Hello everyone! So we recently finished building a quail run/coop after being buried for a month under tons of snow in east/central NYS. We had a couple nice days in February where we got the frame and roof on plus a bit of the hardware cloth before getting hammered with 3 nor’easters. I finally completed the rest of the screen, door and house this past week and I buried some screen as well while the ground was thawed. Still need to proof the back side.
Literally the day it was complete, temperatures dropped again with days barely in the mid 30s and nights in the 20s. We got enough of a cold snap the ground froze again. Like clockwork, one of the males started acting up and picking on one of the others, telling me it was time to move out of their giant tote-brooder (the thing is damn huge- they aren’t crowded and have more than 1sqft each, he’s just a jerk). Not the best timing.
I ended up moving them into the house with a lamp and bedding, and blocked their little entryway to the run. Well- the bullying victim kept knocking the barricade down days in a row and I’d find her milling about on the ground. I’m still a bit paranoid to leave her out at night in near-teens, so I gave her a plant pot to hide in for the day and would put her back up at night. Unfortunately this morning, she was loose again and had some bloody spots on her head, poor thing. She really doesn’t want to be near that guy.
Since I’m afraid to they may not fare well all night in the cold (and wind) I made a little tent for them and put out a very low-heat moonlight lamp just to buy some time. After work I reinforced it a bit and went out for another actual heat lamp and more bedding. I also have my old reptitherm out there under the waterer. 2 others joined her (likely they were hanging out on the porch as I’ve seen them do and dopily walked off the edge, lol). They don’t want to use the ramp yet but I don’t feel comfortable keeping the water upstairs to force them to learn in case they can’t climb it. The other three are happy in their upstairs zone and stand on their porch a lot, looking around.
At what point can I be comfortable taking the outdoor lamp away? The wires are only temporarily placed since it should warm up sufficiently in a couple weeks, but the sooner I can clean them up the better I’ll feel. They don’t seem cold now (it was 30 with blowing snow earlier) and they weren’t even huddled near the smaller lamp or with each other.
I also attached pics of the run. Any feedback/suggestions on either are appreciated!
Literally the day it was complete, temperatures dropped again with days barely in the mid 30s and nights in the 20s. We got enough of a cold snap the ground froze again. Like clockwork, one of the males started acting up and picking on one of the others, telling me it was time to move out of their giant tote-brooder (the thing is damn huge- they aren’t crowded and have more than 1sqft each, he’s just a jerk). Not the best timing.
I ended up moving them into the house with a lamp and bedding, and blocked their little entryway to the run. Well- the bullying victim kept knocking the barricade down days in a row and I’d find her milling about on the ground. I’m still a bit paranoid to leave her out at night in near-teens, so I gave her a plant pot to hide in for the day and would put her back up at night. Unfortunately this morning, she was loose again and had some bloody spots on her head, poor thing. She really doesn’t want to be near that guy.
Since I’m afraid to they may not fare well all night in the cold (and wind) I made a little tent for them and put out a very low-heat moonlight lamp just to buy some time. After work I reinforced it a bit and went out for another actual heat lamp and more bedding. I also have my old reptitherm out there under the waterer. 2 others joined her (likely they were hanging out on the porch as I’ve seen them do and dopily walked off the edge, lol). They don’t want to use the ramp yet but I don’t feel comfortable keeping the water upstairs to force them to learn in case they can’t climb it. The other three are happy in their upstairs zone and stand on their porch a lot, looking around.
At what point can I be comfortable taking the outdoor lamp away? The wires are only temporarily placed since it should warm up sufficiently in a couple weeks, but the sooner I can clean them up the better I’ll feel. They don’t seem cold now (it was 30 with blowing snow earlier) and they weren’t even huddled near the smaller lamp or with each other.
I also attached pics of the run. Any feedback/suggestions on either are appreciated!
all 6 are out now so not much I can do about that anyway!
