Best practice for hardware cloth flooring?

[threeepeat]

Hey everyone, I've been researching what flavor of hardware cloth creates ideal flooring for adult quail. 1/4"x1/4", 1/2"x1/2", or 1"x1/2" etc.

In one place, I read that flooring absolutely must be 1/4'' x 1/4", while another experienced breeder seems to use both 1/2 x 1/2, and 1 x 1/2 flooring in his builds. Any advice here?

Generally, can all these sizes work fine?

Thanks for any input!

 

[007Sean]

Hey everyone, I've been researching what flavor of hardware cloth creates ideal flooring for adult quail. 1/4"x1/4", 1/2"x1/2", or 1"x1/2" etc.

In one place, I read that flooring absolutely must be 1/4'' x 1/4", while another experienced breeder seems to use both 1/2 x 1/2, and 1 x 1/2 flooring in his builds. Any advice here?

Generally, can all these sizes work fine?

Thanks for any input!

1" x 1/2" is inappropriate for flooring. The mesh is to wide, a raccoon or feral cat can easily reach up through it and pull the quail through it. It's ok for the sides but not the floor.
Half inch by half inch, works the best. It allows droppings to fall through the mesh.
1/4" x 1/4" will also work but it will clog up with droppings real fast, ....means too much maintenance.
All of my above ground pens are 1/2" x 1/2" floors with 1" x 1/2" side mesh.

 

[threeepeat]

1" x 1/2" is inappropriate for flooring. The mesh is to wide, a raccoon or feral cat can easily reach up through it and pull the quail through it. It's ok for the sides but not the floor.
Half inch by half inch, works the best. It allows droppings to fall through the mesh.
1/4" x 1/4" will also work but it will clog up with droppings real fast, ....means too much maintenance.
All of my above ground pens are 1/2" x 1/2" floors with 1" x 1/2" side mesh.

Okay perfect. Thanks for sharing your experience

 

[QuailQueen3]

I am raising Jumbo Brown Coturnix (quail) for meat and eggs for commercial and consumer sales and personal consumption. My adult quail are very happy and doing excellent in a Wynola Ranch 3-tier breeder cage on 1/2” x 1” coated pvc wire flooring. Wynola offers the same cage design (and other cage designs) with 1/2” x 2” wire gauge flooring that was specifically requested by MyShire Farms through their collaboration with Wynola Ranch. MyShire Farms is one of the largest quail hatcheries in the country. They requested the 1/2” x 2” because their experience was that the 1/2” x 1” was not letting all the quail poop pass through. They did trials and then switched to 1/2” x 2” (12 or 14) gauge wire. Wynola Ranch now has a drop down menu when you place your order to decide which wire flooring you prefer.

I am feeding my quail only organic non-gmo feed, and the starter feed is New Country Organic Super Premium Crumble that has no corn or soy. So maybe that is allowing my quail’s poop to pass through the wire more easily than whatever MyShire is feeding their quail.

I love my Wynola Ranch cage for my adolescent and adult quail. I have had no leg or foot injuries. My quail move to the adult Wynola cage at 3 1/2 to 4 weeks old when I feather sex them. My eggs are very clean with slanted roll out trays and feed/egg covers. My quail are very calm, happy and all still laying eggs now—in January in St Louis!

 

[vall]

If they are inside 1" x 1/2" is fine, actually better because poop never gets stuck. Outside definitely use 1/2" x 1/2" for predator proofing.

 

[threeepeat]

I am raising Jumbo Brown Coturnix (quail) for meat and eggs for commercial and consumer sales and personal consumption. My adult quail are very happy and doing excellent in a Wynola Ranch 3-tier breeder cage on 1/2” x 1” coated pvc wire flooring. Wynola offers the same cage design (and other cage designs) with 1/2” x 2” wire gauge flooring that was specifically requested by MyShire Farms through their collaboration with Wynola Ranch. MyShire Farms is one of the largest quail hatcheries in the country. They requested the 1/2” x 2” because their experience was that the 1/2” x 1” was not letting all the quail poop pass through. They did trials and then switched to 1/2” x 2” (12 or 14) gauge wire. Wynola Ranch now has a drop down menu when you place your order to decide which wire flooring you prefer.

I am feeding my quail only organic non-gmo feed, and the starter feed is New Country Organic Super Premium Crumble that has no corn or soy. So maybe that is allowing my quail’s poop to pass through the wire more easily than whatever MyShire is feeding their quail.

I love my Wynola Ranch cage for my adolescent and adult quail. I have had no leg or foot injuries. My quail move to the adult Wynola cage at 3 1/2 to 4 weeks old when I feather sex them. My eggs are very clean with slanted roll out trays and feed/egg covers. My quail are very calm, happy and all still laying eggs now—in January in St Louis!

Sounds like a great set up. I had no idea MyShire was using 1/2 x 2. I just watched one of their build videos and I'm pretty sure their flooring was 1/2 x 1/2 but I couldn't find any confirmation of that scanning the long video. But that's very interesting indeed.

I wish I could get that feed in Canada. I'm using non-gmo turkey starter crumble so far, but it's not organic. I sourced an organic feed in my province, but they confirmed that they use soy-based protein, and it doesn't seem to be non-gmo. Does non-gmo soy even exist any more.

For now, I guess I need to decide between a non-gmo feed, and an organic one. What would you pick?

 

[QuailQueen3]

Sounds like a great set up. I had no idea MyShire was using 1/2 x 2. I just watched one of their build videos and I'm pretty sure their flooring was 1/2 x 1/2 but I couldn't find any confirmation of that scanning the long video. But that's very interesting indeed.

I wish I could get that feed in Canada. I'm using non-gmo turkey starter crumble so far, but it's not organic. I sourced an organic feed in my province, but they confirmed that they use soy-based protein, and it doesn't seem to be non-gmo. Does non-gmo soy even exist any more.

For now, I guess I need to decide between a non-gmo feed, and an organic one. What would you pick?

MyShire Farms uses 1/2” x 1/2” hard cloth in brooders for their very young quail chicks.