I've finally managed to finish both hutches and move all my quail in.

Each hutch has had extra floor and back insulation added. Each house has had extra draught proofing added in the form of wood and V shaped draught excluder. New floors have been added offering a better fit.

All doors now have padlocks securing them as well as the

The base and sides of each hutch is now covered in mesh for predator protection. All openings are now covered with welded mesh for even greater predator protection. The mesh doors have 10cm high 'kick boards' for draught protection ~ this also helps keep the hemp inside the hutch rather than all over the garden.....

Each covey has a 15cm x 30cm dust bath (a recycled Sainsburys multi-pack chicken thigh base) filled with sand and oyster shell grit.

I'm still using Aubiose (hemp) as bedding and the birds seemingly still really love it. They happily use it as an extra form of dust bath. It does make collecting eggs a little difficult sometimes as the birds scratching frequently covers the eggs with hemp.....

New additions to my coveys.

2009-04-21T15:06:00.006+01:00

In the interests of keeping my males occupied and my coveys varied I've just added another 4 birds. I collected a tuxedo female, a range female, a platinum male and a golden/cinnamon mix female. Despite the fact they travelled from Nottinghamshire to Willenhall via Birmingham airport they are already laying!

Thus I'm now getting Japanese quail eggs from the following coloured/patterned birds:~ golden, tuxedo, range, normal/wild, cinnamon, cinnamon/golden mix (all females) and platinum (male).

Visitors.

2009-04-09T13:38:00.005+01:00

If you leave a hutch unattended outside whilst you look for a cold beer or go to the toilet it's amazing what will come and inspect your handy work!

I set up a camera and lo! and behold I found that a regular visitor to the unfinished hutch was Milly, our inquisitive cat. She watched the modification of the hutch with great interest but didn't prove to be much help when asked to lend a paw.....

The next visitor proved to be even more amazing! Upon returning from a quick toilet break I found my 2 year old son, Mark, "helping Daddy" by making sure the hutch was comfortable enough for the quail. After some well delivered help boredom quickly set in and Mark left to help Mummy.

More eggs!

2009-04-09T13:23:00.004+01:00

Yesterday saw a 100% increase in the eggs being laid by my Japanese quail hens. Yes I got a grand total of 4 eggs yesterday evening! OK 4 a day isn't exactly earth shattering but as my hens have only just turned 6 weeks old I'm pleased. Hopefully more eggs laying around the houses will encourage the other hens to start laying (a vain hope I know....)

The move to new homes (inside or out) hasn't slowed production down, in fact it managed to improve laying..... Whether that continues is uncertain, especially as the weather has taken a turn for the worse here just recently ~ it must be coming up to an English Bank Holiday!

I got my first double yolk egg yesterday (3rd from left in the picture above) plus a beautiful light shelled egg with blue/purple mottling on. Apparently you can tell the layer of each egg by the colouration of the egg. I might see how accurate that theory is over the coming Easter holidays. It certainly holds true at present as each of my laying hens has a distinctive egg colour and pattern combination.

Quail housing.

2009-04-09T13:04:00.005+01:00

Above are two pictures of the (un-modified) quail (rabbit) hutch I've had delivered. The pictures below show the extra base and back covering added (not weatherproofed)

The quail hutch is 122cm wide and my quail seem very happy inside, they even use the sheltered housing area without being herded in! Two areas that require immediate attention are the silly heart shaped door 'locks' which are rubbish with a capital R and the wire mesh which is wide enough to allow a cat's paw through. Otherwise the modifications have proven to be successful with 4 of my 6 week old quail happily enjoying the fresh Willenhall air.

New homes.

2009-04-06T14:02:00.003+01:00

The time has come for my quail to move into their larger, permanent homes. I ordered a pair of 2 storey rabbit hutches off t'internet and have so far received one..... (not the best delivery results I'm sure you'll agree!)

Anyway once it was unpacked and built I wasn't excessively disappointed with the cheap Chinese quality. I have thus spent bits of the weekend (in between watching motorsport) improving the hutch, especially in regards to weather proofing it for my Japanese quail. As quail (all species, not just Japanese quail) aren't keen on draughts I've focused on keeping their roost/shelter/house/overnight acommodation as draught free as possible, using wood and (daft as it seems) plastic V shaped draught excluder.

Once that was done I made up a couple of better fitting, sturdier floors and covered the back wall with another board to help heat and noise retention.

