Placement of Water Cups

[PatientType]

I've had my cage in use for a couple of months. I'm noticing that the placement of the watering cups at the end of the cage with wire above, below, and on that wall of the cage has helped create a low-maintenance way to keep the water cleaner.

My quail constantly dirty their water by leaving sand, food bits, and the occasional random poop in the water. I purchased the rent-a-coop watering cups that have a removable inner cup to make cleaning easier. Still, pulling out the inner cups on a daily basis, cleaning them, and replacing them would be a bit of a job.

What I'm finding works better is to simply slide the poop tray out from under the upper level water cups. Then, using a plastic water pitcher, I pour a flood of water through the wire side of the cage flushing all the water cups every AM. I wait a few seconds for the excess water to drip away, then slide the poop tray back under that side of the cage. This leaves the birds with clean, fresh, full cups that the water system replenishes through the day.

I can still occasionally do a more thorough cleaning but this flushing ritual takes less than two minutes every morning.

 

[Susan Skylark]

Quail and water are always a mess! Glad you found something that works! I switched to nipple buckets in a large group enclosure and it is way less mess than water bottles were in our small pens but the birds like them better though. They act like they are dying of thirst any time I fill the waterers, but nobody has died in the last couple months so it is all in their heads. I’d add a water feature but you can imagine what would happen!