NY Coturnix
Songster
I live in the Southern Tier of NYS and the weather people were saying we were supposed to see the teens over night last weekend. I haven't really winterized my pens yet so I got a bale of straw and pretty much covered the wire bottoms of the pens. Pen bottoms are 1/2 wire with some plywood covering about half for a foot safe area and then their sand boxes. I've been putting wood chips in the sand boxes over the last month so they could kind of nest in them. I've noticed that the straw seems to stay wet from the droppings a lot more than the wood chips did. They would dig the wood chips all over the place so I refill every couple days so maybe I just wasn't noticing the dampness.
Anyway...I guess what I'm asking is does anyone else use straw with their quail over the winter. If it's going to hold the moisture I'm thinking it may not be such a good idea. This is my first winter. My plan has been to wrap the bottom of my pen and put a heat lamp underneath and run it when it drops below freezing and the straw was more a quick fix for the time being.
Let me know your thoughts.
Any advise is appreciated.
Thanks
Anyway...I guess what I'm asking is does anyone else use straw with their quail over the winter. If it's going to hold the moisture I'm thinking it may not be such a good idea. This is my first winter. My plan has been to wrap the bottom of my pen and put a heat lamp underneath and run it when it drops below freezing and the straw was more a quick fix for the time being.
Let me know your thoughts.
Any advise is appreciated.
Thanks