Decorating a hutch to make a home

[HutchButch]

Bit of history: I have five coturnix quail (1 cock, 4 hens) in a hutch that is just short of 10 square feet. Two of the females have yet to lay consistently, while the other two (Athena & Eris) lay daily. One of the hens, Persephone, has laid once, but she had bumblefoot which I treated with much help from Nabiki (Thank you!). The last hen, Venus, has never laid and I'm still uncertain of her sex.

I built the hutch from scratch and use sand around the floor to make it easy to scoop like a kitty litter box. Since it's all wood, I cover it with a tarp supported on steel rods pounded into the ground. The birds get enough air and coolness with plenty of water and food. I recently started making a nesting box to put in there and Athena and Eris have both used it at least once for laying. There's also a divider in the hutch which started out as a horny jail for a rooster I had with my first flock to separate him from the rest of the flock for being too aggressive. I now use it to separate anyone who is injured from the rest of the flock. Persephone is in there to finish bumblefoot recovery and Venus is in there with her for recovery from a beak injury (possibly caused by Eris).

Eris is particularly erratic and has a tendency to race around the hutch in a frenzy. Jupiter tries to rein her in, but all that ends up happening is a few lost feathers on her neck.

Below is an outdated picture of my setup (taken at night with an LED light for lumination). (I can take a more recent picture and upload it later.) One of the quails on the right side (the horny jail/infirmary) is no longer with us and has been replaced by Persephone (a white quail).

Here's my question:

What suggestions do you have for making the hutch feel more comfy for the quail? I've tried hanging foliage from bungie cords attached to the hardware cloth, but they don't seem to care about it one way or the other. Would paper plants be good or would they get all poopy? The hutch isn't really on the ground and it doesn't get much light so I don't have a way to grow anything in there that I know of. Maybe ferns would work?

I'm also thinking of dividing the hutch down the middle with a more stable divider. Eris was making angry sounds at Persephone and Venus last time I let the three of them interact with each other while cleaning the hutch. Should I give a nesting box to Persephone and Venus as well?

 

[Nabiki]

I would add a few more hiding places. That will make them feel safer, which will mean calmer birds. The hiding places can be made out of just about anything. They seem to like things that they can hide but see out of like branches or the little dollar store baskets with holes cut in them.

Don't expect them to use the nesting boxes for that purpose. Coturnix lay wherever they feel like it. Sometimes you'll get one who will push them all in a corner, but that doesn't mean she's going broody.

My setups aren't perfect (still working on them), but you can see what they look like here:

 

[HutchButch]

I would add a few more hiding places. That will make them feel safer, which will mean calmer birds. The hiding places can be made out of just about anything. They seem to like things that they can hide but see out of like branches or the little dollar store baskets with holes cut in them.

Don't expect them to use the nesting boxes for that purpose. Coturnix lay wherever they feel like it. Sometimes you'll get one who will push them all in a corner, but that doesn't mean she's going broody.

My setups aren't perfect (still working on them), but you can see what they look like here:

So, I took an updated photo. I opened up the right side a bit to give Persephone and Venus more room. I also put in a branch of pigeon plum for Jupiter, Athena, and Eris and a couple branches of katuk for Venus and Persephone. The katuk seems to be a bit more springy (I got a young, green branch maybe that's why) (Please tell me that neither of those plants are toxic to the flock.)

Also, I bought a couple of baskets from the $ store, but I'm going to see how the branches do first.

 

[Nabiki]

The branches look a bit flat on the floor. Can they hide in them? You might try some larger branches or try hanging them from the ceiling of their cage.

 

[HutchButch]

The branches look a bit flat on the floor. Can they hide in them? You might try some larger branches or try hanging them from the ceiling of their cage.

I've tried hanging the katuk before, but the ceiling is a bit high for them to reach the sand floor. I might be able to do it with the pigeon plum. Persephone and Venus were hiding among the katuk leaves just fine though.