I finally prepared an area and got some strawberries planted in the quail run!
Its been on the agenda for ages, but I just kept putting it off for other jobs that needed doing sooner. However, a friend was thinning her strawberry bed out and asked if I wanted any plants. I couldn't refuse an offer like that and when she brought them to me in a bag I knew I'd have to get them in the ground before they died. Potting them up would only mean I'd put off preparing the bed for them and then they'd probably die from being so long in pots that I'd forget to water or feed them.
One of the main reasons I don't like planting in the quail run is because there is a lot of rubble and scoria gravel to be removed and that’s time consuming. It's also an area where very little could grow, so lots of fertiliser and compost needs working in before anything can be planted, assuming I want it to survive. The quails have been adding their own fertiliser in the meantime, though, and will continue to do so hopefully.
When we dug the area over, besides all the gravel we were digging up lots of tiny, baby curl grubs and worms. This is good news as it means the soil is finally starting to get some fertility. The quail became helpful at this point and gobbled up the curl grubs, which would eat the plant roots if left in. They pinched a few worms too, but as their preference is for the grubs they hopefully didn't damage the population too much.
After a couple of days of removing the copious amounts of stones I could finally dig in some old sheep manure and plant the strawberries while fending off quails who wanted to help some more by eating the plants. @realtreebivvy made a cage to protect the plants, so now they are all safely under that. The quails will likely continue to gift their fertiliser when they walk around on top of the cage.
Now I need to get my muntrie planted in there before that dies in its pot. It's a good job these natives are so tough.
I'll leave you with a final cheeky quail picture.
Well done @izzydawn on the photos!
You just gave me the solution to a problem with a project I want to complete in the future!!! Yay!! Nice problem solving
Super...I have no idea what you mean though! Lol.
Strawberries ! How exciting :D I hope to see your berries in the coming days / weeks.... Your quails are adorable and they seem really excited and as if they've taken the new addition to their surroundings well <3
They are nosy little things. I'm sure they'll trim any bits of strawberry plant that extend their reach too far! :D
I like that first shot. Handsome fella looks like he has some meat on him after all.
Do most poultry go for grubs over worms? That sounds really helpful. I know ducks go for snails, which'd help us here.
Lol! That's actually a female in the top photo and they are a little plumper and bigger than the males.
If there's only worms available then the chickens and quail will eat them all, but the moment they find grubs they'll start ignoring the worms more and wait for you to turn over another grub. I guess it's because they have the hard heads which might provide more shell and bone building nutrition than pure protein (sorry of I'm creeping you out now). They are also very fond of earwigs.
I have a friend who has a duck purely for keeping the snails and slugs down in her garden. I have to go the manual route of squish!
Wow I want some in my house too.