newbie - cage and general advice please

[nosewalker]

Hiya!

In thailand me and my wifey ate tons of quails eggs and now back in the UK we want more! I always thought about keeping hens like my mum but our garden is tiny so maybe quails are the answer, and my friend says his dad breeds them and can give me 5 chinese ones for free. I'm not too bothered about their nationality to be honest but it sounds really good.

Anyway, I like making stuff too so I was wondering if someone could point me to some good pics of the best cages that I could have a go at copying? I have lots of wood and chicken wire kicking around after making vedge boxes, composters etc...plus if anyone knows of a link to the basics for looking after quails that would be great too!

Many thanks Tom

 

[TheRealTimShady]

welcome!

best thing to do is to check out the quail stickies at the top of the quail forum, there is coops, coturnix information galore. GL!

 

[CorinneP]

WElcome and Enjoy your Quail ! I havent raised any quails yet .. Just wanted to say hi !

 

[TheRealTimShady]

i notice you say you got chicken wire, can't use that in quail cages, need 1/2" hardware cloth, those snakes would have a FIELD day with chicken wire.

 

[nosewalker]

Wow thanks for the replies and advice, I had a look at the sticky thread with all the pen photos and I see a lot of them are raised off the ground. I was thinking of making mine on the floor so they walk about on the ground, is this ok?

Besides a pen with smaller wire netting than my current chicken wire and decent roof to shelter them, what else do I need make for the pen, separate compartments or anything like this?

Thanks again

Tom

 

[TheRealTimShady]

with coturnix quail they can live in a colony, just as long as you keep to a 1:4 m:f ratio. Altho if you just want eggs, you don't need any males anyway.

most people use raised pens for a couple of reasons.

1. coturnix quails are eating and pooping MACHINES. you'd be amazed how much poop they poop. raised pens make it easy to clean.

2. saftey, hard to dig under a pen that is up in the air right. those night time predators have ALLL night to try and scratch and claw their way into those tasty quails.

3. health is a big issue, altho you can keep quails on the ground, alot of people say that there is the disease issue, i don't really count this as one b/c hell...they are/were wild bird who walked on the ground before..ya know?


quails don't roost or really lay eggs in nests like chickens do. i've always like the 1/3rd closed 2/3rds open pens, that way they go inside and lay their eggs, get off the wire, shelter from rain/wind/snow stuff like that. if you want to make it more natural for them, they like to hide in bushes, piles of sticks. stuff like that.

if you got any other questions then by all mean ask away. hope it helps

 

[nosewalker]

wow thanks that's a lot of great advice! I'll let you know how it goes and show pics of what I make!

Thanks again

Tom