Got my first quail yesterday :)

[snooptwomey]

Brand new to quail, I have 3 chickens though. Went to pick up the 4 quail I was getting and get there and was given 6. 2 free ) So I got 1 tibetan tuxedo roo, 2 tibetan tuxedo hens(1 is large, 1 normal size), 1 dark range hen(large), 1 golden hen(large), and 1 white with brown at tip of tail(small). I built there living quarters out of an old ottoman, and some wooden fruit crates i collected outback of the farmers market, and mesh screening, string of white xmas lights. I am going to be adding on additional 36"Wx18"Lx14"H(this is the size of the current "run" area) to the "run" area probably today to accomodate the additional 2 that I hadn't planned on, and the closed in bedding/nesting area is around 30"Wx16"Lx18"H. How cold hearty are coturnix? My chickens do fine, I just want to make sure I provide enough warmth for the quail. I have the coop in my garage right now, it was around 30 degrees last night. Any tips or tricks I should want to know?

 

[navasima]

Welcome to quail! Sounds like you got some pretty birds there!! Same rules for quail as for chickens as far as cold: no drafts.
As far as tips and tricks... get specific and you'll get lots of experienced answers here!! Y'know how people say chickens are addictive and then talk about chicken math? Well, hang on to your hat! Quails IMO have those same properties X a lot!!

They are pretty enjoyable little goobers!!

BTW: Can we see more pics of your enclosure? Made from an ottoman sounds very cool!!!!

 

[snooptwomey]

Here is my enclosure, its sitting on top of 3 fruit crates in the photo, havent figured out how tall off the ground it will sit when I move it out of the garage, probably the height of 2 crates stacked then the coop/run on top. The run area in front consists of 4 wooden fruit boxes (approx 15"wide, 12"deep, 10" tall each box) nailed together. xmas lights in the run area closest to coop that i lay on top of the mesh top than lay four pieces of wood that were walls of a fruit box on top of the lights to keep the heat under them for the birds to get under. The coop is the framing of an older ottoman, all closed in, and the side walls are covered/sealed in with pieces cut out of an empty chicken feed bag(made out of thin tarp like plastic). The run area is laid out like I will draw out below.



COOP IS ON THIS SIDE
_________________________________________________________________________open into coop
l l
l l
l l
l pine shavings pine shavings l
l l
l l
l xmas lights l
l l
___________________________________________ l
l l l
l f l
l o l
l o l
l d pine shavings l
l l
l water l
l___________________________________________l____________________________________l

the dimensions of this run are approx 30" wide, 24"deep, 10" tall with 1" pine shavings in 3 sections, and the coop is approx 24" wide, 14" deep, 14" tall inside and has around 2" pine shavings in it.

The other day I went up behind the farmers market to see what building material I could find(I was hoping to find maybe 3 or 4 fruit crates to use) I came across around 30 of these fruit crates, all sturdy wood, some real old some real new, so I grabbed ALL of them lol I will end up making one or two more smaller pens incase I want/need to seperate birds. and all the small scraps of wood from building with them go into the fire pit which I use to heat up 3 or 4 red bricks that I end up setting down in the bottom of my chickens coop under the ledge they sleep on at night since its been down below freezing here lately, warms it right up the coop since its only a 3.5'w by 4'd by 5'h completely closed in coop.

 

[navasima]

Neat!

 

[TheRealTimShady]

loving the ricketty ness of your setup(i'm all about reusing) might you be able to take some shots of the inside, really would like to see it.

 

[snooptwomey]

didnt spend a penny to build it, except for the gas to drive the 1 mile to the farmers market to get the boxes.

My chicken coop and tractor/run area were all built from free materials I rounded up (a 3.5ft by 4ft by 4 ft tall wood shipping box from work was the bulk of the coop)and the tractor run was free from a lady off craigslist, she had posted she was "selling the whole farm" and the posting was a few weeks old when I emailed asking if she happen to have any of the tractors left since she had listed as having several a few weeks prior. She said there was one left and it was mine free if I just came and got it. she said it was approx 3ft by 5 ft. I got there and it was like 5.5ft by 8 ft

I will get pictures of the inside once I get home from work later.

 

[mhwc56]

what's with the funny looking birds? They're all standing on their heads or tails ...LOL
Glad you like the quail

that looks like a pretty good set up,especially for how quick you had to put it together before coming out here to get the quail. i was wondering what you were trying to explain when you were telling me about it.now i can see it myself.