First time with quail. I thought I had researched things well enough. I built a three layer cage. 2 feet x 4 feet. !0 "
in the back and 12" in the front so I could have an egg roll out egg shelf. I planned to keep them inside my shop. Then I thought if I decide to move them outside they need to have an enclosed area where they can get out of the weather. I made the boxes 12" x 24" x 12" high.Everything went well so far. I should mention they were 7 weeks old when I got them. Next brain storm was concerning a dusting area. Here is where things started to go down hill. I figured well if they liked to dust and needed some time off the wire I could take care of both things at the same time. I put about 1/2" of sand in their enclosed box. Again things seemed to work well,they had a big time dusting in that sand. Here comes the problem I hadn't planned for. The egg roll out floor I put in will never get used. As I mentioned they were 7 weeks when I got them. Then when they got about two weeks older some of them started to lay eggs.First egg I found was in the enclosed box. I didn't think much of that. They are now about ten weeks and a lot of the hens are laying. Here is the problem,all of the hens only lay in the sand in the box. None of them will lay out on the wire to roll out. I have to go into the box to get the eggs. I'm guessing the roll out floors only work in cages where they don't have a choice where to lay. One saving thing though is I did have enough forethought to put a door on each box so it isn't hard to gather the eggs. I guess this is where the 'quail experience' comes in!
in the back and 12" in the front so I could have an egg roll out egg shelf. I planned to keep them inside my shop. Then I thought if I decide to move them outside they need to have an enclosed area where they can get out of the weather. I made the boxes 12" x 24" x 12" high.Everything went well so far. I should mention they were 7 weeks old when I got them. Next brain storm was concerning a dusting area. Here is where things started to go down hill. I figured well if they liked to dust and needed some time off the wire I could take care of both things at the same time. I put about 1/2" of sand in their enclosed box. Again things seemed to work well,they had a big time dusting in that sand. Here comes the problem I hadn't planned for. The egg roll out floor I put in will never get used. As I mentioned they were 7 weeks when I got them. Then when they got about two weeks older some of them started to lay eggs.First egg I found was in the enclosed box. I didn't think much of that. They are now about ten weeks and a lot of the hens are laying. Here is the problem,all of the hens only lay in the sand in the box. None of them will lay out on the wire to roll out. I have to go into the box to get the eggs. I'm guessing the roll out floors only work in cages where they don't have a choice where to lay. One saving thing though is I did have enough forethought to put a door on each box so it isn't hard to gather the eggs. I guess this is where the 'quail experience' comes in!
