Best housing

[ivyboo]

I hatched 23 quail 3 weeks ago. I didn’t expect to have such a great hatch! I was going to use a rabbit hutch originally with deep litter method. About 2ft x 4ft. It’s off the ground with plastic flooring. However, I need something bigger. So my question is what is the best housing? Some thing on the ground or something off the ground, and with or without wire flooring. I’m looking for something fairly basic to build and that will do well outdoors in cold and hot weather. I’m from Ohio, so It can go either way.

 

[Nabiki]

You're going to get a lot of different answers to this one. I like to keep my birds on the ground because I want them to have as close to a natural life as I can give them. My pens are basically boxes open on the ground and sturdy on top. I haven't had any problems so far with burrowing predators.

 

[FloorCandy]

My first pen I bought a prefab rabbit hutch and pen, and it’s super flimsy. I have since built my own pens with pvc and 1/2 in hardware cloth. I use cookie cooking sheets as doors. The square one was much easier to build.

 

[ivyboo]

You're going to get a lot of different answers to this one. I like to keep my birds on the ground because I want them to have as close to a natural life as I can give them. My pens are basically boxes open on the ground and sturdy on top. I haven't had any problems so far with burrowing predators.

Is it big enough for you to walk in or just open to get eggs? Any problem with smell on the ground? I have chickens also, and they don’t smell unless their poo gets wet.

 

[ivyboo]

My first pen I bought a prefab rabbit hutch and pen, and it’s super flimsy. I have since built my own pens with pvc and 1/2 in hardware cloth. I use cookie cooking sheets as doors. The square one was much easier to build.
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Does it stay in one spot or do you move around? I don’t have a lot of yard space left so I would like mine to stay in one spot.

 

[FloorCandy]

Does it stay in one spot or do you move around? I don’t have a lot of yard space left so I would like mine to stay in one spot.

The square one stays in one spot and it has cinder blocks around it. The small hoop one, I move when I use it.

 

[Nabiki]

Is it big enough for you to walk in or just open to get eggs? Any problem with smell on the ground? I have chickens also, and they don’t smell unless their poo gets wet.

They're short. To keep the smell down I hoe the poop under and move them around every few weeks/month.