help with nesting box, sand box and substrate for big cage please!

[muttsmutt]

hello i have had one quail for a while now and i am looking to change a few things before i will go buy more quail for company. she lives in 120cm x 80cm x 120cm big cage, with cockatiel. they get along very well, he goes down to her sometimes and she pecks him, he doesn't mind.

she has nest box with straw, but she never goes inside, she acts like its just a block of concrete. it is a cardboard box, on its side, with no "doors", it's basically a ceiling, and two side walls. it's about twice as big as her.
i need to make her a new nest box. how should i make it?

i also have problem with sand box. right now she has a large dish, that is about 3cm tall, with sand. she splashes sand too far, it is too messy, i need another kind of sand box. what can you suggest i make?

for substrate i have used to saw newspaper covered with a plastic tablecloth. it has worked ok but i would like something else. what could i use? i have put wood shaving inside but the mess is unbelievable and i will not use them anymore.

i also have small problem, she knocks over water dish sometime, or make a big mess in it. what kind of dish can i bring her to solve issue?

 

[muttsmutt]

she has laid her first egg two days ago. she chose random place on straw. it was very good egg.
she also likes to chip a lot. usually when cockatiel sing.

 

[sniper338]

cot quail arent going to lay in a nest or use a nest box, they are going to lay where ever the egg drops. no need for anything.. just food and water

 

[Sill]

I use automatic cup waterers like these.



By having them high enough they can't knock anything into them. They don't have to be piped like this, you can put them on a soda bottle or what have you.

Some people use the kind of water bottles small rodents use. The birds learn to use them and their water stays clean.

If you use a regular poultry waterer raise it up on a half brick or two so its out of the bedding and will stay cleaner.