Housing quail - boinking and hurting head, getting them to go into a coop?

[drlisaannlee]

Hi, I incubated and raised 4 Coturnix quail. During the day I keep them in an aviary where they enjoy themselves scratching in the dirt, nesting under flowers and clumps of grass. However, I have many bold fox in the area and to keep them safe I bring them inside at night where they live in a large wire cage. When they reached 2 months of age, they started to fly up when startled, hitting their heads on the top of the indoor cage and getting bruised. I've tried a few things without much success:

1. I cover the indoor cage with a drop cloth. That helps. But they sometimes still panic for unexpected reasons. And once one quail starts flying it sends the other three into flight and there is general panic and potential for injury.
2. I attached a fox-proof coop onto the outdoor aviary thinking they would go inside the coop when it got dark, and I could then secure the coop door shut with the quail safely inside. However, when it gets dark the quail prefer to hide under the flowers and shrubs and do not go into the coop.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

[Kale the Quail]

have you had any blood/knocked out birds?

I would try to make the ceiling higher or maybe try putting foam/padding on the roof? I'm not too experienced,so i'll tag some people @Fenrisulfr , @KDOGG331

 

[le_bwah]

1. In my experience, they flush less in all types of cages when they have low cover they can hide under. In an aviary, that could be grasses, logs, etc.—in an indoor cage, you might have luck with fake plants or cardboard boxes. They tend to flush when running or hiding aren't an option—give them other options and you may see less flushing.
2. Coturnix will not use a coop instinctively like chickens will. You can get them used to going inside, but they usually still need to be herded inside at night. Best course of action is probably to fox-proof your aviary. Posting pictures might help the folks here give better advice.

 

[Fenrisulfr]

My experience is, that they always will flush in panic. And even a red shirt can panic them

My balcony hutch is 50 cm high, which is already so high, that they gain so much speed to get hurt.
But 35 cm is a pain for cleaning.
I covered the ceiling with 4cm foam plastic mats in my hutch... and I haven't had any serious injury since.

 

[Roomi the quail]

They will get frightened at anything. If you don't want them to boink, you either have to make the cage ceiling very low(like, the quails have no room to stretch their wings at all) or very high(over six ft or so). In average sized cages and aviaries you just pad the ceiling with foams, piled up old clothes, vinyls, etc and hope the quails do not get hurt. And they will not get into the coop at night. Quails do not go inside or make sturdy nests, they just tough up the cold, rain, and predators.

 

[FloorCandy]

I clipped all of their wings because mine do this in their pen which opens from the top, I was tired of chasing them, because even with a gentle clip they still got out and ran(better than flying but still too dangerous with foxes and cats around). I clipped the 7 longest primaries on both wings, including the 2 on the end , and now they flap but cannot get off the ground. In winter you need to accommodate for the clip as they can get cold so they will need better shelter and deeper litter than normal.