Coturnix Housing?

[noodlesluvspie]

Hi! I'm new to the world of raising and keeping coturnix quail and I have a few questions about housing. My questions are, what kind of housing is best for coturnix? Do wire bottom coops hurt their feet? Where is the best place to keep them (indoors or outdoors)? It would be really appreciated if someone could help me out with this as I have already done a lot of research but I'm still confused on this subject. If you'd like to show me pictures of your quail housing that would be awesome. I would also greatly appreciate any other information on this subject or coturnix in general. Thanks!

 

[Silkiehen]

I started a thread similar to this one. I was told that the poop can harden on the wire and cut their feet and it can give them bumble foot.

 

[noodlesluvspie]

Yeah, I've always been hesitant to use wired cages because of this. Thanks for your help!

 

[Binki]

I'll copy my reply from silkiehen's post

I would not use wire for several reasons, first it's unnatural and can't imagine them feeling as safe and comfortable as a full floor of bedding.

Second, the poo has to be mashed with their feet through the wire to hit the bottom. Mine average nickel sized turds xD

Third, it coats the wire and gets sharp as the other poster mentioned and will start cutting up their feet.

Lastly, to clean it, you would have some scrubbing on your hands as quail poop is like cement when it's dry. Oh and you would also have to clean where the poop lands and since there's no bedding it will smell more because it will take longer to dry.

I like to use newspaper with wood shavings and the quail actually like bathing in the shavings as well, although they still much prefer a sand box - the holy grail of quail wink.png when it's time to clean them, I take the quail to a temp cage with a fresh sand box to keep them busy and simply roll up the newspaper with the dirty shavings on top and put it in a yard bag or you can compost it. Then I use a dustpan to get the rogue shavings and put the fresh newspaper down in the way it can be rolled up next time smile.png

Info about brooding -

Quail chicks do not last as long as chicken chicks after they hatch without food and water - most people will recommended taking them out when they're mostly dry once a day whereas chicken chicks are commonly left for three days.

They drown easily in water even shallow water so yes marbles or rocks smile.png

You have to teach them how to eat and drink, eating is the easy part but drinking may take more time, I sprinkle some crushed dry grass so it floats on the water so when I touch the water it moves around on top of the water which will encourage them to peck it and they will realize their water source smile.png

I use bird netting used to protect fruit trees for the top of the brooder as they will be flapping around in no time practicing their new wings and they harmlessly bounce off of it as long as you don't have anything hard in the brooder for them to land on.

I use paper towels for my brooder until they're old enough to not thing wood shavings are food wink.png about a week or so!

Good luck with your baby quail - some tame up very nicely (usually when hatched in smaller groups of about a dozen or so in my experience) and love to be pet and snuggled... I even have some that love to get in my sleeve and hood hehehe.

 

[Binki]

Some examples of "quail jails"

Converted DIY rabbit hutch inside garage with big windows to look out of,

Small animal cage (I now have bird netting [to protect fruit trees kind] zip tied on the roof - very effective as the cage roof is a dome so I just netted below the dome so they will never hurt their heads if they flush!)

Brooder (stored in garage for that picture),

Aviary,

Quail prefer to be kept outdoors/near a window but have to be sheltered from wind/wet as they will not take shelter in a coop, or anything else you provide

I was surprised how well my aviary quail took to being moved inside the garage in the hutch (for the winter), in fact I have two that do the popcorn quail dance whenever I talk to them so they don't seem to be missing anything/depressed about being indoors now.

 

[Binki]

I also provide them with a sand box (they adore it so much) and a food box where I put their feed with a bit of wood shavings so they get to scratch around for it

I put their grit and crushed oyster shell (for laying females) in their sand box and I strain it clean every few days.

I'm a big fan of using cardboard boxes (Pepsi, oatmeal, etc.) because when they get dirty, I recycle them instead of having to clean them

I also like that they're soft in case the quail hit them for some reason.

I used to use all hay but now mostly wood shavings for better absorbency and a corner of hay where they will sometimes build nests and lay in hehe.

 

[noodlesluvspie]

Thank you so much! This was really informative! I've never used wire on my rabbits for these reasons but I wasn't sure if quail were different. Once again thanks!

 

[Binki]

You're very welcome

 

[3potatoes]

Some examples of "quail jails"

Small animal cage (I now have bird netting [to protect fruit trees kind] zip tied on the roof - very effective as the cage roof is a dome so I just netted below the dome so they will never hurt their heads if they flush!)

Hi -
Hoping to add some Coturnix Quail to our lives and doing lots of research - noticed your photos of the small animal cage you're using and had a couple questions -

We have a rabbit/guinea pig cage that's 1.5 feet x 2.5 feet - and trying to figure out if we might be able to use that to house a few birds to get started - thinking 2 females and 1 male in that much space?

Wondering about how large the small animal cage is that you're using for Coturnix - and what you use for food and water?

Thank you - super excited to be trying to figure this out!

 

[TwoCrows]

You might check out our Learning Center...we have a quail section which covers everything from hatching, raising, keeping, housing, feeding and keeping quail healthy..... https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/other-backyard-fowl-ducks-quail-turkeys-geese-etc