Quail project....

We decided suddenly that keeping some sort of domestic birds was a good idea, but ruled out the usual domestic chickens as our daughter has a severe phobia of them! Even the sight of on chicken causes her to have a panic attack!

But having seen quails on Youtube, she said that we could try them if caged.

So, the first priority was a vermin proof structure: two half-telegraph poles made a strong frame, and then we put a steel mesh on the floor to prevent foxes from burrowing in. Metal sides were added, with their sides well dug in, and cemented too - no chance of getting in that way, foxes or rats!
Finally, a sturdy roof was added because quail like a dry dusty environment, not too soggy.

Getting young birds was not too hard...'Preloved' web site had many local people and equipment to view - although you have to be careful about your choice of young birds or fertile eggs. It was quite easy for us to build up a starter flock!

And from there we rapidly had about 30 birds in the cage. We had some interesting encounters with other local quail owners, swapping male quails. Driving them home, flapping around in the box, was an interesting experience for our bird phobic daughter!

They were a delight to watch and feed (they particularly liked half cucumbers of which we had an excess at the time!)

We rapidly collected a big bowlful of the small but beautifully marked eggs, and enjoyed quail eggs on toast. The flavour was normally eggy, but the health benefits are reputed to be enormous!

We had to terminate this brief but delightful project when neither Elaine or I could safely walk down to feed them, and Paul, the main protagonist went back to Nottingham to build a new life for himself!

However, the legacy of the project is a dry, secure fowl house that could be adapted to chickens with 10 minutes work with an angle grinder, just by cutting a chicken door in the front, et voila!