Quail Pen ?

[dt1958]

Okay so I understand the rule of thumb is 1 square ft per bird for cots correct ? So if i'm building pens that are 2'tall x 2'wide x 8' long I should be able to house 16 birds in them correct, providing that they all get along. Also if I wanted to divide these pens in half or quarter them could I do it with a wire divider or will they fight through the wire, reason I ask is that I was thinking of dividing some of the 8' pens into 4- 2'x 2' breeder type pens & putting 1-roo to 3 hens or so in them after I grow them out in the 8' pens. Just wondering what works best for most folks. Thanks

 

[mochicken]

my pens are divided by wire and I havnt had any issues, if I have a male that is pacing or acting aggressive toward a male in the next cage I just put him in time out for a couple days and his attitude changes before he is reintroduced. In any case if you wanted to you could cut some dark plastic, cardboard, or 1/4" plywood for "blinders" between the cages

 

[Stellar]

The rule of thumb is 1 sq foot per bird BUT not every bird will comply with that requirement. Some will do better with less space and some with more. I believe there was a thread on this a while back.

If you follow by the 1 sq foot per bird your numbers are right, however may I suggest that you should try to put in more hens per roo? With trios, hens get beaten up pretty badly by mating and overlovin. With the dividers, the roosters may quarrel within the dividers but shouldn't cause any harm other than exciting each other.

 

[dt1958]

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So what ratio roo-hen would you suggest for a 2'x2' pen & a 4'x4' pen if they all get along ?

 

[dt1958]

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Okay,I like the "time out" idea, guess I need some isolation pens as well.

 

[Stellar]

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So what ratio roo-hen would you suggest for a 2'x2' pen & a 4'x4' pen if they all get along ?

in a 2x2 and you have Jumbos, I would say a quad would be safe to say in there , in a 4x4 that is double the sized you can have a quint or 2 roosters and 5 hens maybe??? I like to have a couple roosters in there to help with fertility.

 

[JJMR794]

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So what ratio roo-hen would you suggest for a 2'x2' pen & a 4'x4' pen if they all get along ?

in a 2x2 and you have Jumbos, I would say a quad would be safe to say in there , in a 4x4 that is double the sized you can have a quint or 2 roosters and 5 hens maybe??? I like to have a couple roosters in there to help with fertility.

NO 4X4 IS QUADRUPLE SIZE... 4X4=16 IF THEY GET ALONG WELL ENOUGH I'D GO 12 -13 HENS AND 4 ROOS

 

[Stellar]

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in a 2x2 and you have Jumbos, I would say a quad would be safe to say in there , in a 4x4 that is double the sized you can have a quint or 2 roosters and 5 hens maybe??? I like to have a couple roosters in there to help with fertility.

NO 4X4 IS QUADRUPLE SIZE... 4X4=16 IF THEY GET ALONG WELL ENOUGH I'D GO 12 -13 HENS AND 4 ROOS

Oh yes, you are correct! for the square foot rule...I need to count better ! LOL

 

[rittert3]

It's that funky quail math messin' with your head, Alex, lol. So with large pens when dose it become ok to break the 1 sqft rule? I want to keep my birds in colonies with a 3/9 ratio and my current planned dementions are 5'6" l x 20" deep which would allow just over .75sqft per bird. However after rethinking my unit height I may change that to 5'6" x 2'.

 

[Stellar]

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It's no sleep, quail math, yeah...I like space for the birds so I can stick the dust bath pan in there

Full time farmer= no sleep. Good life!