How to deal with droppings

[blackoaktammy]

Sand in the poop trays! Genius! Where were you when I was a young kid cleaning nasty trays all summer long!

 

[mintandmyrtlefarms]

I've worked out the lowest maintenance method to deal with quail manure in battery cages or outdoor open-bottom cages. You broadcast sand then sawdust / mini-wood flakes. For battery cages with poop trays, the sand allows everything to slide off and the wood (carbon) component absorbs moisture, odors and aids composting. The sawdust / mini wood flakes don't blow away as much when the quail flap their wings.

For outdoor open-bottom cages, you'll want to start with 2 inches of pea gravel then 3 inches of sand directly under the cage. This allows drainage of water. You DO NOT want poultry manure in standing water or mud. As others have said, it smells really bad and there will end up being tons of flies if you don't keep the moisture / nitrogen in check. Each time the quail manure is cleaned out, broadcast more sand and then sawdust / mini-wood flakes / leaves. Layer more of the wood component incrementally to cut down on the odors and to aid composting. If you use leaves, crush them up first so they can't blow away.

There's also a 2 in 1 solution for the sand and sawdust / wood chips / leaves combo. It's called zeolite and it's commonly used in cat liter. It absorbs moisture, nitrogen and will help manure slid off trays. It also acts as a slow release fertilizer. A lot of soils will allow nitrogen compounds to drain though them, which minimizes how much nitrogen plants can absorb. Zeolite holds onto nitrogen and prevents it from draining though soils, thereby making nitrogen more accessible to plants. Source: https://www.kmizeolite.com/poultry/

This is fantastic info, thank uuu!

 

[kingsonxm]

Correct, I used zeolite material, which is used as a soil amendment due to its unique physical structure and chemical composition, adsorption, and ion exchange. Zeolite absorbs harmful substances and gases in the soil. like Ni, Pb, Hg, and Cd. natural zeolite is added into slow-release fertilizer, especially in soil improvement, fruit and vegetable production, and greenhouse vegetable production. It is better for your farms. I bought it from an agent. https://www.zeolitemin.com/en/Zeolites/what-is-natural-zeolite.html

 

[kingsonxm]

Correct, I used zeolite material, which is used as a soil amendment due to its unique physical structure and chemical composition, adsorption, and ion exchange. Zeolite absorbs harmful substances and gases in the soil. like Ni, Pb, Hg, and Cd. natural zeolite is added into slow-release fertilizer, especially in soil improvement, fruit and vegetable production, and greenhouse vegetable production. It is better for your farms. I bought it from an agent. https://www.zeolitemin.com/en/Zeolites/what-is-natural-zeolite.html

 

[Ravenlover]

My buddy and I just hatched our first brood of coturnix quail (15) and the little cheepers are doing great. We've drawn up plans for a raised planter bed (about 5'x6') that would let us grow vegetables up top and house quail beneath, but we're wondering about solutions for their droppings. How quickly does droppings accumulation become a problem? If we were to put the bed on casters and move it around the yard (it's maybe 15x5 yards), would we be able to move it around enough to keep things sufficiently clean? We've also considered incorporating a pan to catch everything underneath the bed that could be sprayed off from time to time; any reason that would be an issue? Lastly, I've stumbled across this idea (growing mushrooms around the coop), and it's pretty tempting: http://www.livingthecountrylife.com/animals/chickens-poultry/growing-mushrooms-your-chicken-coop/

Any advice welcome!

Button quails alone poop 25-50 times each a day i have no idea how many times a coturnix does but i assume as much or more(plus bigger poop balls)