Frühlingskabine Micro-Farm

Caprine Parkour :: web comic #003

Frühlingskabine Micro-Farm — Thu, 23 May 2013 23:07:25 +0000

For all you goat owners out there. Yes, the rest of us realize that goats are crazy. I still dream of silly goat antics though.

The Job Of A Three Year Old

Frühlingskabine Micro-Farm — Tue, 21 May 2013 22:20:14 +0000

Mostly because she is the only one who can comfortably fit through the back door of the chicken coop.

We Love Our Fodder

Frühlingskabine Micro-Farm — Mon, 20 May 2013 22:06:09 +0000

After transitioning all our animals to a sprouted fodder-based diet, we are seeing great change in their health. The French Angoras have softer, fuller coats and larger litters of kits as well as acting more active and full of spirit. Our chickens are even laying eggs with darker orange yolks with much more flavor than before. (And our feed bill has been cut by two-thirds!) No complaints around here about the fodder… from us or the animals. Dandelion’s most recent litter is even starting to nibble on her fresh barley fodder!

Growing Grubs?

Frühlingskabine Micro-Farm — Mon, 20 May 2013 00:06:20 +0000

Look what you have made me do! I actually drew up plans for a grub growin’ box. Eww. Eww guys! Can we call it growing? Maybe raising grubs? It seems weird to think that luring flies to lay larvae in a box of rotting compost could be called “raising”. But in any case, I guess I’m going to take the plunge.

I have officially given in to peer pressure. Why do you guys recommend the nastiest projects for me to try out? Eww. Just eww. I’m going to need a real strong drink tonight before I get started on this one.

Completed Quail Colony

Frühlingskabine Micro-Farm — Sun, 19 May 2013 03:33:47 +0000

Our completed quail pen is located in an old flower bed surrounded by stone and a large oak tree. The oak tree is so large it well shades the flower bed and the ‘side yard’ behind it preventing most plants from growing there. What a perfect, sheltered location for some Japanese quail! Japanese quail are also known as: Old World quail, coturnix quail, and Pharaoh quail.

The enclosed quail pen is approximately 3′ feet by 10′ feet giving them roughly 30 square feet of space not including the large insulated coop (formerly a dog house) attached to their run. The wire fencing is made of 16-gauge, 1″ x 1/2″ inch wire and is nailed to wooden stakes hammered deeply into the ground. The top is covered with small mesh aviary netting secured to the fencing with zip ties. The top netting is secured to the oak tree and the coop using chicken wire/horseshoe nails.

Large stones surround the base of the wire fencing and create a secure yet attractive, natural look for the quail pen. St. John’s wort and barley grow inside the pen and help to provide the quail with cover to duck under and run through. The quail coop was originally converted into coop for chickens by adding a nest box in the back. Now, the coop is filled with hay and has sand for a dust bath in the rear nest box. The nest box opens as well as the hinged roof for cleaning convenience.

The Quail Have Landed!

Frühlingskabine Micro-Farm — Sun, 19 May 2013 00:23:51 +0000

We officially have quail! All three of us headed across the bridge into the next county over to pick up our quail today. Ten hens (females) and two roos (males). Then we spent a good hour just sitting outside watching them.

This will be quite the experience for us considering not one Frühlingskabine inhabitant has ever eaten quail eggs or meat. Never ever. But, as with anything else, we are jumping in head first. I have done research on the basic care of quail and their most basic of needs, but I haven’t found too much information beyond that. It seems like most quail raisers feed “game bird crumbles” and house them in wire bottom hutches. There certainly isn’t anything wrong with that… don’t misinterpret. I was just hoping for some examples of others breeding and raising their quail in pens on the ground and feeding more natural diets.

So, in the void of a model utilizing more natural methods of care and feed, I’m winging it. So to speak. And yes, that pun was intended. If you have any tips for me or would like to share what/how you feed your quail naturally, I would love to hear from you!

In the meantime, check it out…

Egg Count :: April 2013

Frühlingskabine Micro-Farm — Fri, 17 May 2013 03:11:00 +0000

A little more than last month…

Operation Quail :: Let’s Get Started

Frühlingskabine Micro-Farm — Thu, 16 May 2013 03:24:31 +0000

We are officially getting quail on Saturday! You can stop badgering me now… just kidding. You guys are great.

With a little rolling and lifting and kicking of rocks, I expanded the existing flower bed next to our big oak tree. Trevor shoveled in some fill dirt… and bingo, ready for action!

The three of us took a quick trip to the hardware store and picked up a bundle of 36″ tall wooden stakes and a 20′ roll of rabbit cage wire (1″x1/2″ mesh; 16 gauge). We quickly hammered those puppies in and stapled the wire to the stakes with horseshoe nails.

Next we scrubbed out the converted dog house that the turkens lived in last year. This is going to be a little shelter for the quail. I certainly don’t expect them to be laying eggs in there like chickens do, but it can at least be a sanctuary for when the quail get frightened or when it rains.

Tomorrow we will:
* finish up the wire fencing
* stack more rocks around some gaps along the bottom edge of the enclosure
* make the quail house more cozy
* zip tie the netting on the top of the fenced enclosure
* plant more barley seed
* find the chick-sized feeder and waterer

Then Saturday afternoon we will be driving into the next county over to buy our new quail!

We’re Live On GRIT Folks

Frühlingskabine Micro-Farm — Wed, 15 May 2013 22:16:30 +0000

… and my very first GRIT magazine blog post is about raising meat animals. I decided to name my GRIT-based blog “Gold Rush Homesteader” to give recognition to the beautiful Sierra Nevada foothills we live in. Our neck of the woods hoasted the thriving Californian gold rush of the mid-1800′s.

Check out my new post and many more to come at GRIT magazine’s Gold Rush Homesteader blog.

The Boys Get Some Playtime

Frühlingskabine Micro-Farm — Wed, 15 May 2013 17:58:15 +0000

The boys in the hutch get a good round of “tag” in this morning before I clean up their hutch…