Life and Death on the Homestead

<p>Life and death on the homestead. It is our joy and sorrow in daily life. Much to talk about here.</p> <p>I want to take a minute and say welcome to all the new listeners and to say welcome back to the veteran homestead-loving regulars who stop by the FarmCast for every episode. Thank you so much for making this podcast possible.</p> <h2>Our Virginia Homestead Life Updates</h2> <p>Should I start with the bad news or the good news? There was only the one area of difficulty and there is so much good news to share. Let’s get the bad news out of the way and then move on to all the wonderful happenings on our homestead.</p> <h3>Quail – Life and Death</h3> <p>I have good news and bad news regarding the quail. First the bad. We have a predator. In the past couple of days, we lost four birds. I won’t describe the details. Suffice it to say it was not pretty. We do our best to keep all of our animals safe. But sometimes predators are really, really persistent and innovative. We had a similar issue last fall. Just when you think you’ve taken care of the problem, a sly predator comes up with a new angle.</p> <p>The quail hutch is two levels. On the top are two large cages for growing out the new chicks. Currently there are 16 on one side and 17 on the other for a total of 33. Actually, that is not right. There are more than that up there now. Before the predator there were 33 up there. Now the breeding stock has joined them. I believe there are 13 of them currently residing in the penthouse with the original 33.</p> <p>The bottom level of the hutch had the breeding stock. There are three cages there and each had six birds. Two of the cages had four hens and two roosters and one had five hens and one rooster. Ideally, we would have five hens and one rooster in each of the cages on the bottom for a total of 18 birds. However, last year we ended up with not enough hens to fill out the desired scenario and two extra roosters. How did that happen you say? Let me fill you in on that part of the story</p> <p>Last fall I learned