1 bird per square foot is the general minimum recommendation you hear. But honestly 2 birds per square foot still leaves plenty enough room for them, IMO. It just depends on how you want to do it.
Purists will keep them on the ground and give them a couple square feet per each bird and a few (not all of them) frown at people keeping them in wire cages. They want the bird to have the happiest most natural life possible, nothing wrong with that at all. Raising them on the ground is definitely a more natural environment. To each their own but keeping birds on the ground in large enclosures is not feasible in many applications.
Me personally, I keep my birds at 1 bird per square foot in my breeder cages. Grow out pens are 3 birds per square foot until around 3 weeks then 1.5 - 2 birds per square foot until butcher time.
Myshire farm keeps 3.5 birds per 1 square foot and I've never seen anyone try and put them on a guilt trip. Your compartments are 1.5 Sq ft each so Myshire would put 4 hens and 1 male in each, meaning the entire system would hold 30 birds.
I would limit myself to around 2 birds per Sq ft but that won't work with your cage system. So I wouldn't take insult to the recommendations of trying to return the cages. They're just not ideally sized for the proper male to female ration unless you want to keep 3.5 birds per square foot. Those cages are really designed for commercial breeders who are selling eggs and are looking to maximize production in a minimal space.
If I was going to keep your cages I would either...
1) remove the two dividers on each shelf and add 1 divider in the middle of the shelf. This would create two 2.25sq ft compartments. At 2 birds per Sq ft that's 4.5 birds each, so I would do 4 hens and 1 male per compartment which is 10 birds per shelf, 20 for the whole setup.
Or...
2) Remove both dividers and make the entire shelf 1 compartment. Then I would put 8 hens and 2 males and see how well the males get along. If you think that's too cramped then put 5 hens and 1 male in it.
I do like the plastic floors of the cages. Those will be way more comfortable on the birds feet than what most people use which is 1/2" 19ga galvanized hardware cloth.
Sorry your thread got so derailed. To answer your original questions
1) peering into their cages won't make them quit laying. Actually the more you are around them on a regular basis the more comfortable they will get around you.
2) steam cleaning once or twice a week seems way too frequent. Never had a thick plastic floor cage so I really don't know how quickly it will get nasty to the point of hosing it off. I would guess once a month or 2 at the earliest but you'll know once they start pooping on it.
3) changing manure pans will probably freak them out a little at first but the key is being around your birds a lot and letting them get used to daily routines. By the time they start laying they will be used to you changing the trays.
I've fed my birds 30% turkey starter for the life of the bird and never really had any issues. I can't get the turkey starter so I'm feeding them 28% quail starter and this time I'll be transitioning them to a 20% quail layer once they're abound 8-10 weeks so they get some extra calcium.
I built my first cage with a dropping pan so I could keep them in my shop. That was the original plan anyway. After 1 month they went outside and I let the poop fall on the ground. They are poop machines and I got tired of the smell and cleaning the pans daily.
Now all my cages are outdoors with auto waterers, 1 week supply feeders, and the poop never needs cleaning. I just rinse off the pvc coated wire floors once a month or so. If you're raising them for meat and eggs that's the ideal setup, IMO. Especially if you're away from the house a lot and don't want to be locked down to the quail.
I realize your HOA won't allow an additional "outbuildings" but I'd be hard to believe that something like this counts as an outbuilding.....
Purists will keep them on the ground and give them a couple square feet per each bird and a few (not all of them) frown at people keeping them in wire cages. They want the bird to have the happiest most natural life possible, nothing wrong with that at all. Raising them on the ground is definitely a more natural environment. To each their own but keeping birds on the ground in large enclosures is not feasible in many applications.
Me personally, I keep my birds at 1 bird per square foot in my breeder cages. Grow out pens are 3 birds per square foot until around 3 weeks then 1.5 - 2 birds per square foot until butcher time.
Myshire farm keeps 3.5 birds per 1 square foot and I've never seen anyone try and put them on a guilt trip. Your compartments are 1.5 Sq ft each so Myshire would put 4 hens and 1 male in each, meaning the entire system would hold 30 birds.
I would limit myself to around 2 birds per Sq ft but that won't work with your cage system. So I wouldn't take insult to the recommendations of trying to return the cages. They're just not ideally sized for the proper male to female ration unless you want to keep 3.5 birds per square foot. Those cages are really designed for commercial breeders who are selling eggs and are looking to maximize production in a minimal space.
If I was going to keep your cages I would either...
1) remove the two dividers on each shelf and add 1 divider in the middle of the shelf. This would create two 2.25sq ft compartments. At 2 birds per Sq ft that's 4.5 birds each, so I would do 4 hens and 1 male per compartment which is 10 birds per shelf, 20 for the whole setup.
Or...
2) Remove both dividers and make the entire shelf 1 compartment. Then I would put 8 hens and 2 males and see how well the males get along. If you think that's too cramped then put 5 hens and 1 male in it.
I do like the plastic floors of the cages. Those will be way more comfortable on the birds feet than what most people use which is 1/2" 19ga galvanized hardware cloth.
Sorry your thread got so derailed. To answer your original questions
1) peering into their cages won't make them quit laying. Actually the more you are around them on a regular basis the more comfortable they will get around you.
2) steam cleaning once or twice a week seems way too frequent. Never had a thick plastic floor cage so I really don't know how quickly it will get nasty to the point of hosing it off. I would guess once a month or 2 at the earliest but you'll know once they start pooping on it.
3) changing manure pans will probably freak them out a little at first but the key is being around your birds a lot and letting them get used to daily routines. By the time they start laying they will be used to you changing the trays.
I've fed my birds 30% turkey starter for the life of the bird and never really had any issues. I can't get the turkey starter so I'm feeding them 28% quail starter and this time I'll be transitioning them to a 20% quail layer once they're abound 8-10 weeks so they get some extra calcium.
I built my first cage with a dropping pan so I could keep them in my shop. That was the original plan anyway. After 1 month they went outside and I let the poop fall on the ground. They are poop machines and I got tired of the smell and cleaning the pans daily.
Now all my cages are outdoors with auto waterers, 1 week supply feeders, and the poop never needs cleaning. I just rinse off the pvc coated wire floors once a month or so. If you're raising them for meat and eggs that's the ideal setup, IMO. Especially if you're away from the house a lot and don't want to be locked down to the quail.
I realize your HOA won't allow an additional "outbuildings" but I'd be hard to believe that something like this counts as an outbuilding.....
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