Cage Question

[LonghornGardens]

I have looked and looked at quail cage designs.  It seems no two are alike. 

I like the battery style cages that you stack upon each other the best.  I can't seem to find a good "blueprint" so it looks like I am gonna just have to wing it unless one of y'all knows where one is online.  

One of the things I can't seem to figure out from looking at all the pictures and videos is how tall does the slot at the front of the cage have to be to let the eggs role out and not allow the quail to escape.  If one of y'all could answer that for me I sure would appreciate it.

Any other tips or tricks for a battery style quail cage would be very helpful.  I have built some rabbit cages, but this is just a little bit more complicated.  

Thank you.

 

[cookiesdaddy]

I leave my slot 1-1/4 inch and that's just about right for jumbo eggs to roll out. You don't have to worry about quail escaping, but you need to build some "fence" front of slot to prevent predator from reaching in with their arms. I got one quail attacked through the slot.

I built my first cage "battery" style and it has its pros and cons. You don't want to leave the ceiling too high they might jump bonking their heads and die. Mine is 10-11 inches and 2 or 3 died so far because of it. But keeping it too low they will look cramp and uncomfortable in there.

I need to build my 2nd cage and still unsure which style to build. I had a chance to see DC's cages - high ceiling, solid floor (not wire) - and his quails look absolutely beautiful and relax, compared to mine. I do keep mine 1 square foot per bird, or better. But I think either the lower ceiling or the wire floor is stressing them out. The problem is, with stacked housing I can house more birds. I'm greedy

Just sharing what I learned.

 

[cookiesdaddy]

BTW what happened to the Longhorns?

 

[LonghornGardens]

Thank you so much for your quick reply. I was planing on raising jumbo's and if 1.25 inches works then I can start drawing something up.

What do you mean what happened to the longhorn's? What happened to the last one was I shot it in the head, pulled it up into a hickory tree to butcher and filled my freezer. The rest are fat and happy.

 

[LonghornGardens]

I fertilize my garden with the guts, blood, hooves and bones. The horns get sold.

 

[cookiesdaddy]

Nevermind. I thought you were a texas longhorn fan. They're not doing too well lol. Anyhow now I know why you called yourself longhorngardens.

 

[jakesterz]

I'm glad I ran across this. I'm buildng a first cage out of PVC with 1/2" plastic hardware cloth. I was going to put doors on top, but maybe it's better they're on the front so I can stack? I guess you just put trays between?