How many square feet for 18 quail?

[EasternOregon]

I'm going to be building a small flight pen to hold up to 18 quail, although due to dog training I will likely have less than that in it at a time. So, my question is, how many square feet of space do I need for these 18 bobwhite quail? Right now I am thinking of doing an 8 x 6 x 7 pen. Is this enough room? Thanks in advance.

 

[TwoCrows]

This size of pen is not large enough to be considered a "flight pen". Bobs generally need about 4 square feet per bird, however if you are keeping birds that are less than one year, you can go a little less than 4 square feet.

 

[EasternOregon]

Thanks, but the birds will be mature birds. I do want the bobs to be able to fly at least decently when I train my dog on them and I had originally planned on making a 24 x 8 x 8 pen but when I calculated material cost it was over $200. I'm okay with paying that, but was just trying to go for the cheaper option. What would you say is the minimum amount of space for 18 bobs so that they don't lose the ability to fly decently. I at least want them to be able to get up and fly away when I flush them for the dog. Thanks again.

 

[TwoCrows]

Flight pens need to be fairly large to build muscle for lifting their heavy bodies off the ground. If not given enough space, they won't be able to fly very far. At least not enough for training anything.

They should be somewhere around 15 feet wide and anywhere from 30 to 100 feet long. My pens are 30 feet long and I have found that they will fly long distance and in circles which will train their agility and flushing instincts. Any smaller and they will not be able to get off the ground much other than some fluttering.

 

[EasternOregon]

Thanks... looks like I'm making it longer. Appreciate the info.

 

[James the Bald]

They should be somewhere around 15 feet wide and anywhere from 30 to 100 feet long. My pens are 30 feet long and I have found that they will fly long distance and in circles which will train their agility and flushing instincts. Any smaller and they will not be able to get off the ground much other than some fluttering.

Here is a link To MSU's Game Bird Flight Pen Plan that you may want to check out. This is for 1200 quail, so maybe you can either scale the plans back or "ramp up" production for quail.