help with possible first quail pen please (: (coturnix)

[ohiogoatgirl]

I found someone with coturnix quail for sale not terribly far from me. I have been researching them for years on and off. i never seem to have a good space ready when i find them for sale though ):

so my question for all you wonderful quail people with such lovely pens....
i have rabbits that i breed and i could use one of the hutch sections for a few quail. it wouldn't be anything amazing but i would make it comfortable for them. the hutch section has a small nestbox and its fairly tall so i could add a shelf in it for more floor space. the wire is thick gauge and 1/2 by 1inch but i could put cardboard down with hay for them and i could do a small dustbath box for them to use. the hutch section is about 20 by 20 inches plus nestbox is about 12 by 12 inches and as i said i could add a shelf in it and add floor space since its rather tall inside, which would add another about 10 by 20 inches. would you all say that would be fine for a small breeding group? i want them for eggs mainly but want to keep a roo with them so later i can try incubating to expand the flock if i am able. i was thinking 1 roo and 3 hens? would that be an alright amount for the space or could i add another hen or two? i don't want to overdo it but i do want a few hens for the eggs. right now the person has some 3wks old ready and will be setting another bunch mid april (put in mid april or hatching then, i don't recall at the moment) and i am hoping to get from the older ones because i have seriously limited space inside and cant have them in for long at all. but being i am in central Virginia and its still getting cold sometimes i will have to work on acclimatizing them to outside.

thanks!!!

 

[gmatton]

Make sure the headspace is not to high (1 feet is more than enough). If the ceiling it to high birds can fly up when startled by something and break their neck or injure their heads.
So adding a floor is a good idea, but I am not sure if they would jump up and use it as an extra floor. You could consider to have it as an extra space to keep some birds separate from the others.

 

[victor miller]

and some people go up to 7 to 1 on guail if you just wanting egg I would go with something like 7 to 1 but when you want to hatch some out I would go less then that.5,4,3 to 1. you can talk to a bunch of people and you will get allot of different answers . this is just what I think. good luck.

 

[ohiogoatgirl]

I rearranged my rabbits and i think a different hutch than i originally thought will be better. It is bigger and i could divide it later, like if i wanted to seperate out just egg layers and fertile eggs breeding group.

The chicks are currently 4wks old. The person cant sex them until they are older so i am just going to get a small group of them i suppose and have to find more on sexing to do it myself as they grow. Lol guess it means we'll have to see if we like the meat from the extra roos.

 

[ohiogoatgirl]

If i put something in for a shelf-floor would they use a ramp to get up and use it or would it be better to do a second level that seperate from the bottom and just use it like two pens?

 

[ohiogoatgirl]

Here is the hutch. Both sides open but its one big section inside. Pardon the nosey growouts in there still at the moment.
Blue square is 14x14 inch. Not part of thr hutch, just to help show size.



Showing part of the inside.


So its about 28 inch front-back.. about 40 inch left-right.. and there is a spot (currently covered) that i could add a nest on each side.
So about 10 could fit in here?

 

[bigrob83]

If i put something in for a shelf-floor would they use a ramp to get up and use it or would it be better to do a second level that seperate from the bottom and just use it like two pens?

No they will use every inch of floor space but ramps stairs or extra floors will go unused
I built ours a house on legs and 4" is about as tall as they will use before they refuse to get in it

Which is funny to me because they can launch like a guided missile but anything requiring more than a hop is "not worth the effort"

 

[rhodeislandred18]

This is my cage build

And they seem to be happy in it as well

It was really easy and SUPER CHEAP to build

 

[gatorshark75]

This is my cage build

And they seem to be happy in it as well



It was really easy and SUPER CHEAP to build

looks good to me

 

[ohiogoatgirl]

Thanks

I have seen a couple posts here that some peoples cots will use ramps but some wont. So i guess i will put one in and put em on it a few times but if they dont seem to use it i will see if i can make it into two levels for a full second pen possibly for later if/when i add more.

I am pickin them up tuesday yippeeeee!