Quail coop design questions

Hello again! Thanks for your answers to my previous questions.

Now we're getting the quail coop just about finished up and I need to make some decisions. It's a raised octagon with a run attached.

1. Mesh platform over mesh floor opening?
My plan is to install some nipple waterers over a section of our coop interior under which I'll cut a hole in the floor. That hole would be covered with 1/2 inch mesh, and here's the part I have a question about. **If I also put a little platform (sides are plastic, top is mesh) would the quail climb up on it to drink? Do you see any other problems this might cause? They need water in the coop if we plan to close it at night, right?**
My reasons for doing this are:
I don't want weasels or some predator ripping any legs off my quail, which might happen if there is a mesh section of the coop floor and something breaches the outer fencing.
I want to try to keep a deep litter kind of set up and if it gets wet it will reek etc. In my limited experience so far I've seen that if even a little of the litter gets wet it wicks all over the rest. A mesh section would allow dripping water to fall through and a raised platform would keep the litter from falling out or clogging up the mesh.

2. Nest boxes?
Okay, I just like how they look sticking off the sides of a coop plus the added square footage is nice. Will the quail at least hang out in them? I know they may not bother laying in there, and I don't care about that. Adding a couple boxes wouldn't cause any quail problems, would it?

3. How do deep litter advocates do a sand bath? Could I make one of the attached "nest boxes" into a sand box?


THANKS!

You probably don't have much to worry about with a single layer of 1/2" hardware cloth, but a second layer an inch higher will stop anything from getting to their toes. They'll easily climb up an inch or two for the water.

Nest boxes will just give them another place to crap, and they'll be hard to clean. I'd skip them as they just pop out an egg wherever they happen to be.

I'd build a box with raised sides that's 2-3" higher than your litter for the sand bath. You may need to build it so that it's much higher than that when your litter is low, but you can provide some ramps for them to get in. If your ceiling is high enough for them to fly, they'll figure it out. They'll poop in there and also lay eggs.

Here's our progress. We're going to make the box a sandbox that can be taken out and cleaned. Still wondering about the waterer... I bought a pre-attached nipple waterer and also some that you can put in pvc. Not sure yet which we'll use. Advice?

The floor is linoleum and calked at all the joints so we can hose it out if need be. The roof will be raised in the middle with a vent at the top- I forget what the vent type is called but it looks like a chefs hat... We'll probably also add some vents in the tops of the walls.

The roof will be in 8 sections and a couple of those will be windows- it will be under our trees and we live in a mostly shady area so the more light the better we figured. We're planning to use netting or something so they don't hurt themselves on the higher parts of the roof.

We are totally taking advice/comments. Thanks!

Do you see any problem with keeping the water in the raised box area? It would keep it cleaner and would be easier to fill.

As long as they can get up there, no issues. I would raise it up on something, though, so they can't poop in it. That'll keep it cleaner yet.

Thank you! Will do.