The Myshire Story: How we got started
by Jenna Greene
I grew up with a nearly perfect childhood. My sister and I were raised in a homeschool environment where cozy mornings were spent with Mom and school, and afternoons were left to our own imaginations. Dad (who you might know from our YouTube channel as Papa the Builder), had a woodworking business and was always on the hunt for a new build, whatever that might look like. I spent most of my time outdoors, while my sister built Lego houses indoors. When I met my first best friend, who lived on a farm, I was introduced to my first chicken.
Things escalated quickly from there, as I soon needed a place to put my own feathered pets. Dad said, “let’s build it”. After I had a barn, the next obvious choice was a potbellied pig named Olive. At age 12, my mom started attending a new church. There I met new friends, and a boy named Zack- we’ll come back to him later in the story. 😉
Not long after, my parents started house hunting and found a property they wanted to build on and asked us to take a look. It just so happened to have an empty house on the property that needed some love. And, as Zack always does, he supported my dream. The rest, as they say, is history.
We moved into the 1900’s farmhouse. The one with drafty string windows, woodstove heat, no air-conditioning, and wallpaper on every wall and ceiling. It was PERFECT! In 2012 Madison was born, and farm life started to feel more routine. The days melted together with small farm chores, diapers, school, more diapers…My Mom was always there to help with a meal, or to watch the kids. Life was great, but I still knew our family wasn’t complete.
I knew I had a kid out there. Somewhere. And I knew we had to find her/him. And yes, Zack supported my dream of adoption. We signed up for “adoption only” in our county. I was quite sure foster care would break my heart, and I would never want to give the kids back, so that was a hard “no”. There were classes, inspections, piles of paperwork and background checks. Meeting with case workers, more classes and finally we got our approval! I thought this was it! Any day I will meet our new son/daughter. After all, there are 3,000 kids waiting for adoption in Ohio alone.
The days turned to weeks, weeks to months, and then the social worker called to tell us all the approval paperwork was hitting the year mark and would have to be started from scratch if we weren’t placed within the next few days. She asked if we were willing to change to foster care. Reluctantly, we did. God’s perfect timing, the phone rang HOURS later. We had a placement for not one, but TWO siblings. Dereon (age 4) and Ashley (age 11). Even though they were listed as “foster care” they were our first and only placement. They were the missing piece of our family and were adopted a year later. I finally had all my kids under one roof.
Meanwhile, my sister was feeling a bit left out of the new family compound situation. And all that Lego building as a child resulted in architecture design as an adult. Dad said, “let’s build it” and they did. With family affairs in order (as much as they can be with 5 children) we turned to homesteading and adding animals to the farm. Here enters the QUAIL.
The quail idea started for a meat and egg production animal that was not dependent on yearly hatchery orders. I wanted a “heritage” bird without the long grow-out time of the freedom rangers, or Midget White Turkeys. We started out with some hatching eggs from a local breeder- a heartfelt thank you to Keith C. for taking the time to talk to me as a novice and starting us on this adventure of a lifetime!
Equipped with a plastic cup full of eggs, a Styrofoam incubator, and hopes and dreams we got started. Waiting for that first hatch was excruciating! How could 17 days take so long! I felt like a kid counting down to Christmas. I had it all planned out with another homeschool mom to come over with her kids for a hatch party! And right on schedule, they began to hatch! It was all VERY exciting, at least to me. The kids peeked in for approximately 2 seconds and went back to playing.
After the hatch (which probably was not great considering the incubator), I moved them all to the brooder. It was a lovely setup for the darling little babies I had waited 17 long days for. Next time I went to check however, the “lovely setup” was a nightmare. The water had leaked all over, and the chicks were wet and dying. Seeing the chicks like that was awful and heartbreaking but I was not deterred. I went back to Keith and got some more. Farming is supposed to be hard. If it was easy, everyone would do it.
After some hard lessons under my belt, I was off to the races! I was getting eggs from birds I had hatched, and we were eating meat that we had raised ourselves. At this point, I was doing a great job raising them, just not so great at managing them. We were quickly overrun with eggs, and I was giving them away by the basket full. Then came the thought…maybe we could sell some? It has been a slow progression to madness ever since! After all, these bite sized eggs were awesome, and everyone should have quail! Friends and family turned to Craigslist which turned to Facebook. At that point I realized to scale up, we needed NPIP.
What is NPIP you ask? Well, I didn’t know either, but after online sleuthing, I realized that to ship eggs over state lines, birds from our flock had to be state tested to ensure that we weren’t sending any disease all over the country. Enter Jim W., our assigned tester. I was so nervous to have the State come to the farm. What if I was doing something wrong? What if he sees poop in the pans? What if he denies the permit? All the anxiety was soon laid to rest as he became an ally for farm growth. Jim has been such an encouraging and valuable part of the team.
This was the point when I saw there was a real opportunity in selling quail, but I was juggling too many jobs and decided to ask the hardest working person I know to join the team. And, as Zack always does, he supported my dream of farming full time.
We brought the idea to my dad, and he said, “let’s build it” So we all got to work and put up a new barn. This is around the time George A. came to work with us. Bringing with him knowledge of chickens and genetics, it was an easy transition into the quail world.
Along the way, we have made connections with the most wonderful people: Wynola Ranch – we were immediately drawn to their quality cages. Then after meeting the family that operates it, we were doubly blessed. Thank you to David and Nashville for being awesome. Cerri and Darren for bringing Myshire quail to Canada. We know you will prosper in all your new adventures! Linda E. For being our behind-the-scenes hero in creating Quail University and all your digital expertise. You truly work magic, and the quail community will be more successful from the knowledge you share. Nicki and Brad J. for their sweat equity in preparing for our annual Quail Convention, and all the speakers who share their knowledge and love for homesteading. Verna Y. for her moderator position on YouTube and overall presence to keep us in line!
We hope our story will inspire your love for homesteading, encourage you to raise your own protein source, and enthuse you to share it with others. Quail is the new chicken!