I got into quail a few years ago and did a bunch of research on youtube before I built my first cage. I have since built a much larger cage and I learned from my first one and did things a little different in it. I'm going to show ya'll my first cage then I'll tell you a few things I wish I had done differently.
I designed it around a 4ftx2ft oil drip pan to catch the droppings. In the end of the cage I have two baking dishes sitting flush in the floor. I put shavings and/or sand in them. I used 1x4s, 1x6s and 2x6s that I ripped in half. 1/2" hardware cloth for sides floor and roof. Galv scews and 1/2" staples. Cage is roughly 5ftx2ftx18". (Make sure to build the cage around the size of the wire you are using. If you buy a 2ft wide roll of wire make sure your frame is two foot wide at the outer dimensions so the wire will fit on top of the wood and you do not half to cut 1/2" of wire off or end up 1/2" short)
I enclosed one end and added a light bulb and two sliding doors. This way when i need to empty out the two baking pans I can have the quail in the large section and close off the enclosed side. The sliding doors open and close using fishing line that I have run to the outside of the cage.
First egg......
You can see the sliding doors better in this picture. My feeder is a regular feeder from tractor supply. I have a 45 degree 3" elbow that connects to a 3in to 2in reducer. The reducer goes inside the red feeder. The pvc reducer is slightly too big around to fit inside the feeder but this is fixed easily. Inside the red part there is a liitle bit of plastic that protrudes so that the threads of the original plastic bottle can screw into it. I grinded them down with my dremel and the pvc fits snugly into the feeder. I added a piece 2x6 under the feeder to lift it high enough so the quail couldn't poop in it. The pipe comes out the side of the trap so I can feed from the outside. I have since improved upon this design and made this a zero waste feeder. I will explain at the end.
Soon after getting it setup I decided to keep the quail outside under my lean-to. Since they are outside I no longer keep the drip pan under the cage and I just let the droppings fall on the ground.
So if I was to build this one again.... I would make the entire floor wire (even inside the enclosure). Then i could just set pans on top of the wire for them to dust bathe in. Also I would have built it on a slant and added an egg catcher to it.
The quail tend to stay in the corners or up against the side of the cage. This is where they tend to poop alot. So you end up having droppings on top of the wood around the edges of the cage. You need to build the cage so that the entire floor is wire and there is no wood for them to poop on. To fix this cage all I have to do is add a 2x4 on top of the wire above the 2x4 under the floor. You lose a little bit of cage space but no poop can pile up.
Also I recommend going with chicken nipple waterers. If you have them, a slanted floor for egg roll out, and a feeder like mine you never have to go inside the cage and disturb the quail.
So the feeder.... I really like this design. The problem with the standard feeder is the red part fills all the way to the top with feed and the quail knocks a good bit of it out and it gets wasted. I have improved this design so that it practicality eliminates all wasted feed. I added a short (about 1.5" long) piece of 2" pvc and stuck it in the bottom of the 3" to 2" reducer. This leaves a about a 3/16" gap at the bottom of the red tray for the feed to pour out. This way the red part does not fill completely up with food and the quail have to stick their heads way down into the feeder to get food. Here's a pic showing the 2" pvc inside the feeder.
Here's a link to my second and most recent cage....
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/diy-quail-cage-2-0.1231366/
That's all the pics I had on my phone from a couple years ago for this one. If ya'll have any questions let me know and I can get some more pics if needed.
Matt
I designed it around a 4ftx2ft oil drip pan to catch the droppings. In the end of the cage I have two baking dishes sitting flush in the floor. I put shavings and/or sand in them. I used 1x4s, 1x6s and 2x6s that I ripped in half. 1/2" hardware cloth for sides floor and roof. Galv scews and 1/2" staples. Cage is roughly 5ftx2ftx18". (Make sure to build the cage around the size of the wire you are using. If you buy a 2ft wide roll of wire make sure your frame is two foot wide at the outer dimensions so the wire will fit on top of the wood and you do not half to cut 1/2" of wire off or end up 1/2" short)
I enclosed one end and added a light bulb and two sliding doors. This way when i need to empty out the two baking pans I can have the quail in the large section and close off the enclosed side. The sliding doors open and close using fishing line that I have run to the outside of the cage.
First egg......
You can see the sliding doors better in this picture. My feeder is a regular feeder from tractor supply. I have a 45 degree 3" elbow that connects to a 3in to 2in reducer. The reducer goes inside the red feeder. The pvc reducer is slightly too big around to fit inside the feeder but this is fixed easily. Inside the red part there is a liitle bit of plastic that protrudes so that the threads of the original plastic bottle can screw into it. I grinded them down with my dremel and the pvc fits snugly into the feeder. I added a piece 2x6 under the feeder to lift it high enough so the quail couldn't poop in it. The pipe comes out the side of the trap so I can feed from the outside. I have since improved upon this design and made this a zero waste feeder. I will explain at the end.
Soon after getting it setup I decided to keep the quail outside under my lean-to. Since they are outside I no longer keep the drip pan under the cage and I just let the droppings fall on the ground.
So if I was to build this one again.... I would make the entire floor wire (even inside the enclosure). Then i could just set pans on top of the wire for them to dust bathe in. Also I would have built it on a slant and added an egg catcher to it.
The quail tend to stay in the corners or up against the side of the cage. This is where they tend to poop alot. So you end up having droppings on top of the wood around the edges of the cage. You need to build the cage so that the entire floor is wire and there is no wood for them to poop on. To fix this cage all I have to do is add a 2x4 on top of the wire above the 2x4 under the floor. You lose a little bit of cage space but no poop can pile up.
Also I recommend going with chicken nipple waterers. If you have them, a slanted floor for egg roll out, and a feeder like mine you never have to go inside the cage and disturb the quail.
So the feeder.... I really like this design. The problem with the standard feeder is the red part fills all the way to the top with feed and the quail knocks a good bit of it out and it gets wasted. I have improved this design so that it practicality eliminates all wasted feed. I added a short (about 1.5" long) piece of 2" pvc and stuck it in the bottom of the 3" to 2" reducer. This leaves a about a 3/16" gap at the bottom of the red tray for the feed to pour out. This way the red part does not fill completely up with food and the quail have to stick their heads way down into the feeder to get food. Here's a pic showing the 2" pvc inside the feeder.
Here's a link to my second and most recent cage....
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/diy-quail-cage-2-0.1231366/
That's all the pics I had on my phone from a couple years ago for this one. If ya'll have any questions let me know and I can get some more pics if needed.
Matt
Last edited:
