Wire floor or hard floor?

[QuaintQuail]

Hey guys! I have another question for you all... haha

So.. I was wondering what type of flooring to get for my quails. Wire floor or hard floor? I've heard that with wire floor, the quails' poop can get dried to the wire and can cut the quails' feet. I also heard that with hard flooring, the quails' poop can get stuck to their feet... so im kinda confused.. tell me your experiences and recommendations!! thanks guys

 

[JaeG]

I have solid floors and use straw. I clean them out once a week and hardly have any poop sticking to feet issues. I've never had to clean their feet. I think a dust bath with sand is a good idea as that will help to scrub their feet.

 

[MageofMist]

I have king quails who are in a large parrot cage with a hard floor, but they have hay between them and the floor and regularly have their dustbath cleaned and refilled and the cage cleaned out on a regular basis too, though I slowed down to spot-cleaning instead of full cleaning now that the birds are nesting and such, to disturb as little as possible.

So far my birds haven't had any poop stuck to their feet, and any times they do have poop on their feet, the rare times I spot it, the hay knocks or rubs it off before it dries and causes issues.

 

[DK newbie]

The risk of poo balls depends on the type of bedding, how crowded they are and how humid it is. In crowded and/or humid conditions, shavings are best in my experience - they dry the poop out quickly and the poop gets burried in the shavings. In dry conditions with lots of space (like 4 sqft/bird) sand works well, but if there are too many birds or too high humidity, the poop doesn't dry out before someone steps in it on sand, and this can cause cement like poo balls. I'm currently also using wood chips in a 2 sqft/bird cage in dry conditions with no issues, even though the poop doesn't really get burried in the wood chips - apparently they dry out fast enough.

 

[QuaintQuail]

Okay, thanks. I only have one quail. They will be kept inside in an about 2 ft cage. I will include a dust bath. Now I only have one question.. should I use straw or bedding? My quail will be always kept inside.. thanks again!

 

[Binki]

I use newspaper with wood shavings on top, newspaper put overlapping so I can roll up the bottom of the cage after removing the quail and their sand and food boxes, etc.

I then put it in a yard waste bag or you can compost it. I also use hay for the corners (they prefer to lay there most times they will make a nest) as well as little hay trees for covered corners/breaking lines of sight.

Hay bale sized wood shaving bags at TSC for about five bucks, same as a hay bale not sure if they have them at TSC

Then I use a hand broom and dustpan p sweep put any remaining crumbs and it's clean again.

I've never used wire but I imagine it's a real time consuming and nasty pain to soak and scrub and scrub and scrub the cemented poop off of the wire the quail stand on and have mashed their wet poop through.

You still need to give them hard floor to stand on so that would have to be cleaned as well. There's also the moist poo on poo tray under the cage that needs to be cleaned and likely smells a lot more than wood shaving poops as they dry up a lot faster and the quail even peck around and dustbathe in the shavings sometimes which helps to mix it up.

They also require some sort of bedding in the winter as they lose heat through their feet. Imagine that on wire in the cold.

Not to mention the dried poo bits left on the wire turning hard and cutting their feet giving them bumblefoot risk.

Also mice/rats love bird poo so that poo tray will probably be a feast for vermin if you don't protect it as well.

Also risks of predators chewing off legs and toes from the wire bottom, gotta keep that protected. Horrible stories :/

So that's my impression of bedding vs wire

 

[Binki]

Okay, thanks. I only have one quail. They will be kept inside in an about 2 ft cage. I will include a dust bath. Now I only have one question.. should I use straw or bedding? My quail will be always kept inside.. thanks again!

Hehe! We replied at the same time ^^

I used to use all hay, we got new hay and it wasn't as leafy which means absorbency so I switched to wood shavings with some places with hay like mentioned above, they also like to forage for little seeds in it

Straw wouldn't be really absorbant I don't think :O

 

[QuaintQuail]

Thanks. I forgot to ask this question, though I asked it in another thread. If i put a small area or litter pan in the corner of the cage, can I teach them to use it?

 

[QuaintQuail]

Oh!! Haha \(^*^)/

 

[Binki]

I find they just poop wherever, I have newspaper on a shelf, a hay area, big area of wood shavings and a big Tupperware of sand and they will poop ANYWHERE ;D they like to hang out in the sand the most often so at least I can strain it every few days.

You might investigate all sand bottoms to sift through with a kitty litter scoop? Some people use it here