To bed or not to bed

[PiningCitySlicker]

I'm new to quail raising and I've seen some mixed messaging on whether bedding is necessary when using a wire floor; I've seen people say that it will injure the quail to walk on bare hardware cloth but i've also seen numerous coops with no bedding and healthy looking quail walking on bare wire. Obviously, bare wire would be easier on cleaning but I want the healthiest and happiest quail I can raise so what should I do?

 

[Vampiric_Conure]

I think either option has their good and bad points. If I used wire, I would place a space, like a sand box, where they can escape it. BUmblefoot is also less common on wire floors. However, flat flooring can be safer - no caught toes and what not.

ANyone more experienced that can give a more knowledgeable opinion than I?

 

[NatJ]

I don't have quail, but I have dealt with some other animals raised on wire flooring.

Cleaning a combination of bedding and droppings off a wire floor is usually quite difficult.

So I would go with bedding on a solid floor, or with a bare wire floor.
Either one should be easier to clean than bedding over wire.

 

[le_bwah]

I pretty plainly don't like most of the wire setups I've ever seen. Going with bedding, your biggest factors in the bird-health and smell departments are going to be A) what bedding are you using and C) how often do you change it?

Wood shavings seem to "absorb" poop worse than wood chips. Stall pellets are great for small cages or brooders. I've seen sand work in some setups. Don't use newspaper.

I haven't changed my aviary bedding in almost six months, but it's big and holds not many quail. Instead of taking the poop out, I add more substrate and turn it over into the old stuff. Haven't had any issues with this method in almost four years of trying it, but I can't call it true deep litter because it stays too dry and I can't get it to compost fully.

Since we can't ask the birds how they're doing, just gotta go by empirical evidence + the presence of comfortable, natural behavior.

 

[Nabiki]

They absolutely need a place to rest their feet if you keep them on wire. It is better for them to be on the ground.

 

[preciouseureka]

I've been using a combination for years now....I didn't want to use wire originally but a few factors caused me to incorporate it. I'm in Northern California and it rains about 300 days a year it seems. Rotting, mold, smell, all bad! Also, we have all kinds of critters trying to use the coops as a buffet so safety was a factor.

For the parts that are wire floor, I found a few thigs that help. First, no bare wire, I use a coated hardware cloth that is basically wire with a thick coating of a soft plastic kind of material. Much softer on feet. Also, I move them on to fresh ground almost daily so there is grass coming up through the wire as a cushion.

Of course, they are given plenty of places to get off the wire and lots and lots of bedding and other things to sit on.

Best of luck finding just the right thing for your flock!