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Practical Quail Keeping, by Sarah and Martin Barratt
Yes, it's here at last - the long- awaited book on keeping quail, by our very own Chookiechook!
See Amazon, http://www.amazon.co.uk/Practical-Quail-Keeping-Sarah-Barratt/dp/1847974635/ref=...
This excellent book fills a real gap in the market and gives gives really good nitty gritty advice for those setting out to keep quail for the first time. It covers how to establish contact with local breeders, (some of the advice here sounds as if it is based on hard experience!) how to choose your birds, how to house, handle and feed them, and how to protect them from predators and parasites. There is a chapter on common diseases which may affect quail, and advice on first aid for the injuries they are prone to inflicting on themselves. There is clear advice on sexing young birds and on hatching and rearing your own youngsters from eggs. The chapter on Quail for the Table explains how to gut and prepare quail (with some very clear photos of the process, not for the squeamish) and several recipes, for people who get that far! If space had permitted, this section might also have included some recipes for quail eggs, as I have found my birds are such prolific layers that their lovely eggs are a very useful delicacy in the kitchen.
I liked the wealth of colour photos in the book, which give you ideas about how to set up your cages and what to look for in choosing your birds. When i started keeping quail, I found there was very little up-to-date information on the conditions they would need, and I quickly found their needs were quite different from the chickens I was used to, so it was a steep learning curve for me. This book does not pretend that starting with quail is always easy and straightforward, quail can be very destructive to each other and at first, as a novice keeper, I found this distressing, to say the least. There are some photos of injured birds, but these are backed up with practical advice about first aid and also about social organisation of the flock and provision of suitable housing to prevent or reduce further injuries and problems.
The Index is clearly arranged, and there is useful information on feed and equipment suppliers, poultry organisations, and Internet poultry forums, including ours, all of which will support a new keeper when deciding on how to start out with quail.
For reasons of space, this book is mainly about Coturnix quails, Japanese and Italian, rather than Chinese Painted Quail, and although these are similar in many ways, it would be lovely if any future editions of this book could include a chapter on these little beauties, which are becoming such popular pets for people with limited space.
All in all, a very useful book which any keepers of quail would enjoy. Buy it now!
Yes, it's here at last - the long- awaited book on keeping quail, by our very own Chookiechook!
See Amazon, http://www.amazon.co.uk/Practical-Quail-Keeping-Sarah-Barratt/dp/1847974635/ref=...
This excellent book fills a real gap in the market and gives gives really good nitty gritty advice for those setting out to keep quail for the first time. It covers how to establish contact with local breeders, (some of the advice here sounds as if it is based on hard experience!) how to choose your birds, how to house, handle and feed them, and how to protect them from predators and parasites. There is a chapter on common diseases which may affect quail, and advice on first aid for the injuries they are prone to inflicting on themselves. There is clear advice on sexing young birds and on hatching and rearing your own youngsters from eggs. The chapter on Quail for the Table explains how to gut and prepare quail (with some very clear photos of the process, not for the squeamish) and several recipes, for people who get that far! If space had permitted, this section might also have included some recipes for quail eggs, as I have found my birds are such prolific layers that their lovely eggs are a very useful delicacy in the kitchen.
I liked the wealth of colour photos in the book, which give you ideas about how to set up your cages and what to look for in choosing your birds. When i started keeping quail, I found there was very little up-to-date information on the conditions they would need, and I quickly found their needs were quite different from the chickens I was used to, so it was a steep learning curve for me. This book does not pretend that starting with quail is always easy and straightforward, quail can be very destructive to each other and at first, as a novice keeper, I found this distressing, to say the least. There are some photos of injured birds, but these are backed up with practical advice about first aid and also about social organisation of the flock and provision of suitable housing to prevent or reduce further injuries and problems.
The Index is clearly arranged, and there is useful information on feed and equipment suppliers, poultry organisations, and Internet poultry forums, including ours, all of which will support a new keeper when deciding on how to start out with quail.
For reasons of space, this book is mainly about Coturnix quails, Japanese and Italian, rather than Chinese Painted Quail, and although these are similar in many ways, it would be lovely if any future editions of this book could include a chapter on these little beauties, which are becoming such popular pets for people with limited space.
All in all, a very useful book which any keepers of quail would enjoy. Buy it now!