Quailerino
Flailing
Hi there! I keep a flock of quail in my .25acre suburban backyard. They live in a large, chicken-wire aviary that we have fortified by creating a secondary chicken-wire enclosure around the entire aviary, with a 1.5' gap between the first layer, and the second layer. (to prevent cats/raccoons/etc from being able to reach the quail through the chicken-wire walls.)
So far our quail-fortress has proven effectively unassailable. BUT!...MANY of my neighbors have free-roaming cats that are just itching to get at our quail, and I'll regularly see them just sitting next to the quail house, entranced, just staring at them intently. I don't want to hurt or harm the cats in any way. I like cats! (although I would hurt a cat, if it ever got to a point where a cat had found some way to actually get at the quail, and I thought it was the only way in the moment to save them from imminent death...I dearly hope it would never come to that) I wouldn't want to do electric fencing, because we have a dog, and wouldn't want our dog to get hurt. (we have trained our dog to behave around the quail, under very close supervision). Our dog is a fairly effective cat deterrent herself, but cats are so quiet that she doesn't necessarily notice them when she's inside the house...especially if we're all asleep.
In summary, what we have now seems to be working so far, but I wonder if there are other things we could also be doing that might help to deter cats from our yard and our quail. I've learned SO MUCH from the members of this BYC community, and am hoping to pick your brains on this subject. ...or peck? Peck your brains?
(gross, sorry)
So far our quail-fortress has proven effectively unassailable. BUT!...MANY of my neighbors have free-roaming cats that are just itching to get at our quail, and I'll regularly see them just sitting next to the quail house, entranced, just staring at them intently. I don't want to hurt or harm the cats in any way. I like cats! (although I would hurt a cat, if it ever got to a point where a cat had found some way to actually get at the quail, and I thought it was the only way in the moment to save them from imminent death...I dearly hope it would never come to that) I wouldn't want to do electric fencing, because we have a dog, and wouldn't want our dog to get hurt. (we have trained our dog to behave around the quail, under very close supervision). Our dog is a fairly effective cat deterrent herself, but cats are so quiet that she doesn't necessarily notice them when she's inside the house...especially if we're all asleep.
In summary, what we have now seems to be working so far, but I wonder if there are other things we could also be doing that might help to deter cats from our yard and our quail. I've learned SO MUCH from the members of this BYC community, and am hoping to pick your brains on this subject. ...or peck? Peck your brains?
(gross, sorry)
I've never tried it before but it looks cool!
