summer housing for quail

[Marigold]

A pic or two about what my quails are living in for what passes as 'summer'.

We did get a hot spell in May, (remember?) and it was obvious they were uncomfortably hot in their built-in cages, although the house faces NW and so gets little direct sun. So I got them one of these rabbit runs, which folds up flat for storage in winter; (On my browser you have to click on the pics to get them to come up to full size.)

As you can see, it's just a cheapo chinese import, which wouldn't last two minutes in the rain, especially with that flat roof made of thin ply. Also, when the weather changed, they needed protection from wind and rain through the sides, as well as overhead. So I bought a clear plastic tarp, 3 metres by 2.5, which was exactly the right size to make a cover, with minimal tailoring. It just drops over the frame and is held in place by tent pegs at the corners. The front flap will come over to make a complete cover all over, but is usually held in place over the top by an elastic rope, so one side is completely open for light and air. You can also fold the cover further back if needed, or of course remove it completely, though if half-back it does give filtered shade at times when (?) the sun shines in the sides. The tarp came from Tarpaulins Direct, excellent firm, see http://www.tarpaulinsdirect.co.uk/TarpaulinsSite/product/MN.htm http://www.tarpaulinsdirect.co.uk/TarpaulinsSite/product/MN.htm
This is the frame with the cover in place;

It was a simple matter to just do two seams to make 'box corners' to fit the back.

We've had 1.5 inches of rain in the past 24 hours, and much more in the preceding weeks, but the wood of the frame, and also the girls, has stayed perfectly dry throughout. I just swoosh it off the roof in the morning and move the cage on to new grass every 2 days. The grass looks messy after that time but is easy to rake and recovers within a couple of weeks. As you see, the girls are very happy in there and are all laying an egg every day.
View attachment 3

It would be easy to use this idea for other grass runs, eg broodies or chicks out on grass in need of a bit of protection.

 

[rita]

Really love your photo's Feather, they do look very happy in there.
i love to see the quails out on the grass, i don't like the wire floor cages, i know lots of people use them but they must be sore for their little feet standing on it all the time.
If i had the room i would love to have a huge aviary for lots of different birds.
i sent a photo off to the lady i got my quail eggs from and she is unsure of it's sex, she said it has the markings of both sexes 07
so looks like i will have to wait and see. I told her about the two others standing up tall and calling aweeee, she said she thinks they say cuppa tea, when they call, looks like those two are boys.

Question: what do i do with the boys can i keep them together without the girls. will they be ok with no fighting, can't bear animals fighting.
i have a horrible feeling i am going to have more boys then girls, if i have any females at all. 19

 

[Shazzybird]

Marigold. Run looks nice for them, But I would run a smaller mesh around inside up to about a foot.
Just in case they try to stick their heads though.
Either getting stuck or a passing cat/ fox dinning.

Rita. The males are normally O.K. together, As long as there's no females around.

 

[Marigold]

That's a timely warning, Shazzybird, thank you. So far, I haven't noticed any of them attempting to poke their heads through the mesh and had assumed they couldn't do this. Anyway I went down and tried tempting them with mealworms to see if I could get them to do so. They managed to get their beaks through for an instant, just enough to grab a mealworm, but didn't hang about. So unless a cat came armed with a stock of mealworms and a lot of patience, it wouldn't get anywhere I think. Our terrier likes nothing better than chasing the odd cat up a tree or out of the garden, so the local cats don't come in and if they do, you can see them doing their Green Cross Code before running swiftly out of harms way!
With younger birds or certainly with CPQs you definitely would need smaller netting, and now you've got me worried I may do as you say and fix some mesh across anyway, though I don't think the risk is great.
Of course there is the risk from foxes - a little run like this would be easy to get into as it has no guard mesh round the edges. However, here again so far we are fox-free in this area, touch wood, and in terms of quality of life they benefit so much from being outside on grass that I'm prepared to risk it.

 

[rita]

you could always put some perspex around the bottom, that way you could still see them.

i put perspex around my ferret house to help keep them dry and help stop the wind blowing into the run.

i put the quails out in the run again today and they just love it, i love watching them jump up and down and run around all excited to being out side on the grass, i sprinkled meal worms on the grass i love watching them scratching on the grass so sweet.
here a photo of my ferret house with the perspex which i remove in the summer.
http://tinypic.com/r/rw6zoi/6

 

[Marigold]

That looks a lovely home for the ferrets, Rita. I didn't know you kept them, you are a woman of many talents. How many have you got? They are such beautiful animals.

 

[Marigold]

Your husband is a whizz at making things, isn't he, Rita? Could you post a pic of your new outdoor quail run on here, do you think?

 

[rita]

Hi Marigold

i have put a photo of the quails house and run, the only problem with putting photo's on this site is that you have to make the photo smaller, on the other site i can just add it from my album without the nuisance of opening up tiny pics and sending the photo to them shrinking it and then add it to the file, it's just a bit of a nuisance to do. it's a pity that this site can't do the same as Coturnix corner. although i do like this site as well, i found this site very helpful when i started hatching my silver appleyard ducks, they were very informative.
do you know why we have to shrink the photo's on this site and not the others....it would be easier if we didn't have to do it.

 

[Marigold]

I think this forum uses the same software as where you posted your pic before, though maybe you used a different method to get your pics on to it. Have you seen the two threads in Pictures of Chickens section at http://poultrykeeperforum.com/viewforum.php?f=27 about how to post pics? You don't have to use tinypics or anything other than the software you use from your computer when you reduce pics to send by email. I do hope you'll give it a go, it's actually even easy enough for me to do it, which is saying something, I'm about Key Stage 1 when it comes to computers!