A few weeks ago, I processed the four extra male quail. While I had previously helped clean (and then ate) two of my quail from a previous hatch, this was the first time I had done the entire process all by myself…including the kill.
It was a weird thing. I’ve spent about 40 years raising animals, and nursing them back to health when injured. I did kill a wild mouse once that was caught in a trap, but that was only time I’ve ever deliberately killed an animal. The hardest part of the whole process was simply the before: picking the quail up, soothing it so it wouldn’t struggle at the wrong time, then deliberately thinking: Yes. I’m doing this. It just went so counter to all my instincts.
The actual physical moment of doing was shockingly easy and simple. (I used the scissors method, because I felt it seemed the quickest and the most humane.) Afterward, holding the lifeless body as it convulsed and bled out was not fun, but not nearly so traumatic as I thought. I knew it was dead, so it wasn’t like holding a ‘dying animal’. I don’t think I could ever use the throat slitting method on a critter – I couldn’t stand the long several minutes waiting for it to die.
Afterward, I did feel bad, but not to the extent that I wouldn’t process more animals. If I’m going to eat meat (and I am), it feels so much better to have control over how the animals lives, and how it dies. It makes me sick to read and see how the animals in factories are raised and killed. I don’t want to support that industry, that sort of torture and inhumanity. I also don’t want to eat that sort of polluted food. I don’t agree with or support PETA as an organization, but this video does a good job of showing what goes on in those factories.
Quail, however, are not going to be a meat animal for me – unless I have a few extra males that I have to dispose of in the future. Four adult quail made enough meat for one meal. I don’t like that ratio of death. With a standard sized chicken or duck, I can get up to four meals from one death. Maybe more with a rabbit.
The other thing I don’t like with quail is how many tiny little bones they have. They are seriously like fish bones! I tried to be super careful with my de-boning, and I still missed a few. And the taste of the meat is not my favorite, either. I wouldn’t call the flavor ‘gamey’ precisely, but it’s quite different from chicken, and nowhere near as fantastic as duck. Quail just aren’t worth it, as meat animals, in my opinion.
However, I do adore them as garden companion animals – and they will be even more helpful once I get the rotating garden bed/quail cage set up and operational. And I like the eggs; I’m getting into the habit of throwing a few quail eggs into whatever dish I am making. I can’t ever see myself not wanting quail as part of my little homestead.
And now on to happier things. Here are some photos from last week in the garden.
The foxglove and roses are in full swing.
The two tomatoes in the grow bags seem to be winning the contest, as far as growth and health are concerned. That could also be because they were the last I put out, when the weather had finally turned to a proper Spring. In front there is a Black Japanese Trifele tomato. This is my first time growing it, and so far, it’s brilliant.
Look at the flowers! They are HUGE.
Below is a shot of one of the straw bales. I poked several squash seeds down into them a few weeks back, and now they are coming up nicely!
Below is one of my potato patches. Potatoes are in the innermost square, and beets are around the outside. I keep piling on more straw as the potatoes grow. Adding more is on my list of things to do this weekend….
Because I’m not using the cold frames for anything, I decided to try growing summer squash in them…with the lids left raised, so the vines can tumble out. So far they appear to like it. This morning, they were already a good four times larger than this.
When I was inspecting the front yard garden this afternoon, I surprised a wee wild bunny doing an inspection of her own. I didn’t see that she’d damaged anything – other than trampling down one sunflower and snapping its stem. That was hardly her fault, though – it happened when I surprised her and she was frantically trying to get away from me. I may have to put some bunny-proofing out there if she becomes a regular visitor, though!
And the bees…sadly the bees are going to be a failed experiment this year. I think too many bad things happened to them (difficult long trip through the mail, dead queen, wet weather) and their numbers are dwindling rapidly. Bees only live for a few weeks, so when starting a new hive, they really need to get off to a fast start – they need that next generation or the colony will die of old age. Right now we’re down to fewer than 100 workers bees. I suspect as well that something is up with the new queen. Either she was not accepted, or she died, or something. The brood that has been laid seems to be all drones (males). This can happen if a hive goes too long without a queen. One of the worker bees decides to become a queen, but unlike a true queen, a worker is only capable of laying drone eggs.
We’ll start over again next Spring. I found a guy who naturally raises bees (no chemicals or pesticides used in his hives). His bees come from Oregon (so they will be used to my climate) and he delivers to my area. Unlike the bees I ordered this year, his bees will arrive within one day. I wish I could have gotten them from him this year, but we started so late that he was sold out.
Well. At least we know we love having a hive, and really enjoy the bees!
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Out of Eden 