We used to use rabbit feeders in ours and they wasted alot of feed by kicking it out. We went with hanging feeders and the waste now is just about zero. The 3 pound size was to small so we switched to a 7 pound size and it works great. With the hanging feeder you can adjust the height as they grow.
OK, here's my setup:
This is a close up of the plastic rings stretched across the rabbit feeder. I stretch the bottom two rings down the front and "hook" them over the bottom two points of the rabbit feeder. Then I stretch the back two rings across the back of the feeder and tie behind it with bailing wire. As you can see there is little to no waste under the cage from the feeder area.
You can see where I tied the back two rings together behind the feeder. I also used the ends of the bailing wire to run under the bottom of the feeder and catch the front two rings, pulling them tight.
I usually fill the feeder all the way to the top, but I DON'T push the food down so that it goes to the very top of the feeder opening inside the cage. The bailing wire around the top back of the feeder is just to keep my kids from pulling the feeder out and letting the quail out accidentally.
Back view of all four cages. The "SmartWater" water bottles work really well in the pop bottle waterers. They are one liter but very skinny and tall (unlike most 1 liter bottles).
My chickens checking out the food situation for the quail. This is another reason why I have closed food containers for the quail!
love your setup! Excellent! I would have never thought about wooden trays for catching the droppings, but that's an excellent idea - wouldn't work for rabbits, but would be fine for birds!
DH put linoleum on the bottom of each poop tray so the poop and shavings just slide right off. I just take one tray at a time and dump it right into the compost bin, refill with shavings, and replace under the cage.