All that's left to do now are the small jobs like rat proofing the base, adding perspex strips to the bottom 8th of the mesh, weatherproofing the new and old wood again, clearing the area where the hutches are to go, building sand/grit pits for each hutch, etc!

Guess what I'll be doing over Easter.....

Eggs!

2009-04-06T13:29:00.005+01:00

I have just started collecting eggs, yes my quail have started laying!!

My Japanese quail are six weeks old today (OK, all bar three are) and I now have two birds each happily laying an egg each per day. Hopefully the others will look at the eggs and think "I'm sure I can do that....." (well, maybe not!)

Ironically I'm expecting them to stop laying pretty soon as I'm moving them into new rabbit hutches and the stress of the move is more than likely going to be enough to put them off laying for anything up to a couple of weeks.

For Sale.

2009-03-30T14:08:00.005+01:00

I'm pleased to announce that I now have some of my quail for sale. Having finally sorted my breeding stock out I can now offer a selection of my 5 week old birds for sale or swap.

All of my range birds and 4 of my wild pattern males are for sale. All of the males are sexually mature (they're foaming) and at least two have already been mating.

For prices and any other information you may require please do not hesitate to contact me by e-mail: ewrquail [at] rocketmail [dot] com

Quail egg spätzle.

2009-03-24T11:29:00.008Z

Here's a family recipe for spätzle using quail eggs rather than hen eggs (if using hen's eggs use 1 per person plus 1 extra).

Ingredients:~

5 eggs per person plus 2 extra

3 teaspoons water

Plain flour

Pinch of salt

Instructions:~

Break all the eggs into a large bowl and add the water. Gently stir in the flour until the mixture is very stiff and hard to stir. Let the spätzle dough rest for about ½ an hour.

Place mixture into a spätzlepresse (also known as a spätzleschwob) and squeeze into a pan of boiling water (I'd recommend adding a pinch of salt to the water but good results can be had without adding salt.) When you have finished squeezing the the mixture out of the spätzlepresse gently dunk it in the boiling water - this helps keep the spätzle strands thinner and better formed.

spätzlepresse / spätzleschwob

Ensure all the spätzle strands are fully covered by water by stirring them round the pan. Then allow to boil for 5-8 minutes. The spätzle should be firm and not soggy once removed from the water. Remove the spätzle from the pan with a slotted spoon or such like.

Serve:~

As quickly as possible! Ideal with stews and roasts with sauce; naturally spätzle is perfect with sauerbraten! Spätzle can also be served as Käsespätzle by adding cheese into the mixture ~ the stronger the cheese the nicer the flavour.

Left over spätzle can be fried in butter to make a delicious accompaniment to any meal (as done by Gordon Ramsay on the F Word!).

Stuffed casserole quail.

2009-03-23T16:57:00.003Z

Another recipe for those who'd rather eat quail than pet them!

Ingredients:~
8 quail
5 large mushrooms (sliced)
100g breadcrumbs
2 large knobs butter
2 tablespoons good quality olive oil
2 tablespoons plain flour
3 medium spring onions (chopped)
1½ teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon paprika (or chilli powder for extra spice!!)
200ml chicken stock
2 sprigs fresh parsley (chopped)
5 medium chive or garlic chive leaves (chooped)

Instructions:~
Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 3 160°C.
Lightly rub the quail, inside and out, with the salt (pepper can be used as well as salt if desired).
In a large pan melt the butter, add the salt and sauté the mushrooms and bread crumbs until the mushrooms soften a bit. Stuff this mixture into the quail. Using the same pan make a roux by pouring in the olive oil and browning the flour in it. Then add the chicken stock, chopped spring onions, paprika (or chilli powder), chives and parsley to the roux and sauté for 5 minutes or until the onions are tender.
Rub the inside of a large casserole dish with butter and place the stuffed quail inside. Pour the roux over the quail. Then bake, uncovered, for 45 minutes. For best result baste 2 or 3 times during cooking.

Serve:~
Straight from the oven with couscous or rice, ideal portion size is 2 quail per person.

Barbecue bacon quail.

2009-03-23T16:53:00.004Z

Here's one of (hopefully) many recipes for quail that I'll put on this blog. There's very little different between quail and other game birds except size. Recipes that work well with duck, pheasant or partridge generally work very well with quail too.

