New quail set up

[CoundonChick]

Oh great- thanks for the ideas, they do seem to try to hide at the back so that’s a great idea to give something with more cover for them to hide under. I’ll try to look for some branches with leaves on for now and replace one or two of the logs. Thanks

 

[rjohns39]

Hi Catherine and thanks for the intro and welcome to BYC

 

[Fishkeeper]

Yeah, the best thing I can advise is to give them brush. I'd take out a few branches, and then add in plenty of brush. If I were you, I think I'd strap a bunch of artificial branches to the ceiling, fill up about the top 4 inches entirely, to mimic bushes overhead. I'd then add a few large chunks of brush on the floor, for them to hide under.

Ditch the flowerpots, I don't think they'll want to go in those. You can give them a little 1' cube hutch in one corner if you want, but mostly they'd rather tuck under brush than go into anything, and the flowerpots are a bit small for them to want to go in. They aren't like chickens, they don't always use nesting boxes. Some quail will lay wherever they feel safe, some will build a little nest, some will just lay an egg wherever. Coturnix are kinda heavily domesticated and don't always have much wild animal sense.

How many cuties do you have? I think I see 4 in that last pic.

 

[CoundonChick]

Yeah, the best thing I can advise is to give them brush. I'd take out a few branches, and then add in plenty of brush. If I were you, I think I'd strap a bunch of artificial branches to the ceiling, fill up about the top 4 inches entirely, to mimic bushes overhead. I'd then add a few large chunks of brush on the floor, for them to hide under.

Ditch the flowerpots, I don't think they'll want to go in those. You can give them a little 1' cube hutch in one corner if you want, but mostly they'd rather tuck under brush than go into anything, and the flowerpots are a bit small for them to want to go in. They aren't like chickens, they don't always use nesting boxes. Some quail will lay wherever they feel safe, some will build a little nest, some will just lay an egg wherever. Coturnix are kinda heavily domesticated and don't always have much wild animal sense.

How many cuties do you have? I think I see 4 in that last pic.

Hi Fishkeeper, thanks for so many suggestions! We have 6 females.

Yes I haven’t seen them sitting in the pots and one of them is too small. I might leave them in there until I can get some artificial shrubbery to hang in there as they do seem to hide behind the pots a bit.

I’ll put some real brush-type branches in for now as I’m not too sure where’d I’d get artificial stuff...I’ll have a look around.

Thanks again for such a detailed response- it’s really helpful. Catherine

 

[Fishkeeper]

Something like this https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MFI2C39/?tag=backy-20 could work.

If you have easy access to shrubby branches, though, that would absolutely work. I might be inclined to swap out the ones on the ceiling for fake ones eventually, less likely to have sharp bits that could harm a spooked quail, but you can definitely collect your own shrubbery. Depending on the lighting, you could even try to grow a potted low-light plant or two in there.

I'm not sure if you know, but quail tend to flush when spooked, and as such will jump or fly. It's best to try to avoid sharp edges, like broken twigs, especially in things above them. Just in case one gets unlucky.

 

[CoundonChick]

Thanks again Fishkeeper. Yes I will look up what sort of plant might survive in the light we have there.

Actually this afternoon I came home to see one of the quail very sleepy and just lying there. After moving the water close to her and going to google what I could do I returned a couple of minutes later to find she’d died!

I’m trying to find the cause and can only think it’s one of the following:

1-an illness which might spread to the others (I’ve emailed the lady who we bought them from just 3days ago to find out if any others are ill there .

2- she could have been spooked and bashed her head (I need to get branches in there ASAP then...the hutch is only 1 1/2 foot tall though...so could this really have killed her?)

3- the stress from the move and the changes might have been too much for her

Or 4 - maybe they’re not liking being disturbed so much. I’ve put a door to their bedroom bit on just so they’re warm and at less risk from foxes etc at night but they have needed to be moved/ushered into it at night...is that too much handling?

Any responses or suggestions would be great. Thank you all v v much x

 

[Fishkeeper]

Probably she didn't spook and break her neck, no. I'd almost think she might have just had a heart or brain defect, maybe an aneurism or such.

How do they act when you come near them? Do they panic and run, or seem okay?

They shouldn't need any handling at night, at all. Quail should always be kept inside an enclosure that's completely predator-proof, and not expected to go anywhere at night. They don't use a coop like chickens do, and shouldn't be expected to. They naturally live in the brush, so they don't think to go anywhere, and will hunker down where they are.

 

[CoundonChick]

Probably she didn't spook and break her neck, no. I'd almost think she might have just had a heart or brain defect, maybe an aneurism or such.

How do they act when you come near them? Do they panic and run, or seem okay?

They shouldn't need any handling at night, at all. Quail should always be kept inside an enclosure that's completely predator-proof, and not expected to go anywhere at night. They don't use a coop like chickens do, and shouldn't be expected to. They naturally live in the brush, so they don't think to go anywhere, and will hunker down where they are.

Thank you so much for the quick reply FishKeeper.

They don't seem to panic and run when I go near them, they do notice and peer around at me and generally scamper behind something but I assume that's pretty normal. Especially when I've been in looking for eggs - they are keen to get away but don't seem to panic as such.

Their hutch is predator proof anyway so I will leave them with free rein to sleep where they like tonight (it's getting dark now in the UK and they're all 'hunkered down' in the long run area). I think I was just being overly cautious trying to lock them up completely at night time.

The others (well definitely 4 out of the remaining 5) seem very spritely and happy running around so I'm not tooooo worried about them being stressed. We've had 4 eggs today which I thought was a good sign.

 

[Fishkeeper]

Your setup looks fairly durable. I'd cover the whole thing in hardware cloth to keep rats from chewing through or something reaching through that big wire on the front, though. I'd also find a more secure latch, because raccoons can open one of those flippy bolt things with ease.

 

[JurassicBawk]

What is the spacing on that wire? I'm asking because I had mine in a rabbit hutch with 1" wire mesh, and mice could still get through it. You need 1/2" or less. Also, just to warn you and not to alarm you, once rats discovered that there was a quail food (and eventually quail) buffet, they chewed one of the tiny ventilation holes in the back into a 2" hole and helped themselves one night. Just be on the lookout for any chewing on it.

I'd remove some of the large limbs and add a pile of leaves or brush, as others have said. Mine all have plastic houses (chinchilla bath houses) that they go in and use frequently, as well as sand to play in and shavings to dig around in. They can easily hurt themselves bonking their heads, but that height is a good height to avoid it in general. They do not do well with change, so if you've just recently gotten them it may have been a startle that caused the death, or some unknown issue. Just keep an eye on the rest and hopefully they calm down and settle in just fine.