Indoor quail pen - is this a crazy idea?

[Mhays]

So, we've been toying with the idea of raising quail for years - but we live in a teeny-tiny town house. If we have quails, we'd have to cohabitate (we might be able to do an outdoor pen someday, but that would involve significant change and redistribution of stuff.)

So, we need something pretty. Kept seeing Wardian Cases for terrariums when looking at lizard vivariums as a possible option like these, which would be pretty in the house and we could modify with screens: https://www.gardeners.com/buy/wardian-case/37-676.html but of course they are all waaay too small to have any reasonable number of quail.

Husband saw this: https://www.fastfurnishings.com/Ele...en-Cold-frame-Greenhouse-K-p/behlv1829821.htm Now, I'm not about to spend $400 on that, but we realized it was just a cold frame set on a table. We have a corner that's about that size - it's like 3 feet square - so we're thinking of just getting a cold frame, sticking it on a table, rigging some hardware cloth and maybe trays to make it easier to clean. Was wondering what you smarter-than-us folks think of that idea?

 

[mdees88]

The second link you posted doesn't work.

How many quail are you planning on raising and what type of quail?

 

[nao57]

Are you trying to do this in a garage or a basement? Or like an indoor porch setup?

 

[Tinman0ut]

You’d be better off giving them a room and turning it into an aviary... or just getting a walk in aviary (can find them online for ~$350-400)... would give them more room to move around in... we have free range quail here (wild not domesticated) and they will travel.

 

[Mhays]

The second link you posted doesn't work.

How many quail are you planning on raising and what type of quail?

I think I fixed it now!

 

[Mhays]

Are you trying to do this in a garage or a basement? Or like an indoor porch setup?

I am thinking of finding a relatively quiet corner in our house...but we could do a basement. (We don't have a garage or an indoor porch)

 

[Mhays]

The second link you posted doesn't work.

How many quail are you planning on raising and what type of quail?

I'm planning on raising quail for eggs/meat, so I'm assuming some variety of Coturnix. If you can look at the link, the little cold frame/table is 9 square feet and it looks like rigging a divider would be pretty easy, as it would be to add screen sections.

Maybe two pairs of Jumbos? Or should I just do Buttons and give up on meat?

 

[mdees88]

I would remove buttons from the equation if your plan is raising them for either meat or eggs.

If you want them for meat and eggs I assume you will be incubating some of the eggs to hatch new quail eventually? If so you will need to keep a male with the females so you'll have fertile eggs.

Coturnix quail cannot be kept in pairs. They need to be kept in a 1:4 or 1:5 ratio of males to females. The general minimum recommended space requirement for coturnix is 1 sq ft per bird. So the 9sq ft size would hold 5 or 6 quail without crowding them.

My biggest concern, especially if keeping them inside my house, is how quickly 5 or 6 quail would soil the bedding and how often it would need to be changed. I keep all my quail outdoors on wire floors so hopefully someone else will chime in who keeps them on the ground in a relatively confined space can answer that question.

 

[Nabiki]

I keep buttons and chicks indoors, but buttons are tiny and don't make too much mess, and chicks get booted out as soon as possible. They make a lot of dust, and if you have allergies or any sort of respiratory issue, the birds will make them worse.

9 square feet for 3-4 birds isn't unreasonable, but you will probably be cleaning it every day in an indoor environment if you don't want it to stink you out of the house.

 

[nao57]

I would remove buttons from the equation if your plan is raising them for either meat or eggs.

If you want them for meat and eggs I assume you will be incubating some of the eggs to hatch new quail eventually? If so you will need to keep a male with the females so you'll have fertile eggs.

Coturnix quail cannot be kept in pairs. They need to be kept in a 1:4 or 1:5 ratio of males to females. The general minimum recommended space requirement for coturnix is 1 sq ft per bird. So the 9sq ft size would hold 5 or 6 quail without crowding them.

My biggest concern, especially if keeping them inside my house, is how quickly 5 or 6 quail would soil the bedding and how often it would need to be changed. I keep all my quail outdoors on wire floors so hopefully someone else will chime in who keeps them on the ground in a relatively confined space can answer that question.

The soiled bedding AND collecting the eggs is why people do sloped flooring with quail. And yes Coturnix breed, grow, and get to egg laying hen status faster than other quail types. Button quail are much slower and less efficient than coturnix quail.

For the others,....

I would think doing it in a garage or basement would be easier on sanity.