Is this cage good enough to keep my 2 quail safe from predators?

[FowlFriend]

We hatched quail for a school project and they're so cute, we're keeping them! They're 6 weeks old.

I bought this cage at Petsmart yesterday:

Here it is on my front porch, with our 2 birds inside:

The box says it's made of welded wire, "chew-proof". I suppose a predator could get a hand in there, but they couldn't exactly take the birds out. The birds also have a hiding box they like to jump in when I open the cage to deliver food and water (I'm the big, bad monster to them!).

We live near the woods and do have raccoons, fox, hawks, opossums and coyotes. Would any be so bold as to come up to our front porch and try for these guys?

Any other suggestions for protecting them?

 

[Elite Silkies]

If they are going to be outside, I would say no. A coon or cat can easily stick their arms through those spaces.

 

[FowlFriend]

Well, shoot. It was the best cage I could find around here. I suppose I need to make one, but I'm just not very mechanically-inclined. I have seen some great photos here, but don't really know how to make one. I'll gather my courage and hit the Home Depot this week and see what I can come up with! Thanks!

 

[darbella]

try your local feed store. They have the galvanized cages and they have wire spaced closely together.

 

[draggar]

Look into chicken coops, they generally have smaller spaces and might be safer for quail.

 

[la dee da]

Unless that cage is MUCH stronger than the ones I have and have seen, coons will be able to just pull the bars apart even if they were spaced closer together. Those pet store bird cages aren't very strong, certainly not strong enough to keep coons out.

 

[peggym]

I think I would try covering the cage with small gage chicken wire, they have some really fine stuff out there now. I had quail[coutinix] in a small chicken run with house attached a couple of years ago. I surrounded the outside of it with deer netting which worked fine, I also locked the quail up in their house at night. Hope this helps.

 

[Daidohead]

I think I'd make a 1/2" hardware cloth cover that would slip over the whole cage. You could cover them at night and just lift off the cover during the day or whenever you were around.

 

[Jennings Gamefowl]

Quote:
yep your right, coons can pull apart cages..ive had them pull apart the bars on the coon traps