comercial pen question

[scandog]

I want to start raising quail. Currently have 75 chickens. 50 roaster chicks the rest my layers. Have also raised pheasant, Pigeons and a few quail 30 years ago in high school. I was recently told I could have three of the 30" 3 section quail pens. don't have them yet, but think they are about 12-16" deep. seems like very small pens. If I remember, they we set up for 2-3 birds. Does that sound right?

would I be further ahead building my own pens?

I was also wondering if I could hang cages on the wall of my chicken coop?

If I set it up so the chickens can't get to the to it with a screen front, is it OK to have them in the same coop?

Forgot to mention, I would like to have maybe 10-25 for breeding and eggs. then will incubate several times a year for meat.
Probably build a larger rabbit coop style pen for my meat birds to finish in.

Any thoughts?

 

[Chick Charm]

Good for you. Go for it.

Yes the commercial pens are small. I like my Coturnix to have more room than that. More room alleviates pecking issues and makes them healthier. It is very time consuming building pens for cots though. Sometimes it just maybe worth it to buy small rabbit pens and use those. Stackable are great or hang them from a wall outside.

You do NOT want to put the quail anywhere that their poo will come into contact with the chickens or vice versa. Quail and chickens should NOT come into contact. Any one who says it is ok has not done so successfully for very long. Usually within a year diseases transfer and the effects are terrible for both chickens and the quail. I keep both quail and chickens and love them both. I just keep them separate. Practice healthy poultry handling.

I have tried a few methods of raising and I like building my own. It is fun and at the same time, time-consuming and it does cost more than expected. Here are a few of my pens for examples.

I probable spent 30 hrs designing and building this one. It worked fabulously. 24 sf could accommodate up to 20 cots though I liked it better with 12 in there.

I made this for a friend who wanted to raise cots on the ground.

Built this as a bachelors quarters/grow pen.

I used this for a hospital pen for a pecked on cot.

 

[James the Bald]

I want to start raising quail. Currently have 75 chickens. 50 roaster chicks the rest my layers. Have also raised pheasant, Pigeons and a few quail 30 years ago in high school. I was recently told I could have three of the 30" 3 section quail pens. don't have them yet, but think they are about 12-16" deep. seems like very small pens. If I remember, they we set up for 2-3 birds. Does that sound right?

would I be further ahead building my own pens?

I was also wondering if I could hang cages on the wall of my chicken coop?

If I set it up so the chickens can't get to the to it with a screen front, is it OK to have them in the same coop?

Forgot to mention, I would like to have maybe 10-25 for breeding and eggs. then will incubate several times a year for meat.
Probably build a larger rabbit coop style pen for my meat birds to finish in.

Any thoughts?

My first thought is, your subject line should be "I have LOTS of questions" instead of Commercial Pens. First things first, you may want to consider reading this thread, and this link. The size that you mentioned is about right for raising quail.
I just lost 15 cents

.

 

[scandog]

Thanks for the info. I have just over an acre of property surrounded by farm field. My laying chickens are allowed to free range at least a couple days a week. Based on what I read, wild bobwhites are in danger and I should not even attempt to raise quail. I am surprised people are even allowed to free range chickens. Wow that post became very aggressive.

Looks like we will be keeping the quail in a separate building. I don't want to risk loosing them or any of my chickens. May still make a couple rabbit coop style pens for my eating birds. Have to think about how to keep the chickens away from them.

I forgot to ask, ho many birds in those small pens? 1 male and 2 females too many?

Again, thanks for the info.

 

[Chick Charm]

Yes, the small pens are designed for 3 birds per. You can get a bunch of cots in a small space and still keep em relatively healthy with those pens. I believe there is a video on Youtube that shows these pens in use. In the video there are 3 per section.