Bailing out the Quail

Allotment39

Jan 4

This morning, when I walked out into the garden, I discovered that the quail were in rather dire straits. The deluge of rain and wind we have had over the last two days has been unbelievable. The garden and plot are absolutely saturated. A single drop more rain and both would turn into a lake.

When I went to feed the quail, I discovered their entire coop was entirely flooded. The poor quail were stranded on the top of the house and the other two on the shelf. I quickly caught them and put them into the pet carrier while I worked out how I was going to fix their coop. I grabbed a scoop and the big bucket and began to bail.

To my horror, I filled the bucket and almost half filled it again. The old bedding was completely sodden. Apologising profusely to the quail, I cleaned out the base, the food and water bowls and, for good measure, cleaned the shelf and the top of the coop.

On a roll, I started on Gertie's coop. It was also very wet but not as bad as Quail Mansions. With the old bedding out and the base freshly washed, I left the coops to dry while I scoffed some lunch. I watched Gertie relax in the sunny spot with the rest of the Topknot Gang.

After lunch, everything was dry so I put in a thick layer of fresh bedding and refilled food and water bowls. Scooping up Gertie, I put her back into her coop. As I talked to her, she began to tuck into her mash before abandoning it when she realised the treat bowl had corn in it. Gertie might not be able to see, and depth perception is a thing of the past, but there is nothing, absolutely nothing that will keep her from her treats!

With all the girls in the garden sorted, it's onto the allotment coops over the weekend! I'm hoping that having a clean, dry coop will encourage them to lay some more eggs!