Cage ceiling lining?

[Chickety Charcoal]

Does anyone line the ceiling of their quail cages with something to cushion the birds' heads when they bop it?


I have a few quail in a cage that has less than a foot and a half of clearance floor (bedding) to ceiling. They have lived in it for over a year with no problems. Recently one of the males must have bopped the ceiling really hard and split the skin on his head badly. I was concerned that he wouldn't heal, but he seems to be doing well so far. The ceiling is almost all covered in 1/2" hardware cloth as are the sides. I saw the blood spot on the ceiling where it was just plain wire and no sharp edges or anything unusual. I am not sure what could have made the bird jump with that kind of force and I thought the height would not allow him to accelerate enough.

In any case, do you recommend I put something on the ceiling to cushion them- like padding? Not sure what would let some light permeate, etc.

 

[Ladyeviv]

When I had mine, I put bubble wrap on the "ceiling", but I was keeping mine in a bin with an area cut out of the lid and plastic mesh (for craft projects) duct taped over the opening I made...the rest of the underside of the lid had the bubble wrap duct taped on. This setup seemed to work fine for the couple I had

 

[Advocat]

For my guy, I used a panel of one of those "pop-up" style mesh hampers to cover the opening I cut in the top of his cage. There is some nice "give" to them and the little holes allow both light and air in. If carefully cut from the hamper, there is a metal strip inside a seam that will remain with what you cut. I used duct tape to secure it to the top of the cage, and left one side free of duct tape so that I can lift that to put food and water in, let him out, etc. without taking the whole top off.

This type of hamper:

http://prettyimpress.com/laundry-basket-pop-up-hamper-clothes-storage-bin-color-assorted.html