Coop/Cage Pictures? - Deep Litter

[HeatherN]

Hello all!

I am looking to build some more permanent enclosures for my breeding groups of Coturnix. I have been looking through the coop threads for inspiration, but I find a majority of those cages keep them on wire floors. To each their own, but I am wondering if you guys would be willing to show me pictures of your enclosures that keep quail on deep litter/the ground.

Any other input for someone designing deep litter cages would be appreciated! My quail love their temporary deep litter cages and I would really like to expand my capacity and their comfort.

Thanks, and have a great day!

 

[Nabiki]

I keep my quail on the ground. The pens are moveable, so I keep them on my fallow garden beds during the fall/winter and hoe their poop under. During spring/summer I move them once a month or so so they don't stand in a lot of poop.

 

[Lilyofsalen]

I'm also interested in this, I plan on building a three-part multistory pen. The bottom level will be 3 feet by 6 feet and divided in two sections so that two separate breeding groups have 9 square feet each. The second story will be 2 feet tall, have a solid floor with pine shaving substrate, and will hold the grow outs. The second story will also give shade to the first.

 

[HeatherN]

@Nabiki Awesome "tractor" setup! Do they bug your plants much? I'd be worried mine would peck plants to death! The duck certainly shreds everything soft...

 

[Nabiki]

@Nabiki Awesome "tractor" setup! Do they bug your plants much? I'd be worried mine would peck plants to death! The duck certainly shreds everything soft...

Don't put any plants that you care about in with them.

They will destroy them. I left the zucchini plant in their pen for them when I decided it was time for the garden to wind down, so it was perfectly okay for them to destroy it. I like to move them around to fresh grass or plants and the quail love them while they last.

 

[Guille]

I keep my quail on the ground. The pens are moveable, so I keep them on my fallow garden beds during the fall/winter and hoe their poop under. During spring/summer I move them once a month or so so they don't stand in a lot of poop.
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I have something like that. How many do you house in each of those? Does the ground just naturally degrade the dropping or do you clean them?

 

[Nabiki]

I have something like that. How many do you house in each of those? Does the ground just naturally degrade the dropping or do you clean them?

Mine are a little over 20 square feet, and I keep 8-10 birds in them.

When they're on my garden beds I hoe the poop under. They like to follow the hoe around and eat the worms that get turned up.

When they're on ground, I move the pens when they get dirty and they've killed all the plants in them. I then hose down the area they've been in, and the poop breaks down and becomes part of the soil. It's clean and has new plant growth by the time they end up back in the same spot.

I live in a city and I don't have a huge yard, but it works.

 

[le_bwah]

I've had success using a mix of garden mulch and bark/wood chips (3-4 inches deep to start, adding more as needed). As long as it's turned over often and is allowed to get wet, it pretty much takes care of the poop. I raise 16 hens in a roughly 150 square foot aviary. They LOVE having droopy grasses to hide and nest under.

The quail seem perfectly happy rooting around in the dirt all day—you tend to see more natural behavior (foraging, nesting) when you provide an enriched enclosure.

 

[Nabiki]

I've had success using a mix of garden mulch and bark/wood chips (3-4 inches deep to start, adding more as needed). As long as it's turned over often and is allowed to get wet, it pretty much takes care of the poop. I raise 16 hens in a roughly 150 square foot aviary. They LOVE having droopy grasses to hide and nest under.

The quail seem perfectly happy rooting around in the dirt all day—you tend to see more natural behavior (foraging, nesting) when you provide an enriched enclosure.

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Every time I see your aviary I get jealous. It's beautiful.

 

[le_bwah]

Every time I see your aviary I get jealous. It's beautiful.

Thank you! You're doing the right thing with your setup, too—healthy, happy-looking birds.