Slow Night Here In Quailville

[JJMR794]

Wait a minute...... there's no desert in Indiana!

 

[bluebird]

Well for starters, I have to bring Kramer inside for the winter as well, he is not in the outside pen right now. It has 3' of snow in it ! As far as netting, a post or pole of some sort or sheppards hook -about 6' tall- in the middle with netting draped over it will keep buttons in and I would only have to lift a corner to get into feed, water, and clean poo when needed. There are LOTS of hiding areas and I plan to add more. The hibiscus itself gets 4 to 5 feet tall. There is also 5 liriopi grass plants, a native Indiana rose bush, english daiseys, 3 stella doro plants, a basket full of perenial herbs and birdsnest evergreen. I plant nasturniums in the summer -one of Kramer's favorites- as they are a great vining and bushy plant and very pretty. I have potted vining geranium plants on the pen walls that hang down to the ground to provide more hiding areas.

Oh crap....I may never see them!

There are lots of rocks and logs too. Oh...and a prickly pear cactus!

We do not have a preditor 'problem'. Sometimes an occational hawk flies around our neighbors horse pasture but not 'over' our house. This pen is 8' from the house, right up to the deck were we sit in the summer. I would be putting only two in the pen...females. Overwintering in the house won't be a problem.

Any other reasons why not? Otherwise... who would like a couple of their girlie buttons to live in my lovely summer tortoise/flower garden?

 

[citalk2much]

only other reason is a pair will go in in the spring and in the fall you will have about 30 too take out they breed very well in natural settings

 

[bluebird]

Not a pair....two FEMALES.

 

[citalk2much]

Your tortoise will not eat the eggs? Maybe two males is a better idea

 

[JJMR794]

yeah, but there's still no desert in indiana.......

 

[Overeasyplz]

I just wanted to say...I love my quail eggs!!! I love how tiny they are, how beautiful they look with all the brown spots and splotches..I sure hope tha Post Office didn't ruin them..but if they arrivd with only one cracked, that means hopefully none of em froze. I measured that rabbit cage and the outside run is 60", the height is 24" and it is 36" wide. The attached nest box is 24" deep and 36" wide, 24" high as well. It had a simple heavy sheet of plywood for a top but I am going to add a peaked roof to the whole thing, and make it hinged on one side so I can reach in from the top. I will have to make a seperation in the roof's side over the boxed end and it's own seperate hinge. I also will put lights in it amd probably move it up next to the house so I can run the cord to it, plus added benifit of wind protectlon. Sorry thinking out loud again....It will make a really nice cage though.. Waiting on the 23rd-25th to see if they pop out!

 

[jenjscott]

Sounds like a great pen. Where's the pictures? I wish it would warm up just a little bit so I can work on my pen.

 

[Overeasyplz]

I'll take a pic tomorrow. It is a heavy, heavy pen. It is in pretty poor shape, I'm ashamed the rabbits were in it but the snow and cold make doing anything impossible. The floor was hardware cloth, fpr pete's sake. That's not good for rabbits' feet and it really cant support the weight of adult rabbits..One corner was almost completely blown from rabbits sitting on it. So I put a peice of 1"x1/2" on that corner and had bricks on it to keep it there. So i decided it would make a better quail cage than a rabbit cage. I will have to replace all the wire in it though, it's pretty saggy.

 

[Overeasyplz]

Jen, it looks like this
http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n227/myfantac/quailpen2.jpg

Edit to add that this isn't my pen, I found this pic in the archives of this particular topic, quails, in general. It's like 94 or something..a quail housing topic of course. But yea, this is what my wooden monstrosity looks like. I hope ot make it quite a bit more appealing