Calling all indoor quail keepers

[kahlertm]

I use both the cage that Sumatra posted (exactly the same... 7 of them) and the white aviary style parakeet rectangle cages with half inch spaced bars (you can get them in colors too.

I also discovered Pete Marshalls Grass Cave for Rabbits. They fit nicely in the corner of these above cages and provide a natural and safe "hidey hole" for the Quail. My bantam OEGs abslolutley love them as their nesting area. They lay inside them and perch on top of them.

It may seem silly to the industrial strength quail breeders on here, but I do attach fake grass you can buy at Walmart in the fake flower section. I use a clip or plastic clothes pin. I pin the fake grass to create sight barriers or more hiding spots.

When I first started keeping them around the family indoors in the rec room (we are trying to get them socialized for sharing at 4-H and fair). I clipped the grass toward the front of the cage. I have slowly moved it back to cover the sand box and the front of the Grass Cave.

The cage that Sumatra posted requires me to take the top of and clean it out daily. I use puppy training pads as the base, OR the Glad "Press & Seal" accross the bottom, so all I have to do is roll it up and toss it every morning. I also sprinkle some of that reclaimed paper pulp bedding around. That is for the flat bottom.

Wire bottom, I cut a paper grocery bag in half and save them for setting inside one half of the wire cage. The sandbox or Grass Cave go on that and some paper pulp absorbant bedding gets sprinkled on. It gives them a break from the wire and I have recycled a paper bag for good use....to make my quail comfy (at least in my opinion).

The fake grass sprigs are only $1. at our walmart. They can be easily dipped into the bleach or disinfectant wash I use for the rest of the dishes, waterers etc.

Those Grass Caves were the find though. My bantams and the quail use them constantly.


Oh, and for dust bath...depending on how big your quail are I have used the various items with the top cut off and it layed on it's side to catch flinging dust:
Empty clumping cat litter jugs (big kind)
Empty Milk jug (for younger)
empty soda liter bottles
You catch the jist. Any large plastic container you were going to throw away can be recycled as a sand box or "sand tube"

Tonya

 

[KimJongill]

So the only real issue I'm left to decide on how to deal with in the dust problem. I was thinking of perhaps making a shadecloth/flyscreen cover to cover the majority of the cage to keep in all the seed husks and all the other debris they can kick up.

Any thoughts?

 

[kahlertm]

Mosquito net? Don't know where you'd find one but I'd bet a google will reveal a source.


Tonya

 

[Stellar]

For indoors, invest in a duster

I also use those desk chair matts and put my cages on top of the matts. That way the seeds would get on the matt and not in the carpet (when I lived in the apartment). That reminds me, the dog decided to use my duster in a tug of war battle with the other dog, so I have to add it to the list of things to buy...not expensive though

 

[StevenW.]

I would really like to see some indoor pens made from scratch for quail

 

[ghettochicken]

Reading through these posts have been very interesting and helpful. I made a quail pen using the galvanized small spaced wire, I hope it works. One of my issues is keeping the cage up high enough, but over the litter so the quail won't get into the litter.

Blessings,
Dawn

 

[DLew333616]

My son is raising quails in his bed room and the stink is unbearable. He is cooped up in his bedroom and the stink comes from under his bedroom door. I know this is not healthy and would like to know can he contact any diseases from these birds?

 

[DLew333616]

My son is raising quails in his bed room and the stink is unbearable. He is cooped up in his bedroom and the stink comes from under his bedroom door. I know this is not healthy and would like to know can he contact any diseases from these birds?

 

[laughingdog]

i used to have to keep the baby quail inside, and never had any trouble as long as i kept them proper, but bedding, feed, and waterers, are all factors in how bad and why they may smell so bad. any feedback on what type he is keeping, how many, what he is feeding, what type of feeder and wterer, and bedding he is using maybe helpful. most common problem i had was when accidently got medicated chick feed, and then they stunk horrible and i just them switched to unmedicated gambird mash, and problem was solved. though i also put dash of vinager per gallon of waterer if containers are not metal at all (metal with vinager left in can smell by self and also creat botchalism and other troubles). i raised only the courturnix quial which are the filthiest and dustiest breed supposedly. the dust from feces feathers and scales ect, are actually the worst possible problem causer. you can cut out dust and smell with cheap tower air purifier. i just got one for less than a hundred dollars at walmart.. hate shopping there, but most variety is there and cheapest now. i raised mine on grates and or with pine shavings and or also try garden soil, or just changed paper towel often under grates.

 

[Shanti Marie]

I have 12 quail, all of them I hatched from mail order eggs. I've kept them in my home for six weeks. It appears I have two very small (white with black marks on their head) button quail and one that looks like a tuxedo quail but I'm pretty sure is is just a mix as he was part of the order that included the two white birds. The rest (9) are much larger cortunix quail.
I have used all types of bedding to help aliviate the urine smell, such as.....small animal bedding with odor absorbing properties, clay cat liter, sand, pine shavings, paper, pine needles, bird cage liner, Timothy hay, straw, corn cob liter, shredder paper, cotton seed meal, and crab sand.
I think a few other things but I can't remember right now. The Timothy hay works the best for length of time between havering to change it out and actually a very nice smell until it gets pretty soiled. Most things worked OK but once wet almost all of them would sort of ferment. I used several water delivery systems and found the vacuum type hamster bottles ( when correctly placed and if filled with room temp water) worked great and did not drip. I was told not to use cedar shaving because the birds may have breathing problems. The birds do nestle down in the hay if I put in three or four inches on top,of the wire mesh. In the cage where I put it under the wire it works good too but I usually put in a nesting box or something so they can get off of the wire. I also filled bowl like or Tupperware type containers with sand and they love it. I use pieces of plexiglass or cardboard to keep the sand in the cage.