Tunnel for quail?

[joannas11]

Hi,
I am completely new to keeping poultry but we are getting new sheds this summer so it seems like a good opportunity. I am interested in keeping quail. They will be kept in a shed but I was thinking about having a tunnel out to a run, which I can move about on the grass. The tunnel will need to be flexible and I was thinking about making it out of wire mesh.
I am a bit worried about whether the quail would use a tunnel and if they would hurt themselves if they became startled whilst they were in the tunnel.
Does anyone have any experience of this?

Thanks!

 

[le_bwah]

Making it out of hardware cloth with holes big enough to stick a slim pole through (i.e. 1/2-inch openings), you could shoo them through the tunnel (qunnel?) into either the run or the shed. In my experience, tossing treats in one side or the other in a split enclosure will send most of them running. Still might be more fussy than you want to put up with.

Is building a run onto the shed an option?

 

[Nabiki]

It sounds like it would work. The tunnel would be big enough for them to run through, but not high enough for them to get enough momentum to hurt themselves.

Edit: The hard part might be getting them out of the run and back into the shed. They're not like chickens that come home to roost. Quail just bed down where they are, from what I've seen.

 

[Kusanar]

From what I have seen, quail do well (at least coturnix) in either very high enclosures or ones less than 1 foot as they don't have enough momentum built up to hurt themselves in the short ones, they just bounce off the top.

 

[sunbursts]

This is something I'm thinking of building as well, so I've looked into how it would work. If you are making it movable, then you could just pick up the end of it and tip it to encourage them to move along back towards the shed. I do not think it's a concern at all of them hurting themselves on the shortness of the tunnel. From what I've learned, I'm thinking of using hardware cloth and attaching poles to make a triangle shaped form and using tent stakes to hold it down when I move it.

If you do make it share pics! I love seeing these tunnels!

 

[joannas11]

oooh, thank you so much - do you make them go back home at night? If so, how?

Yes, I always send them back in at night. Usually, a few taps on the side of the run sends them back inside and then I close the door. If I'm late in going out, they are sometimes nestled down for the night but my run has a door on the side so I stick my arm in and shoo them back in - I have a toy foam Minecraft shovel which I use for shooing if I can't reach them with my arm. Only once has a quail absolutely refused all attempts to go back in and then I reached in and picked her up and walked round to the shed door with her.
So I think a door or access is important - also they often lay eggs in there!

 

[FloorCandy]

I recently had an issue where something was stalking my quail. One of the boys must have been on top of the house inside the cage, too close to the hardware cloth, and something grabbed its head thru the 1/2 inch wire and did enough damage that he died. Most of the quail don’t like to be up on stuff and exposed. I have cinderblocks around the outside so nothing can grab them when they’re sleeping on the ground near the sides. With this tunnel, if it’s movable, it will be hard to protect the sides, and if you don’t want them sleeping there, that’s exactly where they will want to sleep. I would worry about things trying to grab them if they lay along the side of the tunnel, they cant be dragged out, but raccoons and possums have little fingers they get in there to scrape and grab.

 

[joannas11]

@keren25 here are some pics. The quails are ok with the little hop into the connecting part but one of them in particular needs the ramp back into the shed which would otherwise be a bit more of a jump.
I hope this helps and good luck with your set-up!

 

[joannas11]

Thanks everyone!
I hadn't really thought about how to get them back in the shed at the end of the day so its good to know now that might be an issue so I can have a think about that one....

 

[mackboat81]

Thanks everyone!
I hadn't really thought about how to get them back in the shed at the end of the day so its good to know now that might be an issue so I can have a think about that one....

A year later, I'm curious what does your final design look like how did it work out?