During my farming time in Jämtland I butchered quails for another producer and i also had some of them myself a few times. They are easy to breed, gives a tasty meet and daily eggs.
So when i found and seller of 300-400 old male quails cheap on the local internet fleemarket, I asked Luka at Gric if he wanted them for the kitchen, and he did want them.
Next day i filled the car with boxes and took the scenic but snowy route to a farmer in the hills above Izlake and picked up 100 of them. I also took my last money to buy a test group to the farm.
20-25 weeks old egg laying females and a few males for them. I put them in a big space, outdoor but under roof. They have never been outdoor before so they stopped laying eggs after just a few days...
The 100 old males had to be butchered pretty quick because Luka had it planned for the menu later the same week. I started with cutting their heads and taking care of the blood. Not much blood from each one. That took much longer time than I though, they quickly give their blood away but i still have to hold them for a time before I safety can put them aside and prepare for the next one to meet his executor.
To kill animals is the mentally hard work to do for me as a breeder. To go in to the room, choose the animal, catch it without stress and then take their life away, is one of the reasons I once stopped my farming in Jämtland some years ago.
After killing them by cutting their heads with a good scissor i collect their blood and wait for them to calm down so I can put them away.
Next step is to skin them and deliver them to chef Luka Kosir at Gosticse Gric.
Luka and his wife Vesna are the owners of the duck farm I have been working on for the last two years. They also run one of Slovenia's most interesting restaurants for the moment. Luka`s tree sisters work at the restaurant as well as his parents who also take care of the greenhouse and garden that supply the restaurant with vegetables year around.
At Gric its time for cleaning and packaging. Luka gutted them up and I took care of all the edible parts except the lungs. I will take care of it next time even if I´m sceptic, it might be very difficult to create something good out of it.
Anyone with a feeling for economy had probably already stopped this project i guess. So far the cost is 120 euro for picking up the birds. 4 hours of chopping heads 3 hours of skinning and cleaning only the heads. The rest of the work took us 12-14 hours together to finish.
We still have the test group that i bought, and if we decide to breed it our self then they are much more profitable. My plan is to do this to the beginning of April. Slaugther the bird and sell them. Eggs will be sold and not put in the incubator this time. Maybe it will be a start up again after the duckling season.