Do quail pee?

[MidMOQuailDude]

I have my first group of Coturnix in the brooder box but I have the floor in pine chips so I can't tell if they pee or if they just poop. I'm in the process of designing the poop tray to seperate different levels of my quail hutch which will have wire floors and need to design the tray accordingly. Any help is appreciated.

 

[member 129538]

Birds have 1 vent where everything comes out from. They won't pee separately but all the waste is mixed together.

 

[MidMOQuailDude]

Perfect, thank you! That's what it looked like but I wanted to make sure before I committed to the design.

 

[James the Bald]

I have my first group of Coturnix in the brooder box but I have the floor in pine chips so I can't tell if they pee or if they just poop. I'm in the process of designing the poop tray to separate different levels of my quail hutch which will have wire floors and need to design the tray accordingly. Any help is appreciated.

Mizzou Quail Dude, I hope you have better luck that I have. The one thing I learned, is that nobody (and I mean NOBODY) sells a "poop tray" for the size you need. I have 8 cages, 6 of which are 24" x 36", and these quail have found a way to poop through the wire on the sides of the cages and miss the poop tray altogether, and on occasion, hit the side of the cage below them. I'm still trying to figure out how they do it. I have considered making my cages a couple of inches smaller (so the 24" x 36" poop trays would actually "work"), but that would mean starting all over, and I have enough $$$ invested already. The only thing I haven't tried is to put a 2" strip of galvanized steel around the bottom part of each side for my cages, and that seems like the most economical solution.
James

 

[MidMOQuailDude]

I'm planning to use plexiglass cut to my own spec for the trays along with a clear corrugated weather proof top to allow light transmission through the stack. I have water access right next to the quail coop so it shouldn't be too bad to brush the majority of the refuse off and then hit the remaining with the hose. If that ends up being too much of a hassle I have a friend who does HVAC work and he offered to make pans to my spec from sheet metal. Hopefully one or the other will work.

 

[dc3085]

They'll cover the trays with crap in about half a day and block any light transmission you were hoping to get vertically through the stack. I don't use turd tray cages anymore because they fill them up so fast.

 

[MidMOQuailDude]

I've got the hutch designed with a wire front also. If I had room, I would have made just single-stack pens, let the poop fall to the ground and shoveled it into compost every few days, but unfortunately I have a limited space and have to stack the pens into a hutch, making the poop trays necessary. I was looking for something poop-proof for the trays and the plexiglass being clear just happened to be a bonus. The same with the top, I was going to put a corrugated poly top on it anyhow for protection from the rain, since they offered it in clear along with the other colors I just thought that would be a bonus. If they get half-a-day (or less) of extra light through it before it gets poop-covered then that's just supplemental. With all of that said, I'm brand new at this. If anyone can think of any reason why I shouldn't do it this way let me know. The plans won't be final for a few more days and I can still change the design.
Thanks in advance,
Tim

 

[dc3085]

Nope no reason you shouldn't do it, sounds like you have it well planned. If you find the plexi trays don't work out for you and you want fit to size ones, just call a few local sheet metal shops ask what they'd charge to make a few cheap pans for you. Sometimes sheet metal fab can be a lot cheaper than you'd expect.

 

[davedavey]

Your not kidding about the pooping. That seems to be all they do.

 

[rasing cane]

U can forget about plexiglass I've tried it didn't work like l planed unless u r cleaning 2 times a day .better off with pans .I use one inch lip pans and I scatter litter in bottom and empty once a wk works great.