Missionary in Huehuetenango

[Huehue09]

What a lovely idea! My I ask why you decided on quail for the women to raise? I adore my chickens and understand completely how you would be head over heels for them, but I have no first hand knowledge about quail except that they're on every high end menu I've ever seen, so I thought I'd ask

Hi, there! I chose quail because Guatemalans, particularly the indigenous people, like to drink raw egg mixed into orange juice. The population of Mam Indians that I work with have a very high incidence of child malnutrition, and quail eggs are very nutritious AND small enough to be unnoticeable to little kids when mixed into their juice. The risk of salmonella contamination with chicken eggs is very low; with quail eggs it's nearly non-existent. Also, rural Guatemalans love their barnyard fowl. There are probably more chickens here than humans, but quail are far more rare so they are more likely to take better care of them. Their eggs are also worth more sold at market.

 

[muddy75]

Hi, everyone! My name is LynnAnn, and I live in the mountains of northwestern Guatemala. I started a ministry to help widows or abandoned women who have young malnourished children improve their lives, and a small part of the program is raising quail for eggs. Before I got the quail, which I was told were finnicky, I did a test run with chickens--cheap ones I bought at an open air market. I fell in love with chickens! I now have 8 out at the ministry center and another 11 here at home. They are spoiled rotten and act more like lap dogs than chickens. I'm sure they are all mixed breeds but judging just their looks, I have some Buff Orpingtons, Rhode Island Reds, Naked Necks, maybe an Astralorp, and a couple of Golden Cuckoo Marans. I had no idea I would fall so much in love with my birds, even though I'm a big animal lover. Something about watching them scratch around or having them sleep in your lap is just so relaxing to me. I bought an incubator for the quail eggs and did a test run with my own chicken eggs...then I did it again because we love having chicks around. So fun! I got on this site because I'm such a newbie and have so much to learn. Thanks for all the great info!

Welcome to BYC!

 

[LateBirdFarms]

Hi, there! I chose quail because Guatemalans, particularly the indigenous people, like to drink raw egg mixed into orange juice. The population of Mam Indians that I work with have a very high incidence of child malnutrition, and quail eggs are very nutritious AND small enough to be unnoticeable to little kids when mixed into their juice. The risk of salmonella contamination with chicken eggs is very low; with quail eggs it's nearly non-existent. Also, rural Guatemalans love their barnyard fowl. There are probably more chickens here than humans, but quail are far more rare so they are more likely to take better care of them. Their eggs are also worth more sold at market.

Very well thought out! I'm impressed! Most people would have paused their thought process on chicken = eggs = full belly!