Quail housing. Am I missing somthing?

[gamebirdboy]

Uhm, that wire is way too big for them...

 

[BobwhiteQuailLover]

If they are kept outside all year round they will get too cold, get them in an aquarium n your house or barn right now!

 

[gamebirdboy]

I would take them inside. They will probably find a way out of the cage, and it will get under 60* in a few months..

 

[Wifezilla]

I would put an ad on craigslist and offer to swap your buttons for some coturnix quail. Coturnix can live outside, and they would LOVE that run!

 

[gamebirdboy]

After it is wrapped in 1/2 inch hardware cloth...

 

[Silkie-Feet]

man, have i missed alot... thanks for the help. I thought buttons, japanese and coturnix were differen't names for the same species? the person i bought them from said they were coturnix, but i thought it sounded better to say "button quail". I'll show a pic below, it's not my pic but looks exactly like them. so if they are coturnix, can they live in the run. btw, the reason i wanted them to have a run and coop is because i don't want my animals to be caged egg machines. i wan't them to enjoy runing and searching for bugs. the run is made of woven wire covered by chicken wire....... not to big for them!

 

[Wifezilla]

OH! You DO have coturnix! I raise mine on the ground too. They spend their day making tunnels in the straw and scratching and taking long dustbaths. You might want to have at least part of it have a covered roof. I use clear poly panels for my roof.

Button quail is a cuter sounding name, but it refers to a specific type of tiny tropical quail.

 

[shelleyd2008]

Now that we've determined that you have coturnix quail:

And not button (Chinese Blue Breasted) Quail:

Then yes, you can keep them outside. However, they will not go into a coop, they will sit their little happy-butts in the rain and snow and freeze themselves to death. That's why most of us keep them in raised, covered, cages. If you have a heat light inside their coop, they might go in it, but I wouldn't count on that.

 

[ScaredOfShadows]

okay awesome you have coturnix.... now you're going to want to cover half of that run with something solid above the wire - Wifezilla's clear poly panels would work great. - still get the sunlight and all but have that protection. Quail don't tend to use housing when they are on the ground.

Suggestions : make sure the run isn't going to let water sit - quail in a wet soupy run = disasterous. Since you have the area where that pool was - fill that up with sand for them to have a huge sand bath area. a pile of loose straw in one corner of the run, and plant them some runner perrenials and/or low lying bushes, or even just lone viney potted plants - for cover and play areas.

I have mine in a small mobile tractor type run that is covered with a wire floor (so I can move it with quail in it, but they are still running on grass as the mesh touches the ground) - they LOVE it.

 

[Silkie-Feet]

Thanks everyone! I bought five coturnix quail yesterday. the seller told me there were 2 males and 3 females. I got 2 eggs from them this afternoon. they laid them in thier nest!!!! one was brown!!! guess i'm okay for now

but to everyone else, will they be able to live in the coop during winter with a heat lamp and no access to the run?