Smell-Free Quail Coop

[vixie-daisy]

I decided to try it out! I just placed an order for 100 worms and am going to go pick up a bag of dirt.

Do you happen to know what kind of plant the little bushy tree thing is? Will the quail try to eat all plants or just "tasty" ones? I'd love to plant mine, as well though I don't want want to plant something they'll quickly destroy and eat, or something that will be toxic to them if they do try to eat it.

 

[AniaOnion]

From what I've read, quail are pretty good about not eating toxic plants UNLESS they're starving. The little bush, I have to double check. I picked it up when I was looking for things like look like small trees. But small cedars, junipers, etc. could possibly work.

 

[vixie-daisy]

Great info, thank you so much! I'm really excited about this, not just for the practical aspect of it but also having a more enriching environment for my quail.

 

[AniaOnion]

That was my thought too. That it would more closely mimic their natural environment and so hopefully help them feel more comfortable and happy.

 

[Fishkeeper]

Coturnix are pretty far removed from their wild ancestors. Like most aquarium fish, they don't need a naturalistic environment, they just need the enrichment- dirt bath, grit, treats to search for, things to hop on, and things to hide under. You could set up a giant dollhouse with all those things in it and they'd be perfectly happy. The trick to keeping animals happy is not to mimic what they would have in the wild in appearance, it's to mimic what they could DO with those things in the wild.

 

[AniaOnion]

Oh absolutely, and in the same way that there are important things we leave OUT compared to what they have in their natural environments such as predators, starvation, and so forth. Part of the appeal of things like live plants is as much for what they do provide in addition to the more obvious - like yes plants for cover and food obviously, but also the added benefit of air filtration, anchoring the soil, and the fact that having a little wilderness in my room and office makes me happy lol.

It is an important reminder that mimicry doesn't mean appearance but function and I thank you for it.

 

[Mhays]

Glad to have found this thread - have indoor quail and am struggling with the stink. Have thought about doing something bioactive, but my birds are on wire - with a big pot of sand, and another of earth that I am struggling to keep plants in (they are like Godzilla with plants!)

I have cat litter where all the poop drops - but my problem is that not all of it drops! They are magicians at making poos up against the sides of the cage where the frame for the wire is, or making poos that are too big to drop through! Anybody have ideas for this?

I'm going to get some BSFL to eat the compost, and I might just drop some in with the cat litter - and I may go on the hunt today for some isopods...but does anyone else have a problem with stinky poos that avoid your collection areas? I already strain their sandbath once a day...found that's a source of some stink...

 

[FloorCandy]

Glad to have found this thread - have indoor quail and am struggling with the stink. Have thought about doing something bioactive, but my birds are on wire - with a big pot of sand, and another of earth that I am struggling to keep plants in (they are like Godzilla with plants!)

I have cat litter where all the poop drops - but my problem is that not all of it drops! They are magicians at making poos up against the sides of the cage where the frame for the wire is, or making poos that are too big to drop through! Anybody have ideas for this?

I'm going to get some BSFL to eat the compost, and I might just drop some in with the cat litter - and I may go on the hunt today for some isopods...but does anyone else have a problem with stinky poos that avoid your collection areas? I already strain their sandbath once a day...found that's a source of some stink...

I think maybe mdees?( forgive if I’m wrong or mispelled) recently had posted about using pvc coated wire for the grate underneath because the poop slides off better, and also some informative info about grate placement in regard to supports, because poop accumulating there seems to be common.

Besides that, as my chicks grew into maturity their poop has changed, they started having these huge sticky brown tar poops, and if someone stepped on one and then walked over his buddies, he left poop stamps on them. I was also having issues with poop gathering on their feet, I thought it had been because I spilled food and they stepped in it, but even 3 days after cleanup, they were still getting caked.

I looked it up, and it seems gross sticky poop that smells is fairly common in quail and many videos and sites suggested new food or fermenting. Since I had about 40 lbs of food I decided to ferment, and within 24 hours their poops were totally different. They are smaller, white and medium brown like when they were chicks, if they step in it, it just falls off into the sand on the floor when they walk, the other poops made cement poop sand shoes lol.

I don’t find they eat less, I have no waste, but I go thru food faster than before, is that because they’re still growing, or did they hate it and only ate enough to stay alive before? I’m not certain, mine have ground access and eat bugs and worms and whatever they catch so I can’t even be sure if it’s just a couple big ones gobbling it up, I see them all gather to eat it when I refill. I keep dry food in the coop too, they only eat it if they run out of mush at night. I’ve found that fermenting really cut down how often I add bedding to cover high traffic areas, there’s very little visible poop in the outdoor area of the pen, and before there were areas I put fresh chips over every day to cover the poop.

 

[Mhays]

I'll have to look for that post somehow...LMK if you can find out where it is! We did get coated wire partly for comfort and partly for that reason, it's the wood the wire is stapled to that's the problem...hmmm. I have been giving them water with a little ACV in it, but that doesn't seem to do much. They have a wide variety of poos, some nice neat ones, some sticky. Some clearly from my Roo, who is...persistent.

It is *amazing* how much poop these guys generate in a day.

 

[SueT]

Using sweet PDZ works wonders to quell the smell in chicken coop and dry the poop. It's a mineral often used as horse stall freshener. Looks like sand.
Buy it in the horse aisle, the PDZ packaged for chickens costs at least 2X as much for the same exact product.