Best surface for raising quail

[Captain Quark]

Peat moss.

I like this idea. Kiki do you have to scoop it frequently? I cheated on my indoor pen this year and didn't dig up and haul in dirt - went with pure straw and already am unhappy with how much cleaning I have to do daily. I can only imagine how unhappy I'll be trudging through snow banks to get to them to do it! Husband made me take the pen out of the garage to a barn building so now it's a hike to get out there daily. If I can get longer with the peat moss I'm willing to give it a go.

 

[Kiki]

I like this idea. Kiki do you have to scoop it frequently? I cheated on my indoor pen this year and didn't dig up and haul in dirt - went with pure straw and already am unhappy with how much cleaning I have to do daily. I can only imagine how unhappy I'll be trudging through snow banks to get to them to do it! Husband made me take the pen out of the garage to a barn building so now it's a hike to get out there daily. If I can get longer with the peat moss I'm willing to give it a go.

No I actually never scoop any out.
I do add dirt to the boxes every other week or so...not too often... because they do kick some out.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Welcome to BYC!

Sand doesn't dry out in my location nor does it compost well. And once it does dry out it still has all the stuff from the poo juice left behind. I hate it!

Many here (my location) use wire bottom cages.. with platforms set up for the nesting box and to rest the feet on.. and also of course a pan set up with sand for bathing in.

How big is your set up? How many birds are you keeping in it?

 

[Micket]

At the moment I am busy preparing the coop which is roughly 10' square
By the same height
At this point it's for 8 quail chick's about 4wks old

 

[vall]

I'm one of few who used sand; it's fine if you live in a dry climate and the whole thing is covered from the occasional rain, but you will have to sift it occasionally. My aviary was 30 sqft and I sifted it every week or every other week for 10-12 quail. I think mulch is more popular, or just a plain dirt floor that's been tilled so they can dig around.

 

[Captain Quark]

I've raised my quail on sand, straw, outdoors on the ground. I don't use wire bottom, never have. I found sand was great but messy and needs scooping like cat litter. Temperature is rough with sand if you are somewhere that the temp gets cool. I'm in Canada so I've moved my quail into an unheated shed for the winter and use a mix of dug up topsoil and straw. I use deep litter method and will need to sprinkle new straw as it gets matted up. I use a small rake to mix it up then top with fresh straw. I'll get about two month of that then need to haul away a couple buckets to the compost. I've got on average 15 quail in a 10' x 4' pen for the indoor pen. Given that you've got an open to yours, be ready for rain or snow to come in and create moisture and possibly freeze. I move mine out in the spring to an outdoor pen and they cope well with the weather changes. For winter they prefer to burrow down into deep nests that insulate them when they sleep. The deep straw works great and I keep a bin with sand for bathing.

Trial and error to see what you like best and the amount of work you want to put in for cleaning. I originally had an indoor vermicomposter as my base and would like to build the indoor coop next year to support that again.

Kudos to you for giving them a great ground surface - you'll have happy birds!