Building my quail house!

[Sky5678]

I tweaked my old walk-in design to fit your 5x10 footprint for visualization purposes—you could show it to your family so they have a better idea of what something that wide looks like when you make it human-tall.

View attachment 1739795

A major draw for my family was the possibility of using the aviary for chickens/ducks or wild quail when I'm out of the picture. They thought it was too big at first, now they call it "functional yard art" . Really hoping your family sees the beauty in happy quail and lets you pick out a spot in the yard.

How many quail could comfortably live in there? Do they mostly stay on the ground or will they fly?

 

[le_bwah]

The absolute most I'd put in 50 square feet is 20 Coturnix—lower numbers keeps maintenance (poop) low for you and conflict low amongst the birds.

They stay on the ground as long as they have cover to dart between and are habituated to human/other animal interaction. They only flush when they feel they have no other means of evading predators. They also sometimes do what I call a "flutter-hop" and jump around when faced with treats or new enrichment, but it's not high.

 

[Fishkeeper]

Don't put the pen under your deck in the winter, just put a roof over it and add a tarp if needed for wind blocking. Quail are fine in colder weather if they have protection from the wind, and don't seem to mind a bit of rain.