Quail Housing Help

[4ourlittleones]

Does anybody raise quail in a garage where you also store your car?
I'm wondering if the exhaust when we pull out will be a problem for the quail? Single stall garage. We don't "warm up" our car in the garage - so it'd just be pulling it out of the garage and waiting a moment then shutting the garage door. Anybody already do this?

 

[clawstar]

Search "show me your quail pens" and ask on that thread, you'll most likely get a response there

 

[dc3085]

Does anybody raise quail in a garage where you also store your car?
I'm wondering if the exhaust when we pull out will be a problem for the quail? Single stall garage. We don't "warm up" our car in the garage - so it'd just be pulling it out of the garage and waiting a moment then shutting the garage door. Anybody already do this?

They generate a lot of dander so expect lots of white dust on the stuff around their cage. They also generate a lot of nitrogen and ammonia in their feces so you'll need to keep it very clean or your garage will be a place you stridently avoid.

The exhaust probably wont be a huge issue since there will a sort of "vacuum" or cross ventilation pulling the warm exhaust out of the garage whenever the door is open. I think you'll have more problems with the quail's "exhaust" in an enclosed space than you will the car.

There are a lot of battery style cages out there. The thread she was directing you to will show you some. The most popular battery style cage is the GQF but it's spendy and the birds don't have very much space, it's more of a commercial style production cage.

 

[4ourlittleones]

Thank you so much for getting back to me - we're planning on cleaning the pans out 1-2 times a week and putting pine? shavings on the pans that are under the cages if needed. We'll also be putting in two windows in the garage and opening them when needed (except for when it's really cold as we're in the upper midwest). Do you think that we'll still have a smell with those precautions?

Thank you so much!! We can make an outdoor hutch if needed but would rather have predator protection in the garage.

 

[dc3085]

The other thing with keeping them in the garage, I should have thought to mention before, is that it may be too busy for them. Every time the light goes on and off or the door slams or the car starts or your garage door opener hums and gurgles will be a stress on the birds. Stressed out birds can't be thrifty (lay enough eggs for how much $$ they eat), and if severe enough and frequent enough will decline in health. Quail are very nervous birds by natures since most anything from black crows to the neighbors cat to the usual wild predators. Another problem this causes for you is that they fly straight up whenever they hear a really loud noise or feel threatened. It's commonly referred to as boinking and is probably the number one non-disease related cause of death in adult quail in most cases. Flipping the light on when they don't expect it could leave you with a bunch of "special" quail all at one time.

If there is no other way, it may not smell bad if you keep it that clean but it will still smell like you're raising quail. Poultry and fowl have a distinct odor especially in a confined space. If I had to do it, I would make trays underneath their cages that would hold kitty litter, so you have something to mitigate the smell. The birds though, could not be allowed to access the kitty litter because they will eat it and I can't imagine that it is good for them. The same thing goes for shavings really.

Outside a rabbit hutch with 1/2x1/2 wire mesh all around would be completely sufficient as long as you get one with a low ceiling or pad the ceiling in some way. During the cold months you'd need to wrap the cage in plastic sheeting to block the wind. You don't need or want to provide healthy adult quail with auxiliary heat since they will grow down sufficient to the weather they're kept in and could die if heat went off due to power loss or such.

 

[4ourlittleones]

Great info - just two quick ?'s:
-Do you raise quail yourself in town?
-I'm wondering if the noise from neighbors with Harley motorcycles is going to be too much for the quail?

Thank you again for all of your help!!

 

[dc3085]

I live by a stop light on a residential road that connects two highways, I'm positive your neighborhood is quieter than mine and I don't even know what state youre in

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They don't love the harleys or the exhaust brakes on the semi's but they get used to them. Keeping them in the garage it's more about the fact that it will be nice and quiet in there, so anytime you come in or out is going to be kind of surprising to the birds. Eggs with no shells are often a sign the bird was scared or stressed so I'm sure you'll see some (It happens to me semi often but that's all relative bc I have 30 breeders, what I see often you may only see very rarely).

If you can put an a cheap old radio near them playing jazz or other melodic music without sharp tones it'll help filter the noise out a lot. Noises are a big deal to birds. I've not read it myself but I've discussed a study with a quail friend of mine where they tested stress levels of birds with different background noise. The birds that showed the most stress were birds that only heard nature sounds (makes sense, practically everything in the wild eats them), the next worst that I can recall was running water, with no other sound. The best results were from birds with easy listening or jazz music playing. If there are a lot of sounds running water can be used to help filter them, you just don't want running water and no other sound.

The radio still wouldn't solve your garage problems though, like I said before it's more the surprise factor of opening and closing doors and turning lights off and on. I'm not trying to tell you, you can't do it or won't be able to, just put you abreast of all the issues you'll face doing it.

 

[4ourlittleones]

Awesome! Sounds like our quail will be outdoors And the sound info has helped greatly - we'll just do our best to get them used to the neighborhood sounds from the time they're hatched and hopefully breed out the flighty ones. You've been a great help. Thank you!!