PVC Quail Tractor Design? Possibly Other Fowl instead?

[FloorCandy]

For brooders I use plastic bins with hardware cloth put in an opening on the lid. Mine were all our old hamster bin cages, some even have wire panels with doors in the front. I usually start them small so they can’t wander too far from the heat, so the 66 liter size I think. Then I move up to 110 liter size, and finally the 50 gallon stacker. I use shelf liner over paper towel for the first day, then I switch them to wood chips. I start their water in a pickle jar lid with rocks in it so they can’t drown or get soaked. I also add a small parakeet waterer for them to get used to. After a day or two I remove the lid and they have the parakeet waterers until they’re like 1.5 to 2 weeks, then I swap them to a waterer that is a little reservoir you screw onto a regular soda or water bottle, and flip it over. At 3-3.5 weeks I start them on the nipple waterer before they go outside. The water thing you linked is probably for chicks that are a week or two old, I think small chicks can’t trigger the thing to fill the bowl, plus they’ll get into the bowl. I keep up to 20 chicks in the setup I described, more than 20, I often split them to 2 50 gallon stackers at about 2 weeks or so, just because they are so messy.

The key to keeping things from stinking is to keep the bedding dry. I put bowls under my water, I Velcro the waterers to the wall, whatever makes them stay put and dry.

 

[TeePants]

Ooo, fellow ground pen quail folks, do you guys worm them? I read somewhere at some point it would be a problem if their pen wasn’t elevated? The compost is going to be in one of those elevated spinning bins one way or another so they won’t be able to get into it.

 

[Nabiki]

Ooo, fellow ground pen quail folks, do you guys worm them? I read somewhere at some point it would be a problem if their pen wasn’t elevated? The compost is going to be in one of those elevated spinning bins one way or another so they won’t be able to get into it.

I haven't seen any sign of worms in my birds yet.

 

[FloorCandy]

I haven't seen any sign of worms in my birds yet.

Same

 

[FloorCandy]

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).

I forgot to ask when this thread was new, is your home a tiny house or is there more of it outside the photo? I’m obsessed with and addicted to tiny houses. I want to buy land so I can build one in my free time haha.

 

[Nabiki]

I forgot to ask when this thread was new, is your home a tiny house or is there more of it outside the photo? I’m obsessed with and addicted to tiny houses. I want to buy land so I can build one in my free time haha.

You want one of these!
https://gosun.co/products/dream-tiny-house

 

[FloorCandy]

You want one of these!
https://gosun.co/products/dream-tiny-house

Omg I sure do, but they are probably pricey. One day I’d like to just learn to do it step by step. But I need like way more power tools, probably some classes, land... my husband is doing this programming contest thing, and his groups proposal is super popular with the people running it, so we kinda dream that if it takes off we would buy land with an existing home, even a mobile, and we would build a tiny home to learn to do it all ourselves, then a separate tiny home, with maybe like a deck or fire pit between it and ours, for my mom.

 

[CovidtimeQuail]

You want one of these!
https://gosun.co/products/dream-tiny-house

Omg I sure do, but they are probably pricey. One day I’d like to just learn to do it step by step. But I need like way more power tools, probably some classes, land... my husband is doing this programming contest thing, and his groups proposal is super popular with the people running it, so we kinda dream that if it takes off we would buy land with an existing home, even a mobile, and we would build a tiny home to learn to do it all ourselves, then a separate tiny home, with maybe like a deck or fire pit between it and ours, for my mom.

LOL. My 9 to 5 friends don't understand these homesteader dreams. They love cookie-cutter living in their planned community beige houses. That's why I have to hang out here.

 

[Nabiki]

LOL. My 9 to 5 friends don't understand these homesteader dreams. They love cookie-cutter living in their planned community beige houses. That's why I have to hang out here.

I like my big house dream, but I also want to be self sustainable. I have learned so much about actually doing that here.

 

[FloorCandy]

LOL. My 9 to 5 friends and neighbors don't understand these homesteader dreams. They love cookie-cutter living in their suburban planned community beige houses. That's why I have to hang out here.

I don’t have an hoa, I hate that bs. My brother bought a cookie cutter house in what I call a house farm. It’s just identical street after street of the same house with maybe a different porch or a bay window. They all have to have the same fence if they have a fence. They can only put up community approved siding colors. No outdoor pets, no dog houses, no aluminum swing sets, no decorative holiday flags, the list goes on and on. He got a ticket for parking the wrong direction in front of his own house, because he ran inside to eat for a minute before he went back out!

my house is that trendy siding color of green/gray. I hate the color so much. It came that way with new siding so I won’t be changing it any time soon, but I like the fake wood shingle siding. The ease of siding with the rustic look of wood.