Raising quail on concrete? Converting an old Dog Kennel

[m_shuman]

I am thinking about raising quail for meat. DH says he is not going to build me another avery after he spent so much time and money making my dream chicken coop and run. We do although have dog cages. One is occupied by my bachelor rooster and the other is occupied by our 13 year old lab. We don't expect him to live much longer and DH suggested that when the dog died we use his kennel as an avery for quail. The only thing is that the floor is concrete. It is made of 2"x 4" welded wire and we could easily put 1/4" X 1/4" hardwire cloth along the bottom 4' to keep the beasties from reaching in and eating the quail. The dimentions of it are 8' X 10' and 6' tall. We could expand it to be 16' X 10' if we rehomed the rooster. It is covered with a plastic corregated roof and has vines that have grown up the side that "gets weather" so it is protected. We live in coastal Georgia (Savannah area) so the winters do not get really cold and absolutely no snow. I am really hoping this kind of set up would work for a quail pen. Please let me know your feedback. I am going to get a few pictures to show you all if it would help. Thanks for the feedback!

ETA: I am thinking we want Bob Whites.

 

[bfrancis]

It looks like an awesome set up to me. You would have to run either 1/4" X 1/4" hardwire cloth or even 1" poultry wire all the way to the top though. not only will it keep bad things out, but quail can fit through 2"x 4". I would leave that up...its stronger against bigger animal attempts like coon or neighborhood dog. You can figure 1 square foot per bird, so if you don't move the roo, you can figure how many will fit. I'm not a Bob guy, but have coturnix, those ratio 1 male to 5 females. A Bob person would have to tell you the ratio on those.

Concrete is fine, just put down bedding to keep them off of the concrete. Be sure to keep everything dry. On concrete moister can't wick to the soil like on the ground and even the top might look dry, the bottom of your bedding could be saturated and promote mold growth...bad for breathing.

hope this helps, good luck!

 

[m_shuman]

Quote:
This helps alot! : ^ ) I would probably chang out the bedding as needed just like my Chicken coop. What kind of bedding do you reccommend. I would also put potted plants in there for them to hide in and probably would leave the dog house for shelter. We have plent of bith 1" poultry wire as well as 1/4" X 1/4" hardwire cloth left over from making the chicken run.

 

[bfrancis]

this will probably get a few "oh no" responses, but if it were my deal I would use flake pine chips, like for horses. Don't get the fine stuff...that's way bad for them and would get wet to easily, but with FLAKE, you wouldn't have those issues. That's what we use in all our coops and 3 week and up brooders. (We use pine pellets for the new born brooders) For my outside run, I also use oak leaves and pine needles, but don't think that would be a good solution for your set up.

I def would leave the dog house and also add the pots.

 

[rittert3]

I would use some sand or even just throw in some top soil, Also I would got out and cut a 5-6' red cedar and throw in there. As fars as gender ratio it shoultn't be a big deal in that type of setting just make sure you have as many or more females as males.

 

[TheRealTimShady]

Quote:
You know that cedar has poisonous properties towards quail

 

[rittert3]

Yes I am but, red cedar is actually a juniper (not technically a cedar) and being a whole tree it has much less surface area (than shavings/ chips/ mulch) to argrivate their respritory systems (which is where they are harmfull). I would just make sure to cut the tree when it dosn't have the berry like seeds, if they mature, the trees with tear up your wire as they grow, this is why you want a dead one. The distructive, noxious properties of the live trees make them easy to get for free, they grow in most cattle pastures and tear up barbed wire fences.

 

[m_shuman]

We don't have any cedar or red cedar trees here in GA. Just pines!

 

[chickbird]

Quote:
THAT IS A REALLY LARGE MAYPOP VINE ....DID IT JUST COME UP OR DID YOU BUY IT?

 

[m_shuman]

Quote:
THAT IS A REALLY LARGE MAYPOP VINE ....DID IT JUST COME UP OR DID YOU BUY IT?

Actually it is a passion flower vine and it dies back every year and then grow back like that it is also entwined with a crossvine that is an evergreen that has grown all the way up and overtaken my pine tree.