Amanda, I understand now! I actually use a similar set-up for my nest boxes. Shavings on bottom & long grass that floats on top. This encourages my quail to nest there & seems to keep the eggs cleaner. Or I'm just lucky so far. :S
For the rest of the deep litter: Why not toss the hay on the lawn, mow over it & collect it with the lawnmower bag. This way it's chopped up all nice & short enough to mix in the DL without 'floating'.
Quailswiss, I'm glad my thoughts could help you out!
I def have noticed my quail don't scratch as much as my chickens do. However they do dustbathe more if the deep litter is fluffy enough. I figure it also depends on how early the birds were introduced to a deep litter floor. The earlier the better for sure. This is why I recommend the hand rake to toss up shavings (encouraging them) & that the deep litter be 2-4 inches deep; rather than half a foot or more with chickens. Even just a few inches is more than effective enough for quail.
Sure you can use paper shreddings, but you'd have to make sure that the ink is safe. Some countries/states/provinces have laws stating what types of ink can be used, others don't really care. I'd ask your local state/province & newspaper company. I'd leave magazines alone & any other shiny papers. Esp nothing with scents stuck in them. If you feel the newspaper is safe to put in your veggie garden, then it's probably safe for quail. The ink may stain their feet though if it gets wet!
As for worms, I don't know enough about the subject that deeply to say yes/no. But I will say this: We don't know what type of bacteria is in the worm bin. Even household foods could contain bad things (hence why we need to cook some stuff). From my understanding, the bacteria tends to sit in the worm's gut, & be pooped out, rather than fully digested (like say mealworms), this is the potentially dangerous part.
BUT, I think if a bird has a healthy immune system, beneficial bacteria in its gut, & a varied diet (like not solely eating worms) that it should be fine. Naturally, caution should be taken & a watchful eye is needed. So if you do go this way, start small & work your way up. Toss in small piles of compost with a few worms & see how they do that week. Then, add more till you feel comfy with what you're working with.
I'm sure if your quail were older & had rock hard immune systems that you could potentially have them eating your garden compost/worms as well. But of course there's more risks with that. It depends on so many factors though (esp local), so it's really up to you & what you feel comfortable with.
As an aside, I once raised baby robins as a kid & all they ever ate was garden worms + seeded baby pablum. It was disgusting watching how fast the worms would digest right through them. It was like all they had were big mouths & butts. But they were truly wild birds, so it makes sense that their immune systems were built perfectly for that. Still, super gross..
Thought because I lived in the city I didn't have to worry about predators, and I found out the hard way I was wrong. One disappeared and I just see feathers, the other got it's head pulled through and chewed off. The front is lined with 1/2 inch hardware cloth now and while I had him out I put more dirt in.
