Quail housing

[LemurFox]

I have been doing a bit of research on coturnix quail housing. We will be getting around 20-24 quail. I have been reading there should be at least 20 square inches per quail. My question is roughly what percentage should the run vs the house be? Thanks.

 

[Fishkeeper]

Quail don't really use houses. Just give them an open run with a few shelters.
I'd suggest giving them a minimum of 2 square feet per bird, preferably more. You can keep them alive in those little wire-bottom cages with a tiny bit of space, but they're not going to be terribly happy. To keep them happier, to get them to lay eggs more often in specific spaces instead of just everywhere, and to have a lot less cleaning to do, keep them over deep litter and make sure they have plenty of brush to hide under.

 

[le_bwah]

Coturnix aren't like chickens—they won't instinctively take shelter in a coop and they don't roost. Their pens should ideally be all "run" with scattered cover (branches, grass houses, overturned flower pots, logs or driftwood, etc.).

1 square foot per bird is as low as you can go without entering factory farm levels of overcrowding. So for 24 quail, a 3'x8' or 5'x10' ground pen would be humane and appropriate.

 

[LemurFox]

Coturnix aren't like chickens—they won't instinctively take shelter in a coop and they don't roost. Their pens should ideally be all "run" with scattered cover (branches, grass houses, overturned flower pots, logs or driftwood, etc.).

1 square foot per bird is as low as you can go without entering factory farm levels of overcrowding. So for 24 quail, a 3'x8' or 5'x10' ground pen would be humane and appropriate.

Thank you. That makes more sense. The photos online seemed to show more of a "chicken like set up" which seemed odd. We were planning on doing an aviary style that would be 7 feet tall, 3 feet wide, and 7 feet long on an open part of our porch. Thanks for the help with the "housing" part. I will include shelters instead of a house.

 

[LemurFox]

Quail don't really use houses. Just give them an open run with a few shelters.
I'd suggest giving them a minimum of 2 square feet per bird, preferably more. You can keep them alive in those little wire-bottom cages with a tiny bit of space, but they're not going to be terribly happy. To keep them happier, to get them to lay eggs more often in specific spaces instead of just everywhere, and to have a lot less cleaning to do, keep them over deep litter and make sure they have plenty of brush to hide under.

Thanks. That makes more sense. A lot of pictures online showed one 'house" so it was a little confusing.

 

[Fishkeeper]

Wild quail live in brush. They prefer to simply hunker down somewhere at night, rather than roost like chickens do. You could give them a small box or two to hide in, like a mini doghouse, but they may never use it. Mostly what they'd be happy with would be a big pile of straw to hide in, or a fake bush. Christmas tree branches (fake or real) are ideal for that.

An aviary style sounds great to me. Just make it deep-litter, and you should have happy birds. If I were you, I might try to make it wider than 3 feet? It'll be kind of cramped for you otherwise.
Trouble is, 7 by 3 is 21 square feet. For 20 quail, you'd want something like 40 square feet. A little under might be fine, but you want something at least approaching 2 square feet per quail for happy birds.

 

[LemurFox]

Wild quail live in brush. They prefer to simply hunker down somewhere at night, rather than roost like chickens do. You could give them a small box or two to hide in, like a mini doghouse, but they may never use it. Mostly what they'd be happy with would be a big pile of straw to hide in, or a fake bush. Christmas tree branches (fake or real) are ideal for that.

An aviary style sounds great to me. Just make it deep-litter, and you should have happy birds. If I were you, I might try to make it wider than 3 feet? It'll be kind of cramped for you otherwise.
Trouble is, 7 by 3 is 21 square feet. For 20 quail, you'd want something like 40 square feet. A little under might be fine, but you want something at least approaching 2 square feet per quail for happy birds.

Thanks a bunch!

 

[LemurFox]

Wild quail live in brush. They prefer to simply hunker down somewhere at night, rather than roost like chickens do. You could give them a small box or two to hide in, like a mini doghouse, but they may never use it. Mostly what they'd be happy with would be a big pile of straw to hide in, or a fake bush. Christmas tree branches (fake or real) are ideal for that.

An aviary style sounds great to me. Just make it deep-litter, and you should have happy birds. If I were you, I might try to make it wider than 3 feet? It'll be kind of cramped for you otherwise.
Trouble is, 7 by 3 is 21 square feet. For 20 quail, you'd want something like 40 square feet. A little under might be fine, but you want something at least approaching 2 square feet per quail for happy birds.

I just measured and it will be 4 feet wide.

 

[LemurFox]

Any suggestions on nesting spots?

 

[Fishkeeper]

Give them a heap of straw in one corner, with some fake brush next to it, and a little box-house dealie elsewhere. If you're lucky, they'll lay in those areas. It's still not a guarantee with coturnix, they've had all the smart domesticated out of them, but it's worth a shot when they're happy and content in a nice setup. Just don't disturb their nesting spots too much, so they'll think it's safe there.

So that works out to 28 square feet. Still more like 14-16 quail worth of space, not so much 20-14.