[Cams Mum]

Hi there. Moved into our house with large garden in August. We now have 21 chickens as well as 3 cats a border collie and 3 children. Also in the process of becoming Foster Carers. We would love to expand our very small smallholding. Anybody know of anyone with Quails for sale, near Wisbech in Cambs ?? Am trying to talk the other half into a couple of pigs, goats and possibly rabbits for meat. May take me a while !! hehe. Never managed to grow anything before, but am determined to grow some veg this year. Already had his highness out in the garden digging over my soon to be veg patch. Looking forward to some good advice from you all. xx

[doganjo]

Hi Cams Mum
Welcome to the forum. How big is your large garden?  Mine is an acre, divided in the middle
by the house, but I don't reckon I've enough for pigs.  I have ducks and chickens - but only for eggs, and I made a brave attempt at veges and fruit last year.  Hope to do better this year.

[little blue]

Hello and welcome, from a very small smallholder.  We have 7 quail, amongst other animals, 3 from my neighbour and the rest via a forum...
search online for 'corturnix' or quail and take it from there!

[Rosemary]

Hi and welcome. I was reading about quail last night and quite fancy some. They look lovely.

[Cams Mum]

Thank you everyone for making me feel welcome !! 
Not sure how big the garden is. We rent the house from a large farm. We are hoping to talk them into parting with a bit more land, 
I read about Quails in Home Farmer magazine and they looked like fun to keep. Also adds a bit of something different to the eggs we get from our hens.
Been searching online, but still having trouble finding especially female quail. May go down the fertilised egg route, but obviously will most likely end up with all males.......

[doganjo]

I wanted to have quail too - mainly to train my dogs and have the eggs which I love, but was put off as they are difficult to keep.  I am told they have the same death wish that sheep are born with   A friend of mine bought 240 eggs to hatch and ended up with about a dozen - that was about 5 months ago - he has three left!  If anyone in Clacks has quail please can I buy some eggs!  They are delicious!

[Hilarysmum]

For pigs you would ideally need half an acre, split into two so that you could rest one half, that is assuming you were going to just keep fatteners.

[Cams Mum]

I was hoping to have 3 weaners and keep them to pork weight. I don't want to embark on keeping any livestock other than my poultry without doing a course first. I lived on a farm as a teenager, but was too interested in other things to take much notice. We never had pigs, but it was my uncles farm and he had 5,500 free range chickens, about 100 sheep and 50 cows. Also there were 3 manic guinea fowl wandering round. My other uncle had a smallholding and kept goats, and had a bull that he fattened up and also some pigs for meat for themselves. I so wish I had taken more interest at the time. You never appreciate things when you are a teenager I think !!

[Hilarysmum]

My grandfather kept chickens and rabbits for the pot and a pink pig on his allotment.   Sadly I didnt learn from him either, or I might have learned to keep the vegetables alive for a whole season.  Be warned :  pigs are addictive 

[little blue]

I wanted to have quail too - mainly to train my dogs and have the eggs which I love, but was put off as they are difficult to keep.  I am told they have the same death wish that sheep are born with  

Okay, they do have abit of a death wish, but they're certainly not difficult to keep if you get a hardier breed and good stock. And a secure pen/shed/avairy/whatever.
Ours are Japanese, of various colour types and survived all this cold winter so far - even with their ridiculous habit of staying up & outside really late at night!  My o/h spent ages teaching them how to use the ramp up to there 'house' bit... they just seem to prefer being out in the cold, then staying in during the cold days!

[Anke]

If you are just fattening up weaners, you won't need that much space, and they can dig your veggie patch for you. But if you are renting it might be wise to check that owner/landlord hasn't put somehting in your contract to not allow livestock etc., as you would need a farm number etc too.

[scattybiker1972]

www.quails-in-essex.co.uk

this is where i got some of my hatching eggs from also my friend has various types and there the bigger strains too.they keep lots for eggs  and for  meat.
you can have day olds posted by courier too.   

[sandy]

Hello Cams Mum, good luck to you in all fields!!!! I never seem to be able to grow much except herbs and a little bit of salad (not enough) although now I just have bits of borders and pots, the chickens and 2 Ducks have the top part to themselves, we planted 3 fruit trees there as well but it will be ages before we get enough fruit. One of my daughters is on this forum and she kept pigs in a much smaller area and they seemed happy enough, the ended up with loads of manure for her veg, they grew well, she also  has quail...not sure how many or if any are left, she is in Leicestershire so not too far away. All I say is have a go, so much information and as far as I can gather and from experience, safe fencing and good secure shelter is necessary for all livestock as for children ::)I have Fostered, loved it but boy was it tough going sometimes...mind you I did have difficult to place children and mainly teenage girls 13+ the few boys I did foster were great with me, all now have done time in prison, one some seriouse offences, on that note, be aware of your own children, some of these Foster Children have experienced very bad things and they are damaged, I know of many such cases and as I worked in Fostering, Child Protection and residential I know the capabilities of some of these poor children, my children were not living with me and were also older teenagers.......mind you.......I would do it again!!! wonderful stuff!!