Quail coop/run planning

[Fishkeeper]

I don't have the space or time to do this now, but I'm planning ahead so I know what to save up for.
I want to keep a flock of coturnix quail, primarily as pets, with eggs as a bonus. I'm also hoping to get finches or similar birds at some point.

This is my rough plan. Exact sizes of everything are going to vary depending on a number of factors, but I want to make the run about 15 feet long and 5 feet wide, so there's plenty of room for the quail to run around and be quail.

The wall facing the sun will be a sandwich of wood with insulation inside, to prevent things from getting too hot. The adjoining wall will probably also be solid, depending on things like wind direction, and the opposing wall will have solid wood for about the bottom foot and then mesh for the rest. I plan to use a rat-proof galvanized mesh, and line that with a fine, strong mesh to keep out snakes and harmful/annoying bugs. I'll probably wrap the galvanized mesh around the entire coop, at least the lower few feet, to keep rodents out. The front wall will have a safety catch on the other side of it, and will probably also be mesh. It'll definitely have at least one mesh patch so I can place a fan on the other side, since it gets hot in Texas and I don't want to roast my birds.
I'll have two sleeping boxes, each large enough for all the birds, so they can choose a box that has their favored temperature. I assume they're smart enough to move if one box is an unsafe temperature?
For enrichment, I'll have a heap of sterilized soil and leaf litter that I can hopefully grow some shrubs in, plus a nice tree stump for climbing, and a sandbox area. The sandbox will be right in front of the fan and will probably have a mister head over it for summer, with a little awning in case the quail want to sit in front of the fan/on the sand without being in the mist. Wetting the sand should help to keep things nice and cool, at least in that corner.
There will be two separate areas for food and water, plus an extra waterer over near the wet sand for summer. I'll also throw handfuls of things like mealworms and sunflower seeds around for them to hunt.
I'll have to experiment with the flooring, but it'll probably be either straw or sawdust, a few inches of it, so they can forage around and not be walking on a solid surface.
Along the bottom of the mesh wall, I'll put a long door that opens inward and swings upward like an extremely long doggie door. It'll have two actual locks, probably door bolts that I've tested to be sure the quail can't joggle them loose, on either end of the inside to prevent predators opening it. My idea for that is that I can put a wagon underneath the door outside and sweep all the dirty flooring into the wagon in order to replace it.

The entire coop will be probably a couple feet off the ground, to help keep out predators, especially one kind: fire ants. Fire ants are awful, invasive things that kill off native quail, and I don't want them around my birds or around me, but I think I can keep them out. I'll raise the coop up on posts, and I'll put those plastic squirrel baffle cones around the posts. If I coat the underside edge of the baffles in petroleum jelly, the ants won't be able to climb past the baffles, so they won't be able to get in. The stairs into the coop will be suspended from the coop itself, and won't touch the ground. I'll also have something like mulch under the coop so no plants come up and provide bridges for the ants to get in.

Basically, I'm trying to make a quail enclosure that's actually nice for the quail to live in. I'd probably periodically swap out logs and thick sticks to change things up now and then, and I could add more line-of-sight barriers if needed. I'll add in stepping stones so I can walk around without having to worry about stepping on eggs and quail, and I'll probably keep a chair in there so I can sit with the birds.
Eventually, I might put in some high-up perches and nest boxes and introduce some finches, but I figure finches and their equipment will have little to no influence on the quail.
If I went with that approximate size of 15'x5', and I had a roughly equal mix of males and females, about how many coturnix quail could I have? I want to start out with just a few and hatch some eggs to add, either from my birds or from others, and I don't want to have to cull any roosters.

 

[Alaskan]

sounds wonderful as well as very well thought out.

My only comments are that the male coturnix are VICIOUS! Way worse than chickens.

I can't imagine being able to keep that many males in the same cage.

Since these are pets, and you don't need 100% fertility, I would go with 2 males and 8 to 12 females. Or just 1 male and 6 females.

As to bedding, wood chips/shavings would work well. Sweet PDZ is also great and an excellent odor reducer. Quail have surprisingly stinky poo, I think from the high protein diet.

Texas does have amazingly strong windy storms on occasion, especially depending on where you are...you might want a way to button it all up if needed.

Also, the little sleeping areas...some way to lock them up in one? Might make it easier to do a deep clean, if you had a place to lock them into out of the main area.

And yes, little finches, or a little parrot of some kind, would work well with the quail.

 

[Fishkeeper]

Thanks! The idea's locked onto my brain, and, since I can't really do anything in the physical world with it, I've been doing research.

My one addendum to the plan above is that I would probably make the entire pen, then install a wall to separate off the safety catch, rather than making the pen and adding on the catch area I've realized that it's probably better not to present any easily exploited surfaces to outside- we have raccoons, AKA small gremlins with hands.

Is there any way to semi-reliably sex quail chicks? As in, accurately enough that buying 15 supposedly female chicks would end up with 1 or 2 roosters? I really want to raise chicks at some point, but I couldn't cull a rooster I'd raised, and I don't think I could hand it to someone else to cull either. Too much of a softie.

I'd build this while keeping in mind the main wind direction in the area, and I'd definitely modify things if needed to add more protection. Could probably face a solid wall towards the prevailing wind, and I could definitely build in something like eyelets to attach a tarp to and cover the mesh if a storm was coming in. Would the little guys go into shelter and stay there while it was blowing, or are they silly enough to stay out in the wind and die of drafts?

I'd definitely build some sort of close-able doors into the sleeping areas, and I'd probably put removable tops on them in case I needed to get something out. Could lure them into the boxes with food and shut the doors behind them for a cleaning, or, if they were tame enough, just pick them up and put them inside.

I don't trust parrots around inanimate objects, let alone living things as fragile as quail, so definitely no parrot in there. Finches, absolutely, though what species will depend somewhat on availability.

Do any of the coturnix quail colors have special health considerations? I'm always a bit wary when I read that an animal has been selectively bred to put on meat quickly. I think I'd like a mix of colors, and right now I really like the look of Pharaoh and Tuxedo coturnix.

 

[Dani xxx]

Pharaoh and golden / Italian coloured coturnix quail can sexed easily when they get their adult feathers the girls have pale spotty chests and boys have rust coloured and no spots all other colours need to be vent sexed or wait till they laying eggs or start crowing. I agree with only having 1 male to 6 girls other wise females will get over mated and males will fight. There is a few people on here who have avairies with finches and quail very successfully. Quails are a bit silly and don’t tend to use nest boxes very much they lay anywhere but they do like laying under plants I put my food in the house to encourage them in but they literally eat then go outside again When I have gone out at night they are always sat outside in the run. I have 1 boy and I did have 6 girls but 2 got killed by a neighbours cat so I have 4 girls now. Mid mating season the girls feathers on their necks did get a bit thin I could never see the skin thankfully but more females would of been better.