Space for quail?

[poultrymad]

I only did the experiment a few months ago and after I saw how much better the other one layed I moved the one on solid floor onto wire floor. But both hens are still alive and healthy at the moment.
As for egg laying being a sine of happiness I am not sure. I would of thought it would probably be sine that they had all the things that they needed (food, water, light, no predators) meaning they are trying to reproduce because there is perfect conditions for there to be more quail there. It might be a sine that they are happy or it might just be a reaction that kicks in in there body from having so many birds near them and and having the right conditions.

 

[DK newbie]

I actually did an experiment a bit back where I had 2 female quail that were sisters and the same age. I put 1 in a wire floored pen with 4 other birds. The pen was1 1/2 square feet of area. The other 1 went in a 2' by 3' pen with wood chip bedding an a nest full of hay and 1 young male for company (know the male was not harrasing her as she never had any feathers missing and he was to young to breed). Both pens were about 6 feet away from each other with the same amount of light and both had ad lib food and water. The pen on wire floor every hen laid every day apart from the occasional day when I had 1 less than the number of hens. The hen on solid floor only laid about 3 eggs over the whole 6 weeks.
I know people are going to disagree with me but these are my experiences and they might be of use to someone.

Where as the result of the experiment might seem significant, I find it hard to tell from your setup which of the several changed factors caused the difference. Personally I think if you'd put the same number of birds in the bigger cage as in the smaller one, you'd have gotten the same number of eggs. You say the male was too young to breed, but for him to even be in her cage, he must at least have been out of the brooder - around 4 weeks? - when the experiment started and if it went on for 6 weeks, he will have been old enough to breed for the last weeks - and where as he might not have pulled any feathers he could still have stressed her.
The experiment is interesting, but keep in mind only to change one factor so it's possible to tell what caused the difference - either a bigger cage OR fewer cage mates OR a younger roo OR no roo at all OR solid flooring. And of cause you really need to do it with more than 2 birds to be able to tell whether it was just completely random or not.
Also keep in mind how you kept the birds before starting the experiment - if they were in a crowded community pen for instance, 'crowded' is normal for them and they might not lay at all for the first several weeks in uncrowded conditions, simply because it's strange to them.

 

[poultrymad]

Hi, yes I completely agree with you. If I have the chance I will try again and only change one thing and do it a lot more controlled but I have to build some more pens first before I can do that.I was just saying what had happened when I had tried it. I Know It Is not realy a valid experiment but it just had an interesting outcome.
I will personally be only keeping them on wire floor in the small pens apart from when I'm doing an experiment in future as I am getting so many eggs of my birds on the wire floor.
I should have a new cage arriving tomorrow to put my birds in so I will report back on how that works as it is a wire floored pen with automatic waters and out of pen feeders. There will be 12 birds in a 1' by 2' cage in the new set of pens.
This is the link to the ebay add http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Quail-Cage-Comfortplast-System-/262727369743

 

[cshma11]

I'm not personally worried about how many eggs they lay, as long as they are happy. I think the deep litter method with a solid floor is pretty close to what they might have in a natural habitat, so I'm going to try that. I just personally don't feel comfortable cramming that many birds into such a small space. Just me personally - it seems inhumane.

12 birds in a 1'x2' cage only gives 1/6th of a square foot per bird. In my opinion, that is flat out inhumane, not just bordering on it. That said, I can't change your mind about what you do with your birds, but I would be more comfortable if you didn't encourage others to do the same on my thread. I know it's hard to read tone on the internet, so know I'm not angry, just very uncomfortable by what you are sharing in terms of treatment of your quail.

 

[cshma11]

So... back to my original plans of building a new cage!

I'm going to do several cage/coops that are 2'x3' (6sqft) for 5-6 birds in each one. 4-5 hens to 1 rooster in each coop. That gives them each at least 1sqft of space. I have PVC connectors and water nipples to put waterers across 1 wall, and PVC pipe to make feeders to go along the opposite wall. I'm going to build it out of plywood (or medium density particle board?). I'm just going to attach a picture of the plans I wrote out, so I don't have to type it all haha.

 

[cshma11]

 

[poultrymad]

I'm not personally worried about how many eggs they lay, as long as they are happy. I think the deep litter method with a solid floor is pretty close to what they might have in a natural habitat, so I'm going to try that. I just personally don't feel comfortable cramming that many birds into such a small space. Just me personally - it seems inhumane.

12 birds in a 1'x2' cage only gives 1/6th of a square foot per bird. In my opinion, that is flat out inhumane, not just bordering on it. That said, I can't change your mind about what you do with your birds, but I would be more comfortable if you didn't encourage others to do the same on my thread. I know it's hard to read tone on the internet, so know I'm not angry, just very uncomfortable by what you are sharing in terms of treatment of your quail.

Hi, I am only sharing what I have found out through keeping my owne quail. When I started keeping quail I would have said exactly the same as you did. I kept them in 2' by 3' pens for 6 birds and would have told anyone that said they gave them less room that they were being cruel but after several people told me the same thing I decided to try keeping them like this and found the birds were just as happy and healthy and tended to produce more eggs.
You have the right to your owne opinion and if you have the resources and the space to give them bigger pens then go for it. I am just sharing my personal experiences.

 

[ZedR]

It probably depends on the quail. COULD you do it with 1/4 sq foot per bird.. maybe. But you only need 1 bird in the group to get "cranky" and you'll have pecking that will lead to blood. Once that happens you'll have multiple injured or dead birds. Been there, seen it.

Think about... can you cram 10 people in a one bedroom apartment? Sure. But what do you think the results will be after a while?

I have 34 in a shed that has 80 sq feet. Will be adding more quail later next year. Saying that, I moved to that after a LOT of injuries because of aggressive birds when I had 20 birds in 24 square feet of wire pens.

Good luck. Just my opinion.

 

[quail42]

...

Hi, I am only sharing what I have found out through keeping my owne quail. When I started keeping quail I would have said exactly the same as you did. I kept them in 2' by 3' pens for 6 birds and would have told anyone that said they gave them less room that they were being cruel but after several people told me the same thing I decided to try keeping them like this and found the birds were just as happy and healthy and tended to produce more eggs.
You have the right to your owne opinion and if you have the resources and the space to give them bigger pens then go for it. I am just sharing my personal experiences.[/quote

it isn't more cruel than commercial operations. I personally will have more room for mine but will be interested to hear if you continue your experiment limiting the different factors. If it turns out they are happier with more space, this would be a positive finding to share. One suggestion if you go forward is to measure other signs of well being than egg production.

 

[quail42]

You seem to have very well thought out plans! Please share pics as you go forward!