Quail Aviary 2.0

[igorsMistress]

Things ate starting to come together. Thanks for the update! I wish I could grow moss, I've tried but it didn't last long.

Rosemary is an herb mine don't seem to bother. I'm curious about whether yours will bother the mint. Don't try dill without a cage and cages might need tops...I've had to rescue a few birds in with my tomatoes.

 

[Fishkeeper]

I love that image; "help! the food jail caught me! I'm trapped with the food!"

 

[el dorado quail]

Things ate starting to come together. Thanks for the update! I wish I could grow moss, I've tried but it didn't last long.

Rosemary is an herb mine don't seem to bother. I'm curious about whether yours will bother the mint. Don't try dill without a cage and cages might need tops...I've had to rescue a few birds in with my tomatoes.

Good to know rosemary is a good shrub type to put in! This is such a neat thread with everyone sharing

 

[le_bwah]

Make sure you compost that deep litter stuff looks like primo nitrogen content for a compost pile

My family used to compost, but we tore down our bin ages ago. If I can't use it, I'll see if anyone on Craigslist would like it. Still pretty hot manure on top, but lower layers are nice.

Things ate starting to come together. Thanks for the update! I wish I could grow moss, I've tried but it didn't last long.

Rosemary is an herb mine don't seem to bother. I'm curious about whether yours will bother the mint. Don't try dill without a cage and cages might need tops...I've had to rescue a few birds in with my tomatoes.

Turns out they really love moss, almost as much as they love violets and oregano. Haven't bothered the mint yet. Thanks for the tip on cages—funny to us, not so much for the bird.

Sad violets

Just a $4 snack

I love that image; "help! the food jail caught me! I'm trapped with the food!"

"Food jail!" I'll be making some lids for my plant cages—no accidental "jailings" here.

Good to know rosemary is a good shrub type to put in! This is such a neat thread with everyone sharing

I'm so pleased users on this site are willing to share their knowledge and experience—super glad I joined. It's also nice to see people raise quail on the ground/in larger hutches. That seems to be a more common approach than it was 3-5 years ago.

 

[TwoCrows]

My family used to compost, but we tore down our bin ages ago. If I can't use it, I'll see if anyone on Craigslist would like it. Still pretty hot manure on top, but lower layers are nice.



Turns out they really love moss, almost as much as they love violets and oregano. Haven't bothered the mint yet. Thanks for the tip on cages—funny to us, not so much for the bird.

View attachment 1729433
Sad violets

View attachment 1729434
Just a $4 snack



"Food jail!" I'll be making some lids for my plant cages—no accidental "jailings" here.



I'm so pleased users on this site are willing to share their knowledge and experience—super glad I joined. It's also nice to see people raise quail on the ground/in larger hutches. That seems to be a more common approach than it was 3-5 years ago.

Thanks for the updates!! Your aviary is coming along nicely!! Love the log and the plants are going to be favorites. Sorry you had to cull a roo. It has to be done sometimes for the good of the flock.

 

[le_bwah]

Thanks for the updates!! Your aviary is coming along nicely!! Love the log and the plants are going to be favorites. Sorry you had to cull a roo. It has to be done sometimes for the good of the flock.

I'm loving how it's grown. Would you believe my first ever design involved building a pen out of a single sheet of plywood? Quail math, I'm telling you...

This is the seventh design on the left, next to the second design. What I built last year was based on number fifteen. Couldn't have done it without Craigslist and my family's manpower.

The flock is SO much calmer now, and poor little Lady's head feathers are finally growing back in. It's always sad to kill an animal, but I'm glad I did it.

Thought I'd update on the plant situation—I'm adding Coleus and Creeping Jenny to the list of things they are absolutely happy to demolish. The blue fescues are doing alright, but I need to transplant them today.

The quail often take shelter under the ruby muhly grass but have otherwise left it unbothered. Three more muhly going in today, weather permitting.

 

[TwoCrows]

I'm loving how it's grown. Would you believe my first ever design involved building a pen out of a single sheet of plywood? Quail math, I'm telling you...

View attachment 1731121
This is the seventh design on the left, next to the second design. What I built last year was based on number fifteen. Couldn't have done it without Craigslist and my family's manpower.

The flock is SO much calmer now, and poor little Lady's head feathers are finally growing back in. It's always sad to kill an animal, but I'm glad I did it.

Thought I'd update on the plant situation—I'm adding Coleus and Creeping Jenny to the list of things they are absolutely happy to demolish. The blue fescues are doing alright, but I need to transplant them today.

View attachment 1731134
The quail often take shelter under the ruby muhly grass but have otherwise left it unbothered. Three more muhly going in today, weather permitting.

I hear you on the "all of a sudden becoming a master builder". We went from bare ground to a giant coop and run, no design, no rhythm or reason, just winged it all, from the ground up in 2 weeks! I think a person starts to think like a bird, skills and ideas come out of no where, hence the coop is born.

You are doing fabulous!

 

[igorsMistress]

I absolutely agree!

 

[le_bwah]

It's 11 PM here, pouring rain. The quail are right out in the open, clustered under the tallest grasses in groups of four. Earlier I watched some of the hens drink from muddy puddles while others sipped drops of rain off the rooster's back.

They've eaten slugs and pill bugs, earthworms and crickets—all the critters that came with the dirt and the plants. Sure, I'll have to treat them for parasites at some point, but this is exactly the sort of behavior I was hoping for out of a "garden room."

 

[Sky5678]

Late to the party, but wow @le_bwah your quails are so lucky! When I set up my quail enclosure I want to do something similar but much shorter. I especially like the muhly grass - it gives kind of a desert vibe of sorts.

This is an helpful thread, especially for planting ideas. Originally I wanted to make a quail biotope, with grass species native to wild quail habitats, but they would be difficult to source, not to mention potentially introducing invasive species into my area.