I've only had quail since March when we agreed to take a rescue quail from the local wildlife center. It was a roo so we realized in order for him to be happy he needed a group of girls. Our one rescue quail turned into another four females plus him and he settled in happily.
I started with a pen that was 4' x 3' with a bedding substrate made of sand, organic soil, pine shavings and a bit of probiotics and activated charcoal. Our pen is inside so keeping the smell under control was an important consideration. I also own a holistic pet food store and we are proponents of as much natural housing as we can offer with a variety of enrichment additions.
I realized that the pen was too small when one girl started picking on everyone (in a twist of fate she actually flew out when I opened the pen to put in the greens one day and my dog snatched her out of the air - sadly she became dinner for the dog that night). The dog is no longer allowed down at the pen when I'm opening it! We built a new larger pen (10 x 5). There are two levels in part to increase the floor space. I've spent six weeks getting an open air vermicomposting base set up. It's a mix of soil and worms (and various other organisms) dug up from my outdoor compost area, and some red wigglers I purchased from people who do more traditional indoor closed system vermicomposting.
So far we've had wonderful success. There was another person in the forums who did this that was my inspiration and I'm pleased with how well this is controlling the dust and smell. I've always had a "shower box" filled with just sand that they enjoy, and now that the soil is the substrate instead of a sand box the dust issue is no more.
I've currently got the pen divided into two sections and am growing food for them and us in the one section of the vermicompost (cucumber, woodsorrel, calendula, mallow, wheatgrass).
We will be hatching out some babies from eggs we are getting from another breeder locally, in order to increase our female numbers, with fresh genetic stock and avoid inbreeding.
I'm so happy with how they all worked out and wanted to share the photos. It's hard to see how impressive the size is in photos. It's turned out really well with thanks to my long suffering husband
I started with a pen that was 4' x 3' with a bedding substrate made of sand, organic soil, pine shavings and a bit of probiotics and activated charcoal. Our pen is inside so keeping the smell under control was an important consideration. I also own a holistic pet food store and we are proponents of as much natural housing as we can offer with a variety of enrichment additions.
I realized that the pen was too small when one girl started picking on everyone (in a twist of fate she actually flew out when I opened the pen to put in the greens one day and my dog snatched her out of the air - sadly she became dinner for the dog that night). The dog is no longer allowed down at the pen when I'm opening it! We built a new larger pen (10 x 5). There are two levels in part to increase the floor space. I've spent six weeks getting an open air vermicomposting base set up. It's a mix of soil and worms (and various other organisms) dug up from my outdoor compost area, and some red wigglers I purchased from people who do more traditional indoor closed system vermicomposting.
So far we've had wonderful success. There was another person in the forums who did this that was my inspiration and I'm pleased with how well this is controlling the dust and smell. I've always had a "shower box" filled with just sand that they enjoy, and now that the soil is the substrate instead of a sand box the dust issue is no more.
I've currently got the pen divided into two sections and am growing food for them and us in the one section of the vermicompost (cucumber, woodsorrel, calendula, mallow, wheatgrass).
We will be hatching out some babies from eggs we are getting from another breeder locally, in order to increase our female numbers, with fresh genetic stock and avoid inbreeding.
I'm so happy with how they all worked out and wanted to share the photos. It's hard to see how impressive the size is in photos. It's turned out really well with thanks to my long suffering husband
