sarina lynn

I know that this has been very briefly discussed in the past - I have found several threads of people considering quail and alternative housing options that fit into a permaculture garden, but very little in the way of tried methods and their results. I recently starting raising jumbo coturnix quail because I want another option for eggs besides my chickens, quicker turn-around for meat than my rabbits (plus whole feed for our dog), and because I think they might offer a niche market opportunity for selling fresh eggs/pickled eggs at the grower's market in my town.

I started in January with 12 chicks (all the pharaoh/wild type) and after growing them out, and choosing the largest as my breeders (200+ grams live weight at around 6 weeks), I culled down to 4 females and 2 males. I started them out in a 2'x4' hanging cage with drop pans below, but quickly grew tired of dealing with the poop everywhere. When one of my rabbits was moved back to her cage to kindle, I decided to move the covey into the rabbit tractor. They were quite happy digging and scarfing down grass, that I would love to keep them on the ground, but there's still the problem of poop. Within a day or two, they will cover the entire 2x4 area with a cake of poop, and my attempts at using them like tiller chickens on the new garden area weren't very successful. They don't scratch as vigorously as chickens, so it doesn't really get turned in to the ground - until my dog comes along and eats it all.

I have 85 eggs in the incubator right now, and am hoping to build up to around 30-40 hens. What this comes down to is that I need to settle on a better housing option for all those birds, and ideally within a month. I don't think a fleet of tractors is the best option for me, but I will be supplementing their game feed with wheat fodder, and have mealworms going in the basement that will hopefully begin reproducing so they will at least have better feed. I am considering creating a rabbit/quail combo hutch since I anticipate needing more rabbit housing soon, and maybe some kind of deep litter for the quail instead of wire floors. Surely someone has come up with some creative quail keeping!

Where on earth did you get that information, Kyle? There are less than 1,000 Icelandic chickens in the U.S., and no hatchery carries them, anywhere. There is *one* breeder on the Kitsap Peninsula who has a very small breeding flock (I would guess around 10 birds) and has suspended all sales for this year because of their concerns about biosecurity and AI. Not at all the same thing.

Icelandic chickens are hard to find because only three importations have been made in to the U.S. since 1997 when the first import was brought over, and most of the breeders who have them have relatively small flocks. Most of these breeders have been inundated with requests since the article about Icelandics in Mother Earth News came out, and have very long waiting lists or have sold out entirely for the year. There are, however, many people trying to simply capitalize on their recent popularity and pass off other breeds (like Swedish Flower Hens) as Icelandics. Please do your research before buying stock, and make sure that you are indeed getting the chickens you think you're paying for.