PVC Quail Tractor Design? Possibly Other Fowl instead?

[TeePants]

Quail will make a break for it every time you open the door and they can really take off (and then glide into the neighbors yard-- ask my husband!) You might want to plan a 2 door solution where you close the door behind you before opening the door to the enclosure. I had a large low cage for them and my husband accidentally released about a dozen of them before he realized how fast they are.

If you don't plan to incubate eggs then don't bother with the males and just get females. They will stress out the females unnecessarily. I had breeding groups and can attest to at least 2 scalped girls because the roo I had in their pen sucked at doing the deed. You can also always add a boy later if you decide to grow your flock.

Yikes! Well, we had hoped if quail ends up being something we like doing, we would want to be able to hatch replacements for any that we send to freezer camp, die in accidents, or of old age.

Additionally, we were planning on hatching them with the kids for fun, so we’ll more than likely end up with more males than we need initially just because hatch ratios, right? Since we’re getting our hatching eggs locally, we were planning on incubating at least 12 and sending the extra boys to freezer camp once they were big enough.

We found someone local with Myshire quail pearls, slivers and italians & celadon blues (hatching eggs), which were the colors and egg color we wanted to have (can you tell we have kids art directing this operation, LOL).

However, I’ve only ever had male ducks, and that was very briefly (predators happened ) and I was worried about the boys driving the girls batty.


Edited to add: My partner has stepped in and insisted that if we’re doing this we’re using lumber and not PVC/zip ties/duct tape. On the up side, this means she’s volunteering to use the power tools, because I always end up doing this stuff by hand and it takes twice as long.

 

[NY Coturnix]

If you're going with wood I just wanted to throw this out there. I built mine last year. I'm by no means a carpenter and actually had to go buy the saw to make it. Its 10 x 3 split into 3 pens on the inside. I kind of wish I'd have made it with removable pen walls but to late now. Anyways I just bought 10 foot rough cut lumber and cut the front 5 and a half feet and used the other 4 and a half foot on the back for the slop on the roof. I know some really like the ground pens but I like them at head level so that I can see them easier. I live in the country I used 2x2 rough cut but I have coyotes and raccoon that I'm trying to keep out.

Good luck

 

[Ravenlover]

Looking at building a PVC/Hardware cloth tractor for approximately 10 coturnix quail. I attached a humorously terrible drawing, but the footprint would be 3ftx4ft, and would have a domed roof that I would cover during inclement weather, which in Seattle is rough

My main question is - is 5.5ft at the top of the dome tall enough that coturnix quail won’t brain themselves on it? This is something I am looking at doing along with my kids, and thought it would be nice to be tall enough that they could go in and give them treats etc, without opening the top and risking popcorn escapees. However, a lower design would make moving it MUCH easier, and I could put a flat roof on half it so that they’re always protected from the weather (with the rest easy to cover with a rain guard). As much as having them on racks would make more sense given how small our yard is, I just feel kinda bad about the idea of keeping birds in shelves

I was also trying to figure out how I could attach wheels on it. I might just take apart our toddler’s old stroller and repurpose the frame, haha.

Also, since I have you here - I originally posted intending to get ducks! I had wanted to let them have free run of the yard during the day, and use small coop or pen with solid walls to secure them from predators at night. Included is a photo of our very small yard. However, several people chimed in warning that they can be quite noisy and might be too messy for the 135ish SQFT we have to work with (the yard is about 14.5 x 9ft).

We are trying to decide between quail, ducks, or chickens. Our concerns are noise and mess, and what we would like is (ducks/chickens)a pair or trio of laying hens, or (quail) 10ish birds, with 8-9 females to two males. Basically, a dozen “chicken egg size” worth of eggs a week.

Quail seem to be the path of least resistance, but I worry if they will be too flighty for the kids, or that they will hurt themselves/break their necks/drown themselves in their water dishes/succumb to just being a quail, generally. However, they don’t live nearly as long as ducks/chickens, and therefore might be a better “soft” commit to keeping poultry in such a small space. They’re also much quieter, and frankly I’ve probably heard louder crickets than the boys crow (first time I heard one I thought it WAS A cricket, or maybe a very determined cicadia haha).

