Tunnel for quail?

[NY Coturnix]

my only concern on a hardware cloth tunnel would be framing it so that if a dog or something similar were to jump on it it wouldn't crush? Have you thought of maybe using a section of l PCV pipe? Very interesting idea.

 

[joannas11]

@NY Coturnix I think that could potentially work but I'm not an adept DIYer so I'm not sure how it could be attached. Also, it could be slippery for them, especially with poo on. They don't seem to like smooth surfaces, for that reason but a short length might be ok. I think you'd need to be able to get in to clean the inside of it too.

 

[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.

 

[keren25]

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!

Did you do it? I've been considering the same using regular chicken wire (mine would be for while I'm working in the yard, not all the time so fewer predator concerns) but the tunnel would be made out of shorter segments attached to one another so it would be jointed. 1 foot in diameter. I'd shake them home when it was time to go in. How did that work out for you?

 

[joannas11]

I'll take some pics of my set-up in the morning but what I have is a shed with a hole in the side and the run that I linked to in an earlier post is outside the shed, with a little walkway between the two. I used the wire from a gabion cube for the walkway which is propped up on bricks - its a pretty rigid structure. I added a little concrete ramp and I've also recently covered the whole lot in 1/2 inch mesh because a cat got its paw through and got the back of one of my quails (she lost some feathers but she is ok).
I always send them back into the shed before it gets dark - usually a few taps on the other side of the run does the trick but I also have a toy foam shovel which I use as a shooer if necessary.
I've found the height of the run and tunnel is ok - the tunnel is 1ft, the run is about 2ft. They do sometimes jump up but they haven't managed to hurt themselves yet.

 

[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!

 

[keren25]

@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!

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

 

[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!