Indoor Quail Advice

[Aviara]

I live in west central Texas, and it's very hot out lately. I am an apartment dweller as well, and at the beginning of the summer I raised 6 quail I obtained as 3-day olds (losing one due to birth defects). Once these quail hit adulthood, they were moved to our shaded balcony where they have lived since in a rabbit hutch. I provided exotic game crumbles and fresh water via two water bottles they have no problems using.

However, in the last three days I have lost two quail, most likely from the heat. The rest were constantly panting and going through water extremely quickly. So it was decided that the quail would return indoors, at least until it got significantly cooler outside. I moved them in today to a 20 gallon long tank (about 3 square feet) with a screen top. I keep them on aspen chip bedding and I'm not worried about scattered mess since the tank is very contained, however I am worried about keeping their food and water clean.

Do any of you have some useful tips? I plan to rig a water bottle so it can be mounted onto the tank, but what about keeping food clean? They are very messy and like to throw bedding around, tip over what they can, etc. I have tried the commercial quail or chick feeders but most are either too large for their cage or very light.

 

[Whittni]

Welcome to BYC. You should look into PVC feeders and waterers. Poultry nipples have great reviews but recently these little cup ones were invented. Ask around the forum for more info!

 

[Rememberthedeer]

I raised my birds in a 20 gal fish tank. What I did with the food dishes is I set them on top of a block, or a rock or something so that they were low enough for the birds' heads to reach in, but high enough where they can't climb in and poop in it or throw anything inside it. I also put a small rock inside the bowls that made it too heavy for the birds to tip it over. I put the rocks in the bowls before I put the feed in, giving the birds easier access to their food. I don't know if this is what you need, but it helped me a great deal.

 

[thegoatpacker]

I have my birds outside on a roofed porch but it still gets well into the 90's and occaisionally over 100. I have a 10" bowl in each cage-for 6-8 birds-that I place damp sand in and do they ever love it. I give them damp sand twice a day and it seems to help a lot with keeping them cool. This in addition to plenty of fresh water and no direct sun after 10:00 am.

 

[Aviara]

Thank you everyone for the advice! The elevated weighted dish sounds like a good idea. It's not ideal having them indoors by any means, but the temperature has been rising above 100 degrees frequently lately and by 6 PM the quail hutch could reach 106 F or higher. I just don't want to risk losing any more, especially when I only have 3 left and do not have any incubating/brooding to replace the 3 lost yet. Hopefully in late fall when it starts cooling off they can go back outside.

 

[dougjefferson]

Put up a screen to provide more shade and run a box fan through their pen