Slanted floor - yes or no

[drmusic]

I'm hoping to build my first quail enclosure soon. It will probably have a wire bottom and will be located outdoors. If I slant the floor to a pick-up area in the front, I will need a predator-proof door on the pick-up area. Is the slanted floor worth the trouble? When looking at cages online I see many with slanted floors and many without. Your input will be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[le_bwah]

It may be more convenient for a human, but raised wire floors—slanted or not—are unnecessarily harsh on the birds. I urge you to look into raising quail on the ground, or at least on a more natural substrate.

 

[el dorado quail]

If you do wire floors make sure you give them some things to stand on/in to rest their feet. Pots/boxes full of dirt are great. Predator proof everything.

 

[BReeder!]

I'm hoping to build my first quail enclosure soon. It will probably have a wire bottom and will be located outdoors. If I slant the floor to a pick-up area in the front, I will need a predator-proof door on the pick-up area. Is the slanted floor worth the trouble? When looking at cages online I see many with slanted floors and many without. Your input will be appreciated. Thanks.

I have a wire floor made of 1/2" hardware cloth. My quail are just fine and poop falls through pretty well. I do have a solid floor in and enclosed "coop" area. They eat and lay in the enclosed area on the solid floor and choose to spend the majority of their time on the wire. I do have the floor slanted. It makes egg collecting so much easier. The slant is 1inch high per 1 foot deep.
That setup is for adult birds though. I brood on a flat, solid surface. I actually use a rubbermaid water trough for brooding.

 

[drmusic]

It may be more convenient for a human, but raised wire floors—slanted or not—are unnecessarily harsh on the birds. I urge you to look into raising quail on the ground, or at least on a more natural substrate.

Thanks. I'm not completely sold on wire floors, but I do want something off the ground. I've also been reading about deep litter. I have used this with my chickens for years and it works very well. My big concern with this is lost eggs. If I decide to go with wire I plan to provide a large sand box.

 

[drmusic]

If you do wire floors make sure you give them some things to stand on/in to rest their feet. Pots/boxes full of dirt are great. Predator proof everything.

Thanks. I live on a Louisiana bayou and have had chickens for years, so I know about predators. We have all kinds of critters in our yard at night. Are you in El Dorado AR? If so, we're nearly neighbors.

 

[drmusic]

I have a wire floor made of 1/2" hardware cloth. My quail are just fine and poop falls through pretty well. I do have a solid floor in and enclosed "coop" area. They eat and lay in the enclosed area on the solid floor and choose to spend the majority of their time on the wire. I do have the floor slanted. It makes egg collecting so much easier. The slant is 1inch high per 1 foot deep.
That setup is for adult birds though. I brood on a flat, solid surface. I actually use a rubbermaid water trough for brooding.

Thanks. I built a small brooder box for my chickens - I will probably use the same one for quail. You can see it in the video below.

About what percentage of your coop is enclosed vs. wire?

 

[blackoaktammy]

Wire works well for most quail. The one exception I know of is buttons. They should have a solid floor.
Slanted floors work well for egg collection. If it is a gentle slant, it won't effect the birds like a short, steep slant would. Think of it this way - in the wild they wouldn't be walking on a level surface all the time.

 

[BReeder!]

Thanks. I built a small brooder box for my chickens - I will probably use the same one for quail. You can see it in the video below.

About what percentage of your coop is enclosed vs. wire?

My quail cage is 8'x3'. I enclosed the one end, making a 2'x3' coop - 25% of the total enclosure. I think less about the percentage though and more so about there being enough room for the birds to all huddle together if they need to get warm in cool weather or if something frightens then. It would be snug in there, but they wouldn't all have to trample each other. Here's a pic from when we were building it. The fat right is the coop section. I put a hinged door across the front opening made of solid plywood. The is a wall inside the cage as well to fully enclose the coop. The inside wall just has ahole cut out for the quail to freely move in and out of the coop.

 

[drmusic]

My quail cage is 8'x3'. I enclosed the one end, making a 2'x3' coop - 25% of the total enclosure. I think less about the percentage though and more so about there being enough room for the birds to all huddle together if they need to get warm in cool weather or if something frightens then. It would be snug in there, but they wouldn't all have to trample each other. Here's a pic from when we were building it. The fat right is the coop section. I put a hinged door across the front opening made of solid plywood. The is a wall inside the cage as well to fully enclose the coop. The inside wall just has ahole cut out for the quail to freely move in and out of the coop.View attachment 1839016

This helps. Looks like you have a good helper! I am thinking about the depth. is 3 feet too deep to comfortably reach the back? Thanks.