Anythings possible finally finishing this today

 

[FloorCandy]

I’ll chime in late here, I think your yard is too small for a tractor because they will be back on a spot before it recovers. Imo I think you should make a stationary pen that you can either turn the dirt over every couple days, or so deep litter. My neighbors have chickens, only hens, and they groan and moan all day and some of the other neighbors complain, if a noise complaint is possible, I would avoid chickens. That being said, I think you can male a nice little pen tucked away in your yard, some males are louder than others, but most people don’t notice my birds are making noise and not wild birds.

 

[FloorCandy]

https://www.wayfair.com/pet/pdp/tuc...n-backyard-small-animal-hutch-w000251089.html I was also actually looking at this - if I just added a 3in or so lip of hardware cloth along the inside floor...

I have a similar prefab with a coop connected to one side and it is JUNK! I’m literally building a replacement less than a year later because even with $70+ of hardware strengthening it, particularly the pen, still seems like it’ll crumble if my frenchies run into it too hard. Stay away from prefab stuff, the wood is like mush.

 

[FloorCandy]

Quail will make a break for it every time you open the door and they can really take off (and then glide into the neighbors yard-- ask my husband!) You might want to plan a 2 door solution where you close the door behind you before opening the door to the enclosure. I had a large low cage for them and my husband accidentally released about a dozen of them before he realized how fast they are.

If you don't plan to incubate eggs then don't bother with the males and just get females. They will stress out the females unnecessarily. I had breeding groups and can attest to at least 2 scalped girls because the roo I had in their pen sucked at doing the deed. You can also always add a boy later if you decide to grow your flock.

I’ve found making side/front open doors helps. I also put a 6 inch piece of hardware cloth running along the bottom of the doorway or they would just walk out while I fed them.

 

[CovidtimeQuail]

I've done both PVC and wood, and sometimes PVC/wood. PVC is way cheaper and much faster to finish. (And here in Hawaii, everything deteriorates -- except PVC)

I agree with @FloorCandy that deep bedding or deep litter is the way to go. I find that not only do I save time and keep the coop cleaner, after a few months I have usable nourishment for my garden soil. My pen was originally going to be a tractor, but after just a few weeks became stationary. Word of warning: quail don't respect your lawn. Make sure wherever you place them, you planned to have tilled.

 

[TeePants]

I’ll chime in late here, I think your yard is too small for a tractor because they will be back on a spot before it recovers. Imo I think you should make a stationary pen that you can either turn the dirt over every couple days, or so deep litter. My neighbors have chickens, only hens, and they groan and moan all day and some of the other neighbors complain, if a noise complaint is possible, I would avoid chickens. That being said, I think you can male a nice little pen tucked away in your yard, some males are louder than others, but most people don’t notice my birds are making noise and not wild birds.

Thank you! I was wondering that myself. Good to know. I can certainly adjust our plans to do a stationary pen!

Should I keep them on the ground or build a raised hutch? It’s not good to keep them on wire, so I’d still be putting wood shavings or what not in it right? I had really wanted to have them on grass but it seems like that’s not possible. If that’s the case I’d like to prioritize cleanliness! I’m not sure what quail are into but I buy those little wheatgrass plots for our parrots to play with, I could always keep a couple of those in there.

 

[FloorCandy]

Thank you! I was wondering that myself. Good to know. I can certainly adjust our plans to do a stationary pen!

Should I keep them on the ground or build a raised hutch? It’s not good to keep them on wire, so I’d still be putting wood shavings or what not in it right? I had really wanted to have them on grass but it seems like that’s not possible. If that’s the case I’d like to prioritize cleanliness! I’m not sure what quail are into but I buy those little wheatgrass plots for our parrots to play with, I could always keep a couple of those in there.

Personally I keep mine on the ground. Quail love to dig pits and lay in them. Many people keep them on wire with great success, I have a grow out/breeder pen that has wire over a slide out tray, and it’s fine, but they only spend a few weeks in it at a time. I like that they can dig, catch bugs, and just be normal ground birds in their pens. But tbh, no matter how you keep them it is probably scores better than commercial poultry is kept.

 

[TeePants]

Okay! Hmmm. I could keep them under the planting box along the shed wall (and move the plants) - the shed is on wood beams though, so I don’t know if that would get too funky? Obviously don’t want to compromise it.

I can also theoretically use the area between the back of the shed and the fence - it’s about 19 inches wide (I can walk back there) but that might be kind of funky to keep clean, not sure. It definitely gets sun and is otherwise secure from the elements.

Finally, I could just build something between the magnolia tree and the bushes along the fence. It’s not been successful growing grass for the most part because of the shade from the tree.