Show me your quail pens!!!

[igorsMistress]

Nice! How many do you keep in it?

Thank you, still a work in progress as we figure out how things work. Right now there are 14 in there. We are building something similar to your pens for brooding by next Spring.

ETA We will be hatching for meat so I still have room to grow them out in this pen and process when ready.

 

[H@tcher]

Have you given them nest boxes? Looks kinda barren in there. Might be good for them to have hiding places and branches to crawl over and under.

Working on that. I live a few minutes from the Alabama river. When my knees get to where I can walk a little better I am going to look for some driftwood. In the meantime, I am building some cedar boxes. Hoping the cedar will help keep mites away.

 

[hsinglanjin]

Curious how many of you built your quail coop/cage as first timer quail owners and then decided later to change it to a better design. Would love to see a before and after picture. I researched Coturnix quail for about a year, finally decided on a floor coop with sand flooring for 3 females. Had the quails now for about a month and a half, but now I wish I had decided on a raised cage. Thinking about taking apart my coop and rebuilding it

 

[le_bwah]

Curious how many of you built your quail coop/cage as first timer quail owners and then decided later to change it to a better design. Would love to see a before and after picture. I researched Coturnix quail for about a year, finally decided on a floor coop with sand flooring for 3 females. Had the quails now for about a month and a half, but now I wish I had decided on a raised cage. Thinking about taking apart my coop and rebuilding it

What isn't working well with your current setup? Are they inside the house? I raise mine on the ground, too, and feel it works for the best.

 

[hsinglanjin]

What isn't working well with your current setup? Are they inside the house? I raise mine on the ground, too, and feel it works for the best.

It's the bending down to clean out the coop. I sift out the sand with a make shift sifter which works well, but feel if I had more than 3 quails, it would be a bit more work. Thinking of a raised cage with 2 section, 1 with sand and the other on wire. Also thinking about a deep liter method so I won't have to clean out as often. Right now it's about twice a week I'm cleaning

 

[le_bwah]

Deep litter still needs turning. Hmmm. Maybe a raised sandbox (as in, all sand)?

 

[igorsMistress]

How large is the space? Deep litter is pretty awesome, I use it in my chicken coop. You do have to stir it but it's not nearly as much maintenance as sand imo.
Another option would be a long handle on your poop scooper. Or, lighly use a rake to make a pile and scoop?

 

[hsinglanjin]

How large is the space? Deep litter is pretty awesome, I use it in my chicken coop. You do have to stir it but it's not nearly as much maintenance as sand imo.
Another option would be a long handle on your poop scooper. Or, lighly use a rake to make a pile and scoop?

It's a small pen, about 4x8. Just big enough for 3 females. How often do you stir? I don't mind tossing in leaves and pine shavings every few days

 

[igorsMistress]

It's a small pen, about 4x8. Just big enough for 3 females. How often do you stir? I don't mind tossing in leaves and pine shavings every few days

My chickens aren't in the coop much so I only stir every couple weeks. I use my nose to tell me to be honest. Sometimes it's more often when the weather is damp.

I have 14 quail in a 12x16 pen on dirt. This weekend will be the first cleaning and they've been out there about 5 weeks. It isn't necessary but I'm going to do it anyway.

 

[BReeder!]

I will be raising quail on wire in a system made up of 4 cages, a brooder, and an incubator. I intend to raise for meat, eggs, and breeding. So far I built 1 of the 4 cages (pictured below). I have 103 quail eggs (also pictured below) going into the incubator later today (the arrived yesterday and I am waiting on the delivery of a fan for the incubator). The cages will be in my garage until Spring weather comes around. Then they will go outside. I'll likely start with just two in the garage. They are 3'x8' and I expect to keep 20-25 birds in the layers. I'll build a multi-section breeder as one of the 4 cages. The breeder will have 4 2'x3' sections with 4 quail in each (1 male and 3 female). When the system is fully up, I will have the following cage designation: 1 breeder, 2 grow out, 1 egg layer. Some quail will get moved from the grow out cages to the breeder or egg layer cages, while the rest will go to the freezer. I am hoping to incubate 50 eggs every 2 months to refill the grow out cages. In the winter, the grow out cages will get converted to egg layer cages likely since it's difficult to brood outdoors or in a shed without adequate heat in the winter. My garage is heated so the dedicated brooder will get put to work in the garage over the winter months. My brooder is a large Rubbermaid trough with heat lamps (currently but I want to get a brooding heat plate thing that uses less power and is safer).