Substrate Flooring for Outdoor Quail Aviary

[hsinglanjin]

I'm looking to get 3-4 quail to start with and currently in the planning stages for my outdoor aviary. I'd like to do a natural setting for them and would like to get an opinion on the type of flooring for them. What would be the easiest to maintain? Should I just put the aviary on dirt and then put several inches of river sand and plants inside? Straw?

Also, when building my aviary, should I do a regular frame with the wire mesh cloth going all the way top to bottom, or should the bottom of my aviary have a bottom boarder, maybe about 8" up to hold in the dirt, sand, or whatever flooring I use? Maybe this isn't good in case I need to hose off the bottom?

Any advise for a newbie from any quail aviary experts out there would be appreciated!

 

[le_bwah]

Can't say much more about substrate (I'm fond of litter/dirt), but you will definitely want a border around the bottom to keep your substrate in. They love to scratch, and will happily toss their bedding right out of the enclosure if there's nothing to stop them.

 

[RosieR]

I’m using deep litter and it seems good 3 months in!
I didn’t have much of a border on mine but I had to add one after the coons reached in and grabbed a few birds. It’s about 6” high now and keeps the substrate in and the coon paws away from birds.