Quail housing size

[kperriera]

We are going to start with quail, I am still trying to figure out if ground raising is better than raised pens, and how many birds in the cages? I have an area around 2.5' deep and 10-12' long. Would one long pens work best ground or raised, or a couple pens end to end?

 

[Jacey R]

I have had better luck raising my quail in raised pens. They have a tendency to ignore weather conditions and sit in damp areas on the ground, which isn't great for them. It is also easier for the neighbourhood cats to stress them out if they are low down. I suppose if you are keeping them indoors though, either way would be fine. I would recommend at least 1.5 square feet of floor space per bird, so you could still keep quite a few of them in the enclosure size you have. I always say more pens are better in case you need to separate them, so the two end-to-end might be preferable. For whatever reason, they sometimes don't get along, but just moving one bird to another covey can make all the difference in the pecking order. Best of luck with your new birds!

 

[kperriera]

Okay fantastic. I'm thinking I can use the coated wire for the flooring to reduce wear on their feet. And I'm guessing around up to 20 birds?

 

[kperriera]

I did measure and the space I have is 32" deep, and it's the length of our 2car garage

 

[Jacey R]

I think 20 sounds like a reasonable max number. I have never tried the wire flooring, but I've heard it is much easier to keep clean. My birds have always been on sand or wood shavings, which they love to scratch around in. But I think the wire is probably good too, as long as they have an area to rest their feet.

 

[kperriera]

Yes! I want to build like a house on one end so I can attempt to lock them in at night, we have a lot of raccoons, coyotes,fox, and mink

 

[kperriera]

And what size holes in the floor do you suggest? 1/2" or 1/4"

 

[Jacey R]

I think 1/4" is probably better... they have tiny little feet

 

[Binki]

My opinion of wire flooring - poo can be too big to fall through by itself, needs to be mashed through with their feet.

Hardened quail poop is like razors under their feet risking staph infection (bumblefoot)

Cleaning wire requires removing it and soaking in an old watery poo slurry til you can scrub it off clean again cause quail poo is like cement sometimes.

Fallen poo is a crap tray which rats and other vermin love so have to protect that and clean it cause a few layers of poop could stay wet between since it doesn't dry faster like with absorbant bedding causing a fester of maybe bad stuff to you or the quails health.

Also have to protect their toes underneath from getting ripped off by predators,

Quail don't like to stand on wire, especially bigger ones and I've read some posts of people with jumbo coturnix who were constantly shredding up their feet (even on coated wire) because they weighed more. They also had a rest area.

Wood shavings dry up poop, they love resting and bathing in them and you can enrich them by sprinkling bits of food in there that they like, such as finch seed mix.

A big compressed bag of wood shavings close to the size of a bale of hay is $5 at TSC.

I line newspapers two ply with it overlapping so when it's dirty, I roll up the newspaper with the wood shavings mostly contained inside of it and drop it in a paper yard waste/leaf bag or you can compost/recycle/burn? it.

Then I use a dustpan to sweep out the remaining bits, I don't get too fancy as I'll just be covering it with newspaper again and sometimes I'll disinfect it with diluted spray bleach/Clorox wipes and let it dry before putting the newspaper on top and shavings on top of that

To me, the cons of wire flooring for quail are too many and would actually amount to more work to clean, smell more because it stays wet longer and risk the quails health. Bedding seems easier and more humane when I compare the two options

 

[Jacey R]

My opinion of wire flooring - poo can be too big to fall through by itself, needs to be mashed through with their feet.

Hardened quail poop is like razors under their feet risking staph infection (bumblefoot)

Cleaning wire requires removing it and soaking in an old watery poo slurry til you can scrub it off clean again cause quail poo is like cement sometimes.

Fallen poo is a crap tray which rats and other vermin love so have to protect that and clean it cause a few layers of poop could stay wet between since it doesn't dry faster like with absorbant bedding causing a fester of maybe bad stuff to you or the quails health.

Also have to protect their toes underneath from getting ripped off by predators,

Quail don't like to stand on wire, especially bigger ones and I've read some posts of people with jumbo coturnix who were constantly shredding up their feet (even on coated wire) because they weighed more. They also had a rest area.

Wood shavings dry up poop, they love resting and bathing in them and you can enrich them by sprinkling bits of food in there that they like, such as finch seed mix.

A big compressed bag of wood shavings close to the size of a bale of hay is $5 at TSC.

I line newspapers two ply with it overlapping so when it's dirty, I roll up the newspaper with the wood shavings mostly contained inside of it and drop it in a paper yard waste/leaf bag or you can compost/recycle/burn? it.

Then I use a dustpan to sweep out the remaining bits, I don't get too fancy as I'll just be covering it with newspaper again and sometimes I'll disinfect it with diluted spray bleach/Clorox wipes and let it dry before putting the newspaper on top and shavings on top of that

To me, the cons of wire flooring for quail are too many and would actually amount to more work to clean, smell more because it stays wet longer and risk the quails health. Bedding seems easier and more humane when I compare the two options

Good points Binki. I hadn't thought about the dried droppings being hard on their feet, but it makes sense!