Wire floor vs sand/PDZ for quail hutch

[tmf321]

I’m trying to come up with a good quail hutch design for a small group (4-6 quail in a 2.5ft x 6ft enclosure raised off the ground. I was thinking that 4ft could be for the run and making the bottom wire and slanted so poop will fall down and eggs will rollout for easy collection. The other 2ft I wanted to make into a enclosed area that has sand/PDZ for the ground so they can rest their feet from wire and feel safe/stay warm during winter or rainy/windy days.

If I offer both a slanted wire bottom in the run and a sand floor in the nesting/enclosed section will they even lay eggs in the run or will they prefer the dark, private box with sand? If they won’t lay in the run anyways I won’t bother with a slanted floor then.

 

[mdees88]

They will lay in the sand more often but will still lay on the wire some. I would build the entire floor out of wire and make it sloped. Then I would set a plastic bin on top of the wire and put the sand in it. This way you can take the bin out, dump it, and put it back in (much easier than trying to clean putting sand on a solid floor).

The best design is where the entire floor is wire and there is no wood under the floor anywhere. When people add wooden braces under the wire the poop just builds up on top of them. The same happens around the edges where people staple the wire too. The quail poop around the edges and it just builds up. So you want every square inch to be wire floor with no wood underneath for them to poop on.

Also I would recommend using pvc coated wire to help prevent bumblefoot. I use 1/2" x 1" 16ga pvc coated wire at it works great. This is also what Terry from coturnix corner and zack from myshire farm on recommended on their live stream yesterday.

So far I have built 4 different designed cages. My first one is exactly what your talking about, part wire floor part solid floor. It's now my least favorite because it's not easy to clean and poop builds up around the edges and no sloped floor. My 3rd design fixed all the issues I had with the first design and should work perfectly for what you want.

Here's the link....
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/diy-quail-cage-3-0.1239392/

 

[tmf321]

Thank you for the tips! I love the bin with sand idea, much easier to clean. And the PVC coated wire makes a lot of sense. Love your hutch

 

[mdees88]

The pvc coated wire is the ticket. I just replaced the floors in all of my cages (2 of which are very large) with the pvc coated wire. It was a pain in the butt so I definitely recommend using it from the start.

The 1/2 x 1/2 galvanized hardware cloth is very thin and the finish on it is not super smooth. Over time the finish gets less smooth too from being exposed to their poop. Eventually the poop will start to stick to it and when it dries it gets very hard and can injure the quails feet.

I didn't have any issues with bumblefoot for a while but eventually I did and when I replaced the wire I realized how rough the surface really was. The PVC coated stuff is as slick as glass and the poop rolls off it. Also the 1/2" x 1" size makes it easier for the poop to fall through too. With my biggest jumbos, some of their poop wouldn't fall through the 1/2" x 1/2" wire at all.

 

[Bumblebreezy]

I’m trying to come up with a good quail hutch design for a small group (4-6 quail in a 2.5ft x 6ft enclosure raised off the ground. I was thinking that 4ft could be for the run and making the bottom wire and slanted so poop will fall down and eggs will rollout for easy collection. The other 2ft I wanted to make into a enclosed area that has sand/PDZ for the ground so they can rest their feet from wire and feel safe/stay warm during winter or rainy/windy days.

If I offer both a slanted wire bottom in the run and a sand floor in the nesting/enclosed section will they even lay eggs in the run or will they prefer the dark, private box with sand? If they won’t lay in the run anyways I won’t bother with a slanted floor then.

Hi, do you think 1/2" X 1/2" in the pvc mesh wpuld let the poop fall thru for jumbo coturnix, because it's more slippery? Its all I can find in Aus

 

[mdees88]

Hi, do you think 1/2" X 1/2" in the pvc mesh wpuld let the poop fall thru for jumbo coturnix, because it's more slippery? Its all I can find in Aus

That's a good question. I think it's worth a try. I use 1/2 x 1" pvc coated and 100% of the poop eventually falls through. 95% falls straight through, 4% takes a minute to fall through, the other 1% sits there until one of the quail steps on it or pecks at it. I was having problems with my biggest jumbos and the regular 1/2 x 1/2 hardware cloth. I do think the fact that it is slippery will help....