Slow Night Here In Quailville

[Overeasyplz]

today was an adventure.. I went out to take care of the birds and rabbits. I got 4 eggs! yay, after a long strike I finally put a light in their pen and now they are layin again. I cleaned rabbit cages with my kids.. saved the biggest pen for last. It is a huge coffin of a pen, with two "does" in it, I bought a NZ breeding trio and they threw in the cage, I think they wanted it out of their yard lol Anyway, the lid is a heavy slab of wood and after we flipped it off I discovered in the nesting box a pile of frozen, half-eaten babies..What?!? These are does!! Unless..
I flipped over the rabbit without the dewlap and saw testes. Arrgh so DD and I butchered two rabbits today, a buck I wanted to butcher, and the buck out of the coffin cage. I had a hankering after some rabbit anyway and had too many bucks..and NOW that coffin cage monstrosity is empty. I put the doe in the empty cage inside the barn. I am rebuilding the coffin into a quail cage, it will be a great cage for them and it has a LOT of floor space. yay!!!
Betcha you were wondering when I'd mention quails in this post, huh? lol

 

[JJMR794]

Quote:

no idee...

 

[Byrdj]

Quote:
Yesterday I bought a Mini Rex rabbit for $10.00 just to get two huge rabbit hutches that went with him. My plan was to turn them into quail cages like you but I can't bring myself to butchering him, so he's still living in one. I noticed that at the bottom of your post, you have Angora rabbits as well. Are New Zealands easy to butcher than Angora or Mini Rex rabbits becasue they don't have that same "cuteness" factor?

 

[Overeasyplz]

Heh, well, yea, these were actually really easy to butcher, they were kinda onery. I don't have it in me to kill one, except if they are really onery. My hubby pops them with a .22 and then I do the rest. The angoras take time to get to size, I have to shear them twice before they are fryer size, and by then the kids have named them and given them family histories and there is a lot of kid-crying when I cull. I figured the NZ would be anomynous enough as they all look alike :lol
I have no problems with the cuteness factor, we have eaten a lot of cute rabbits. it's the whole "omg I'm taking a life" thing.. but I'm getting better at it there is no shame eating food you have grown yourself. My animals are very well taken care of. These two bucks had too much fat in them lol. That will save me a bit of feed to be sure.

 

[jenjscott]

The problem I see with keeping quail in the turtle pen is how in the heck would you catch them when you needed to ? you wouldn't be able to put too many in there, since you wouldn't be able to clean it. It might be kind of neat, make sure they had enough cover. I"m not sure, How would you rig the net covering?

 

[Patti's_Pets]

I agree with jenjscott, catching them when you need to bring them in would be a real problem. The whole idea in the garden sounds beautiful but could become very frustrating very fast.

 

[Patti's_Pets]

Hello to everyone in Quailville. Hope you don't mind a newly addicted rolling into town. I went to pick up Button Quail and came home with a pair of Coturnix as well. Shortly after 20 more coturnix were added. Then the incubating started. First hatch only 4. Sooo I had to try again. Hatched 51 coturnix and 14 buttons on Dec 19. So needless to say since they grow sooo quick I am busy building more pens very fast.

I really should have listened when I was reading on here before I started this how easy addiction is.

Thanks for all the great advice written in the quail forum, I really have learned alot.(other than not getting how serious quail addiction is

)

 

[JJMR794]

Welcome Ms Patti. They say admitting it is the 1st step in treating an addiction!

You are among friends and welcome here!





p.s.--- It starts with quail...... LOL

 

[JJMR794]

Just a general public service anouncement--- especially to all y'all here in the states--- I suggest you handle your addiction better than I have or you'll find out how much fun it is to apply for state and federal bird permits too!

 

[citalk2much]

Quote:

no idee...

it is way to cold outside for buttons. if it is heated you can just know that they can hide really good and run super fast