Pics of my quail and quail tractor

[RainesRanch]

Ok, here's a few pics of my quail tractor and quail.

As you can see they LOVE to hide in the tall grasses, so not the best pics but you get the idea anyhow LOL These are brown coturnix, right?

 

[ssbs]

Oh.. Shame on you for using chicken wire, don't cha know that coon can get in there??

No, just playing.. It looks really nice!!, how long have you had it like that?? And have you had any problems with mice, rats or coons? Because some are telling me that I will of I use chicken wire.

 

[holachicka]

That is an awesome tractor!! I'm gonna have to make one simular. Good job and

!!! They look like brown coturnix to me.

 

[RainesRanch]

LOL I know, , I have heard that too and will be looking at replacing the wire with hardware/hail screen wire. The quail cant peek their heads out though as I used bird netting first and then put chicken wire over that. I haven't ever had any coons or foxes (knock on wood) and we have had chickens for over 10 years here. But we do have owl and coyote problems on occasion with the birds. I run a radio in my chicken coop 24/7 and that keeps the coyotes away (they hear the voices and wont come near the coop). But the owls are a different story....those suckers aren't afraid of anything as they have no natural predators. The inside of the quails lil coop is a wire (hardware wire) flooring thats about 3 inches off the ground. That way their dropping fall through and if we have any major down pours of rain they wont be washed away! The roof of the coop opens up, so when they start laying, if they choose to lay in the coop, we can reach in and collect those bitty eggs. My biggest worry is how well they will do in our harsh winters. Some have said they do fine and others say you have to have a heat lamp on them.

 

[RainesRanch]

Quote:
Thanks! They really do love it. When I first brought them home they had to be housed in a rabbit hutch and they were very discontent . It still needs a few tweeks and such, I used a chicken tractor as my model, so it was much bigger in scale then mine. This one is 7 foot long total, by 4 1/2 foot wide. The coop is 2 feet deep by 3 1/2 feet wide. It was very inexpensive to make. We bought culled 2X4' s from the lumber yard (cheap) and the PVC pipes were only $1.25 each. The 3/4 ply wood was scrap wood we had laying around already. All together with hinges and such it cost about $30.00 to put together. Of course now Im ganna have to buy some new hardware wire, so I guess it will then total around $50.00. Still not bad though

 

[ranit]

Looks great!
I live in Illinois and have raised coturnix outside in the winter without a heatlamp. Shouldn't be a problem since yours have the coop to get in. I do put a heatlamp in our quail house sometimes, but that is mainly for my convenience - so I don't have to deal with frozen waterers.

 

[holachicka]

When I make mine I'll end up doing hardware wire on the bottom half as well. I have mild winters, so how they will do, I don't know!! Good luck and great job!! What are you planning on doing with them? Meat? eggs? both? My first hatch are three weeks, I plan on breeding until I get LOTS and then start using them for meat and eggs. I have bobwhite in the incubator now, and plan on doing the same with them!

 

[RainesRanch]

Quote:
Im pretty much on the same page as you

First I need to get mine laying....then fork out the money on a incubator (Im holding off till those first eggs appear! LOL). I want to buy some northern bob white quail eggs once I get "good" at hatching out eggs from these guys. I would hate to spend the money just to loose the eggs because Im too inexperienced. I did have a incubator years ago but sold it when I got discouraged from lack of hatches. It was a used one when I bought it and I dont think it was working right. Plus it didnt have a egg turning...something I definitely want this go around! Im just going to break down and buy the whole set up new at our local farm supply store this time!

 

[chickenguy1998]

yepp... the are brown coturnix; and the ones with the speckled breasts are females but the ones with the rusty colored breasts are males.

Nice pen!!!!!!!

is it hard to find the eggsin all that tall grass??????

 

[FenDruadin]

Love it! So beautiful. I've been wondering, in the couple years since I used to post here all the time, how many others were using more natural settings for their quail. Looks like a good number!

I couldn't use your set-up because of the raccoons around here, but if I could, I'd be all over it! It's beautiful, and I know the quail must love it.

Mine are in chain link, with hardware wire over the chain link. They do get to live on the ground with 100 square feet, and dirt and leaves and I throw them bird seed for treats. I wish I could move them around to fresh greens all the time, though!