How Are Our Quails Getting On?
Visit our flock of Quails in the Market Garden to find out how they’re getting on...
Back in January, we introduced a flock of female quails to our organic Farm’s Market Garden in the hopes of producing organic quail eggs. Our lovely ladies have taken a while to settle in, but they’re finally producing organically reared quail eggs, which are now available in our Farm Shops. As the flock are now happy and comfortable, it’s time to introduce these ladies to two new arrivals on the farm...
Our Quails: A Recap
Our flock of quails were introduced to our Market Garden back in January as we aimed to be the first in the UK to offer organically reared quail eggs. Quail eggs are considered a luxury on many dinner tables across the world, and as quails lay their eggs every 23 hours, we thought they would be the perfect fit to produce such eggs for our organic Farm Shops.
Our quails, like all others found mostly in the countryside, are small gamebirds that roam the ground on farmland like ours. Despite their small size, their loud calls can be heard for country miles, and these tiny birds are protected in the UK under the Wildlife and Countryside Act. Although mainly found in Britain, it’s not uncommon for quails to travel as far south as Africa for the Winter. Other than their loud calls, quails can be spotted by their fine gold and dark brown marking on top of their brown under feathers.
After a few months of no yield and trial and error from our Market Gardeners-turned-quail keepers, our flock has been moved into the ever-warming sun. This move has been successful, with our ladies producing, at first, a few eggs a day. But soon the floodgates opened, and we’re now gaining enough organically reared eggs to sell a few packs at our Farm Shops each day.
What’s Next for Our Flock?
As we previously mentioned, our flock are now comfortable and happy, producing enough eggs to supply our Shops. These lucky ladies are now getting even luckier, as we’re introducing two male quails into the mix. The aim is to have two breeding colonies, with one male to ten females. This will allow for our remaining ten female quails to continue to produce quail eggs for the shops, whilst the other twenty will mate with the males to extend the flock.
These males, named Lucifer and Gabriel by our team of gardeners, are soon to be introduced to the females, so watch the space for more updates soon!