Quail feeders
A quail house or quail house is a dwelling for keeping and breeding quails . In the 19th century and until the middle of the 20th century, quail houses in many regions of Central Europe were often equipped with additional painted windows and doors in addition to the openings required for feeding and shelter, so that the impression of a miniature house was reinforced. Turrets and roof structures sometimes gave the house a castle or villa-like appearance.
Cultural history
The pheasant-like quail are considered a delicacy because of their eggs as well as their meat. They are also kept as ornamental birds. Since the quail's roosters are screaming an hour earlier than the domestic roosters and are also very sensitive to the weather and announce any change in the weather with their restlessness, they soon became part of rural culture. They gladly made the magnificent quail houses available to them to give them shelter. In winter they were even kept in the farmer's room where they were supposed to eat vermin.
These bird cages in the shape of a house were previously common in Lausitz, Bohemia, but also in Swabia, where they were hung on farmers 'and weavers ' houses .
Quail houses in Upper Lusatia
The keeping of quails as domestic birds was widespread in Upper Lusatia from the beginning of the 19th century and lasted until around 1940.
In the Hörnitz district of the municipality of Bertsdorf-Hörnitz in the district of Görlitz in Saxony there is a brightly painted quail house on the framework house , Straße der Jugend 23. The Hörnitz carpenter Wagner made the ornate birdhouse in the winter of 1931/32 during a period of unemployment based on a description from the year 1833. In the middle of the 20th century there were still other quail houses in Hörnitz, but their preservation did not come close to that of Wagner's and were later lost.
In 2009, a storm tore down the quail house. The broken work of art was restored by the owner of the house over a period of four years and attached to the facade on November 26, 2013.
A quail house is also attached to the outer wall of the Ackerbürgermuseum in Reichenbach / OL . A third is owned by the Markersdorfer Dorfmuseum .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Elke Schmidt: The quail house is back again. In: Sächsische Zeitung , Zittau edition, November 28, 2013.
- ↑ Heimatrundschau. Official journal of the municipality of Königshain and the city of Reichenbach / OL, No. 1, 2016 (January 6, 2016), p. 14, accessed on October 28, 2016.
Coordinates: 50 ° 53 ′ 45.3 " N , 14 ° 44 ′ 58.7" E