Plans for warm-weather outdoor setup on the ground. Am I missing anything?

[Phlighter]

Then the storm came through at midnight. The coup was sitting solid and I didn't think the wind could move it. I was wrong. The wind rolled it across the yard. Most of the quail had taken shelter under the barrels or in the canteen, but there were a couple scattered.

I thought I might could roll the coup back into place, but, it was cracked in various places and weakened, and also heavy with rain. It collapsed flat when tried moving it.

So I gathered the birds and put them into cages for the night. There were no injuries and none missing. Quail are a lot easier to catch at night if you have a flashlight.

 

[Phlighter]

Day 6: I gathered up the pieces. The end panels were not damaged. I drove T-posts to support each end and stretched net across the gap. So now it is 7x12x7 and they have the room I wanted to start with. Yesterday (after I took this pic) I added a roof of netting also and tied it to the side nets.

I am currently waiting for some green surveyors flagging tape that I will use to make the walls more discernable.

Things seem to have stabilized now and they are active.

 

[Phlighter]

If I had anchored it at all, it wouldn't have been rolled over and been damaged. I would also still be in the smaller version. Constructing ends is really the important part. If you get 2 well supported ends, you can stretch net, or fence, from one to the other.

 

[Phlighter]

I initially thought it wouldn't need a roof as I had never seen a quail fly higher than 6 feet. One of the alpha males proved me wrong.

 

[Nabiki]

it sounds like you're making good progress. You learned some things the hard way, but I'm sure you'll never forget the lesson.

As for flight, yes, they are little footballs, but I had one fly about 30' across a yard and over my house back at my old place, and another fly about 50' and over a 10' sound wall. I found the one that flew over my house, but never saw the one that went over the sound wall again.

 

[Phlighter]

I had two breeches to in two days so I added chicken wire all the way around. It didn't stop this owl from wrecking a rooster through the fence.

 

[Nabiki]

Chicken wire won't stop much. That's why people here are always recommending 1/2" hardware cloth.

 

[Phlighter]

1" hardware cloth is much cheaper. Seems like it would work as well. What difference would that make?

 

[Nabiki]

1" hardware cloth is much cheaper. Seems like it would work as well. What difference would that make?

Raccoons can reach through 1" and pull your birds out piece by piece. Rats and mice can also go through 1".

 

[Phlighter]

Raccoons and rats or not an issue here. And it won't be mouse-proof otherwise anyway. The smell of my dogs seems to keeps the cats away. The flying predator is my only enemy at the moment.