Ingredients:~
8 Quail
500g Bacon (sliced)
Barbecue sauce (homemade or from a jar)
1 tablespoon paprika (or curry/chilli powder for the brave!!)
½ teaspoon garlic powder
Salt & pepper to taste

Instructions:~
Marinade quail in Barbecue sauce (the longer the better, overnight is ideal).
Remove from Barbecue sauce and season with paprika, garlic powder, salt & pepper. Preheat oven to gas mark 4 (176°C). Carefully wrap each quail in the bacon (1 or 2 slices per bird is ideal). Secure the bacon with a cocktail stick if required. Place the quail wrapped in bacon into the oven. Cook for 15 minutes then turn and cook for another 15 minutes. Test the bird with a fork, if the juices don’t run clear and the meat isn’t tender cook an additional 10- 15 minutes.

Serve:~
Straight from the oven with any number of accompaniments, including roast sweet potato, roast butternut squash, other barbecue foods, etc! Ideal portion size is 2 quail per person.

DEFRA resgistration.

2009-03-17T15:26:00.004Z

Whilst not strictly required for anyone who has under 50 quail I opted to register with DEFRA {link}. I can now expand to keeping more birds as and when the urge takes either my birds or me with no worries.

Filling the online form out only took about 10 minutes and was very simple so I don't feel like I've lost anything and as it's free it certainly hasn't cost me anything either.

Chicks!!!!

2009-03-09T15:55:00.010Z

Just when it looked like the snow had scuppered my quail plans tiny little chicks broke free from their eggs!

I had 18 hatch on Monday the 23rd of Feb, three more followed on the Tuesday with a final chick struggling out on the Wednesday. Sadly the final chick to hatch had terrible foot problems and I had to cull him (the hardest thing I've had to do in my life!!). Over the next 2 days two more chicks die leaving me concerned and with 19 chirping quail chicks. My concerns were reduced when I read that losses occur just after birth for multiple reasons including egg contamination.

My flock of quail consists mainly of normal and range chicks with one golden and one almost ginger chick. It's too early to see what the male to female ratio is, I'm expecting quite a few more males than females. It's generally accepted that the hatch rate is around 60% male to 40% female in any given brood.

I initially put the chicks into the glass tank brooder (once they'd spent 24 hours fluffing up in the incubator) which retains heat slightly better than an open cage. After a week in the tank brooder I moved them into the larger guinea pig cage and covered the floor with Aubiose instead of paper towels.

As of the 8th March the chicks are in the largest rabbit cage and will stay there until being sexed and separated.

To keep them happy and healthy they have a wooden house, a wooden shelter, a cork bark stand, a sand bath, a oyster shell grit bath, a food trough, a cuttlefish 'pecker' and a drinker in with them along with a few bells, marbles and shiny objects too.

So far there have been three escape attempts (possibly the same bird on all three occasions, it's hard to tell!) but otherwise all seems well with my little flock of quail!

Eggs.

2009-03-09T14:27:00.006Z

I selected 2 different suppliers for my eggs and ordered 24 from each. Both suppliers eggs were Japanese quail with a mixture of golden, range and normal chicks expected / hoped for.

At this point the weather gods intervened and snow brought most of the UK to a stand still. This, unfortunately, included my quail eggs which sat in cold sorting offices for 1 and 2 nights respectively before being delivered to my door. My hopes for a successful first hatch were now very low.

Whilst the incubator did its job I got the last pieces I needed for my new chicks (should they beat the English winter and actually hatch.....). Thus deliveries continued thick and fast even as more snow fell and my shed filled with yet more cartons and bags!

Finally all was set:- I had a choice of brooders covered with cardboard, linen and paper towels, chick crumbs in a selection of feeders, heating lamp with red bulbs, a selection of drinkers (with marbles in where required to prevent the young chicks drowning) and even a few toys for the chicks (to hopefully prevent pecking and bullying). All I needed now was for the eggs to hatch.

I stopped the automatic egg turning before the first eggs were due to start pipping and waited.

And waited.....

Brooder, feeders and drinkers.

2009-03-09T13:16:00.009Z

Having decided which species of quail I wanted to raise I then had to get all the equipment to look after them.

High on my list was a brooder. As these were going to be my first quail chicks I wanted a small brooder that didn't cost too much. After a little bit of bidding on Ebay and a few replies to Freecycle {link} offers I ended up with a selection of 7 suitable brooders!

I now have a glass hamster 'cage' (although it's more vivarium than hamster home if you ask me!!), 2 hamster cages, 1 guinea pig cage, a 3 storey rat cage and 2 large indoor rabbit cages. All my brooder needs are now fully catered for and thanks to a little bit of luck (and Ebay) I've actually made a bit of money!

