Can raccoon reach through wire and kill quail?

[Scooter&Suzie]

I was looking at different quail designs and a lot of the quail coops had wire bottoms or have no bottom and wire sides. I was wondering... Could a raccoon reach through the wire on the bottom or sides and pull off legs or necks of the quail? Could foxes dig under and eat them? It really doesn't seem safe. If a raccoon was trying to get them, would they move away, even at night? And what happens when it snows and there is no place for the to go? Do they just freeze???

 

[calamityfarm]

Yes, raccoon can and do reach through wire to pull birds out. One of the things we've done is to never put perches near the edges. When we had the coop in a more 'predator-friendly' site I affectionately called it Alcatraz. We had wire attached to the bottom edge and extending out 18". We had a full wire top on the outdoor section of the coop, and it was 15' X 25' so that was no small undertaking. Once we did all that -perches away from 'walls' and wire top and bottom, our casualties stopped. Now the birds are in a much safer zone and I haven’t had to go to such extremes.

 

[Nambroth]

I was looking at different quail designs and a lot of the quail coops had wire bottoms or have no bottom and wire sides. I was wondering... Could a raccoon reach through the wire on the bottom or sides and pull off legs or necks of the quail? Could foxes dig under and eat them? It really doesn't seem safe. If a raccoon was trying to get them, would they move away, even at night? And what happens when it snows and there is no place for the to go? Do they just freeze???

I can only answer a few of your questions, but yes, raccoons and other predators have been known not only to reach in for quail, but other species of fowl kept on wire. Sadly, raccoons have killed a lot of birds by tearing them apart, piece by piece, though wire, if it's big enough to get a paw in. If you search the predator threads, even with wire too small to get a paw in, there are a lot of people that have posted about legs, toes (etc) being pulled off of their birds while alive. Terrible! I have to imagine it's immensely painful for the bird. Many birds have very poor vision at night and often do not know to move away from a nocturnal predator.