Locking up Quail for the night

[isegal]

My 5 button quail are going to be moving outside to their huge run-in soon but I feel the coop is not sturdy enough to protect against predators especially raccoons so I've been thinking of every night putting them inside their wooden coop inside their run and letting them out in the morning. Is this a good plan? I fear they'd get into an argument inside and won't have enough room to run away, also flying and hitting their heads on the 2-3 feet tall wooden roof. I also want to give them extra daylight hours so they lay more so an artifical light inside of their run in but coons come out at night after sunse

 

[Debbie292d]

Can you put 1/2" hardware cloth on all of the sides of it, and bury some 12-18" down all around to prevent diggers?

As for alternate housing, a quail person would have to answer that.

 

[isegal]

Can you put 1/2" hardware cloth on all of the sides of it, and bury some 12-18" down all around to prevent diggers?

As for alternate housing, a quail person would have to answer that.

My father has been helping me through the whole thing (doing most of the work lol) but he refused to acknowledge that chicken wire will not stop predators snd won't help me install it and I cant do it on my own. I think I'll invite over a friend to help me. My father is very helpful and kind though, don't get me wrong.

 

[Nabiki]

It will be a challenge to round them up every night. That sounds like a better alternative to letting them get eaten, however. Raccoons will reach through small gaps and pull the birds out piece by piece.

 

[Debbie292d]

My father has been helping me through the whole thing (doing most of the work lol) but he refused to acknowledge that chicken wire will not stop predators snd won't help me install it and I cant do it on my own. I think I'll invite over a friend to help me. My father is very helpful and kind though, don't get me wrong.

I do understand this.

Many people here, unfortunately, have learned the hard way that chicken wire keeps poultry in, but doesn't keep predators out. Hardware cloth isn't cheap like chicken wire is either, but neither are your birds.

I hope your friend can help you, as that would be so much easier for you to keep them safe.

Would true stories convince your dad? I know we could find dozens of stories here of poultry slaughtered by predators when chicken wire was used. Sometimes people are old-school, and they only know how things worked "just fine" when they were younger. They suffered more losses than we do now as well.