indoor coturnix sand bedding

[calcifer]

Hi I am going to bring a few hens indoors to breed, I have build an indoor pen for them but am not sure what bedding to use, I very much dislike having to buy and deal with pine shavings and was wandering if sand would work indoors or would it smell and grow bacteria even if I scooped it daily? the pen is 4x3 and has a 4" lip above the sand would they be able to kick it all over my room?

 

[DK newbie]

Well.. I have a trio of button quail on sand in my room. Their cage is about 2ft x 5ft and I just measured the board on the front (the only side that has wire), and it's just about 4 inches high - and then there is a ~1½ inch edge on the door above the board, though there is a small gap between the board and the door. They've been living there for almost 2 months I haven't noticed any sand on the floor (I'm not saying there isn't any, there are many things on my floor so I could have missed a bit of sand ^^), nor any smell - and I actually haven't cleaned the cage yet. But being buttons, their poop is smaller than that of coturnix, so it dries quicker. And perhaps their sand bathing is less vigorous too, I've never had cots so I don't know.

 

[dc3085]

Button quail feces is mostly dry when excreted coturnix feces is mostly wet. There will be an unpleasant smell with cots. Having larger bodies theyll also need a larger sand barrier or itll be everywhere.

 

[calcifer]

Ok thanks for all the help I think instead of having all the walls made of hardware cloth ill make them solid with plywood and some old glass windows i have left over from a previews progect and leave cloth covered windows at the top to help ventilate the cage. Some one told me to make sure the sand was atleast 4" deep