To go with my selection of brooder cages I bought a proper brooding lamp with adjustable output plus a couple of red bulbs ~ red bulbs are supposed to be better than white bulbs as they allow quail chicks to sleep easier.

Once my brooders started arriving/being collected I then had to get feeders and drinkers sorted. Being a complete novice I have over bought but I'd rather have a little too much than a lot too less! I now having feeding bowls, troughs as well as normal poultry feeders in various sizes with and without scratching protection plus drinking troughs, bowls and various size and style poultry drinkers.

As well as getting a few more brooder cages than expected I ended up with a lot of cage 'furniture' that I wasn't sure I needed, this included wooden houses, wooden shelters, bells, cork bark, ladders and the like. I put all this is a large box and waited 'til my chicks hatched before deciding what I was going to do with it!

I was now nearly ready for my first ever eggs.....

Large rabbit cage ready for use 08 March 2009.

Incubator.

2009-03-06T14:30:00.003Z

I started searching for an incubator that was easy to use, sensibly priced and had automatic egg turning as a function. After much thought I opted for a R-Com 20, it was more than large enough (holding 48 quails eggs comfortably), very easy to use, held water for humidification in a large reservoir external to the incubation chamber and has an auto turning function that is simple to switch on & off.

I've only used it once so far but I am very happy with it. It was simple to set up, simple to use and also really easy to break down for cleaning and disinfecting. The R-Com 20 is also reasonably compact which is a benefit not only when it's in use but also when it's stored away waiting for the next lot of eggs.

My first tentative steps.

2009-03-05T15:11:00.003Z

Having decided to raise quail my first steps were to research, research and then research a little bit more! That was the easy part, deciding what to buy was a tad more difficult.....

First step in the decision making process was joining Coturnix Corner {link} a website and forum catering for all thing quail in the UK. The site is run by dedicated enthusiasts and is a genuine haven of information and ideas that benefit quail keepers both new and old. If you keep or are intending on keeping Quail there's no better site than Coturnix Corner!

After reading and re-reading articles galore I opted to try and rear Japanese quail from eggs rather than buying 'ready grown' birds. I opted for Japanese quail as they're generally thought of as the easiest to raise, especially for the complete novice (I'm a novice at being a novice, the closest I'd been to birds before starting this venture was holding a can of custard in Sainsbury's.....).

All I needed now was an incubator, brooder, food, feeders, drinkers, eggs, etc, etc. I certainly had plenty to do in between visits to see surgeons, physio, surfing through Facebook and game playing.....

Welcome one and all!

2009-03-03T12:58:00.002Z

I'm new to keeping quail and found the Internet extremely helpful when getting started, so I'm blogging about my journey into the world of Coturnix Japconica (Japanese quail) including all the highs and lows plus anything I learn along the way.

I'd seen quail at a farm we visited about 5 years ago and had wanted to keep them since then. My lack of mobility late last year, thanks to a fractured tibia, fibula and ankle, kept me glued to my computer for hours ~ having finished all the games I could find I then spent hours researching quail. Once my movement improved I started trawling Ebay, Freecyle {link} and commercial suppliers for everything I would need for this new venture.

Just as the winter turned snowy my stuff started to arrive and that's when the fun really started!! That's for another post though.....

EWR Quail

Sad news!

Stunningly good ice cream!!

Quail about to expand!

2010 in full flow.

Wrapped up against the coming cold spell.

Ark malarky!

Eggs.

GREAT NEWS!!

Numbers reducing.

New birds.

Feeding time.

New housing.

Trio for sale.

Reduction in numbers.

Quail accommodation.

Time flies…

Interesting items at interesting prices.

Warm scrambled eggs.

Eggs, eggs and more eggs!

Goodbye, farewell!

For Sale.

Long time no post!

Enjoying the garden.

Quail travails.

Toad in the hole.

Quail eggs for sale.

Japanese quail wanted.

12 free eggs.

A nice little tipple.

Spätzle.

Eggs for sale (and some for free!!).

Predation protection.

Housing complete.

New additions to my coveys.

Visitors.

More eggs!

Quail housing.

New homes.

Eggs!

For Sale.

Quail egg spätzle.

Stuffed casserole quail.

Barbecue bacon quail.

DEFRA resgistration.

More links added.

Chicks!!!!

Eggs.

Brooder, feeders and drinkers.

Incubator.

My first tentative steps.

Welcome one and all!