What's the largest mesh opening for keeping quail in?

[StruckBy]

It's been close to a decade since I had quail but I'm thinking about getting some coturnix quail so I can start making pickled quail eggs again. When I had quail before, I happened to have an empty pen made out of hardware cloth but this time I'll be building from scratch. Well, actually enclosing the ends of an existing A-frame type thing with some sort of wire. I'm hoping to be able to use scraps of wire from other projects but am wondering if the quail will be able to escape (not worried about anything getting in...not an issue for us for various reasons).

 

[bigrob83]

Well it's not them getting out its predators getting in.

I use hardware cloth. We have raccoons that just love to reach through chicken wire and grab what they can.

Also that 1.5 is a tad big have seen a juvenile squeeze out of a dog kennel and take off.

 

[StruckBy]

Predators are absolutely not an issue...a 160lb rotti takes care of that issue. My other birds don't even have a fully enclosed coop...just a 4' fence around and a 3-sided coop. Never had a problem. Actually, as much they drive me nuts, the ridiculous number of teen boys who cruise the area continuously day & night shooting anything that moves probably helps more than dogs.

I really just want to know how small of an opening they can squeeze out of.