Show me your quail pens!!!

[Rozzie]

Here's a small brooder I just did today. It started out looking like the first picture. I found it at a thrift shop. Obviously, it was ugly as sin. The hinges had paint in them, as did the screws. The spiderman fabric was stapled down. I am assuming it was supposed to be wrapped up around the foam but who knows? The paint was all streaky.

We managed (after a good bit of work) to get the two hinges off the top and the one off the inside. Ripped off the spiderman fabric and set the (clean looking) foam aside to repurpose. (The spiderman fabric will get repurposed, too, though not where I have to look at it!)

Cut pieces for a new top, painted everything, and assembled it all. The lower two pictures show what it looks like now. This "bench" turned brooder is not huge. It's intended for small hatches of coturnix (my incubator holds 12 with the turner or a MAX of about 20 without it) or a batch of button quail. I have been watching and hoping to find something more permanent than Rubermaid tubs.

Plus, if I don't like this for a brooder, it will now make a very nice cage for a pair of button quail. In a pinch I could even use it to isolate a coturnix or two from the rest of the birds (ahem like moving mr noisy Roo from the garage to the basement...)

Total cost:About $13.50
$9 for the bench at a secondhand shop. 50 cents worth of paint (Walmart, mis-mixed shelf. Had on hand.) about $3 for the two furring strips used to make the top. about a buck for the hardware wire scrap & screws. I had everything on hand so didn't have to go buy anything.

Before:

After:

 

[Rozzie]

These are what my larger cages look like. They are 4x4x4, but actually sit up a bit off the ground because they are on heavy duty wheels. These will support my weight but wouldn't support a person much heavier. I really should have added one more floor brace & used slightly heavier OSB for the floor. They'll be okay for many years, though, I think. I have two of these. These do have plastic mesh for the roof & some sides. However, they are kept in a SECURE building.

You can see one of the cages here & just the edge of the second one. I really like these cages, but they are BIG and I doubt I'll make another any time soon.
Cost: Don't want to even THINK about that. I refuse to even tally it up.

 

[Rozzie]

Here is a button quail cage that I built. It was designed specifically to fit the set of shelves that it is on. While there are 3 quail in the picture, there are actually two that live in it. The third was VERY temporary - as in a matter of an hour -- while I did some repairs on the cage he was in at that time.

This cage has window screen instead of hardware wire for the top & sides. I have since learned that my button quail prefer not to be able to see out the top of their cages. So, I keep the top covered with a remnant of blue fabric from the thrift store. One of these days I might even hem it...

Edited to add link (duh!)

The bottom is a piece of OSB leftover from working on the large cages. The wood is all furring & similar inexpensive trim sized stuff. The handle is actually a piece of an old bike intertube cut, bolted on, and painted. The paint is from the mis-mixed shelf at Wal-mart. I keep several quarts in different colors on hand for different projects. The door is actually a piece of scrap picture frame backing salvaged from a box of yard sale stuff.

 

[rarebreedeggs4u]

Quote:
Take a handful of grit, sand or clean aquarium gravel and pour it with your hand into the water bottle. Add a little water and shake, swirl & shake. It cleans out the nasty gunk, shake the gravel & dirty water into a pastic cup to use in the next bottle & rinse and refill. Easy breezy and CLEAN!

 

[Madcap621]

OR..................Use a few drops of OXINE in the water to PREVENT slime build - up. {I have no financial interest in OXINE other than what I pay for it [retail ;-)]}

 

[Buttercup Chillin]

Ok, he finished my outside brooder. Will have to paint the top later, cause I put the last batch in there this afternoon. It no longer looks this prestine and never will again.

And yes he put screen over the top, but the 1/2 x 1 makes me nervous. Time will tell.

Rozzie, your little blue brooder would look real good sitting next to my couch. Or on the mural of a tree with blue sky wall in the living room.

edited to add: works great, little ones were cozy comfy last night, put a rubber matt under feeder so they had a place off wire to rest on until they get used to the wire. But going to add the other light on the other side for a back up. I worried all night what if that light burnes out. Also, I forgot to put the 1/2" wire in and just lay the 1/4" on top. So will have to redo that. Need 1/2" once past 2 weeks old. Only change I want to make after using it for awhile. Well, I had planned to use it till they are 4 weeks old, but 60 babies are to many for that length of time. Will try 40 later as a max.

Figured I would add my new breeder pens DH made, too. Just have to move them in place and put the droppings pans in and the Coturnix of course.

 

[Rozzie]

Quote:
That's a nice looking brooder, too!

My little blue brooder was a fun project.

I always hunt at the thrift store for things I can renovate or re-purpose. I usually don't find many things that I want to take the time to redo, but that just JUMPED out at me as having possibilities. I've actually been eyeing a changing table that has been there for months, too. I've been debating how I could turn that into a quail pen. Actually, I don't think it would be terribly hard. It's just the danged curved dowels for legs that I'm not sure about. I could probably use zip ties or wires to attach plastic mesh to it. Hmmmm. Now that has me thinking. Nope. Not gonna do it.

Not until the cages that have been promised to me arrive & I can see if I even need more.

I "will" be on the prowl for more wooden toyboxes, though. That was an amazingly easy project. Plus, it kept an eyesore from going into someone's house.

I've also been eyeing the bench by my swimming pool. It's one of those plastic benches used to cover up a swimming pool fiter/pump. If I could just rig a way to keep them from escaping under the front edge, then I'd be in shape to use that for a larger brooder, when needed. The lid could be propped open & they couldn't jump out of it until they are flying pretty well. It would work for a week or two, anyway. I've thought of lining it with a big tarp, and putting sand tubes against the front to block the one escape route. I'd put a big indoor/outdoor carpet mat under the whole thing for extra insulation, even though my basement is really warm.

Brainstorming...

 

[Rozzie]

Here's my other quail pen:

Housing two coturnix roos...so far, they aren't hating on each other (or lovin' on each other...)

It is up on blocks but has been moved from where that picture was taken.

 

[chickhopeful12]

Nice job guys!!

 

[Rozzie]

Pictures got lost from my Photobucket account. Deleting post...