I may be shouted at for this, but my four quail are outside in their pen, no tarp in all weather......... but mine are Jumbos. They have areas out of the wind still, but they don't use them unless the weather gets really bad. They have had a tarp covering half of the run the past 2 days because of gales & heavy rain, I had to keep their feed & the ground dry.
Most of the time, you go out at night with a torch & they are either asleep in a heap if the temp drops below 5oC or just asleep scattered around the pen if temps are higher.
I put my birds out at the age of 6 weeks in December, before then they were weaned off heat as soon as possible. I started with 6, lost 2 runts during the weaning, but that's just life. Now I have 4 very hardy birds doing just fine with a tarp, a wooden box & a plant pot. I've never had any aggression problems yet, nor behavioral issues with 2 males & 2 females ( probably will in spring). My birds are kept in the garden in a wire bottom pen sunk into the grass (at the moment, mostly mud in my garden now
)
Who says nature is dying?
Quail are not stupid, give them food, water & shelter out of the elements & they are happy like all other animals.
Oh, I forgot to add they do have a 2 x 4ft wooden box available all the time & thats completely wrapped in a tarp. The box is fully enclosed with just a small hole at one end & all the quail sit in there in bad weather where its warmer, dry & draft free. Its a low box, only about half a foot high, so it comfortable for them, that was in there before I added the tarp.
Reading back on my post it sounded like they had no shelter at all
