Is 6ft Coop Height Wrong for Quail?

[MageofMist]

Yes....we've had that experience too. Once one of our males got spooked and flew several houses over. A family member went searching a while later and found him in a cat's mouth. The cat dropped him and ran, and they got him back. He healed up quickly and is still with us.

Quail are generally quite flighty and not friendly like chickens are. There are exceptions though, like @MageofMist 's male coturnix Scrappy.

I present you, my daft dumpling of a quail. He started off more aggressive than he was flighty, as he used to run up at me chattering and try and attack my feet. But he mellowed out over time and became a potato bird.

 

[NY Coturnix]

Just throwing this out there.

If your intent is eggs and meat and you had something like this I'd make stacked pens inside it. You could put them 2 or 3 high along the back wall. It would make it easier to collect eggs and would allow an area to separate extra males(meat). It would also allow you to house way more quail.

If your looking for pets as has been said it will work and you need to wrap with, I'd go with, 1/2 hardware cloth.

Its a nice looking pen either way.

Good luck

 

[le_bwah]

6 ft is great for you and the birds. Quail don't flush straight up—they angle away from a perceived threat (in aviaries, usually right into the wire siding of their enclosure). Given enough space, I've seen them spiral back down to avoid hitting anything. Seems better than bashing themselves on the roof of a shorter cage.

I did 6-8 quail in a 50 square foot run for a year no problem (aside from having one-too-many males). Lots of low cover plus breaks in line of sight help prevent flushing.

Be sure to replace that chicken wire with 1/2 inch hardware cloth to minimize losses (1/4 tends to be harder to work with and the spacing is overkill for typical predators).

 

[vall]

I would replace that latch with one where you can't lock yourself in. I use one that accepts a carabiner.

You will probably need to attach a tarp or some vinyl to the sides whenever you get significant rainfall. Wind will carry the rain inside despite the roof overhang.