Quail Housing Part II

Like many other quail breeders, we are constantly learning and trying new ways to improve our coveys.  Whether it is how we feed them, how we house them, or how we breed them, we are always looking for how to do it better and have stronger, healthier, more productive quail.  Zach Greene at Myshire Farms talks about having the mindset of raising quail for ones' customers; these are not our quail, they are your quail and we are taking care of them for you in the interim.

Over the late fall and early winter we were trying to find what would be the best way to house the quail.  Is it to put them in tractors, let them eat grass, and have a more natural setting?  

Is it to keep them in cages, protected from predators and the elements?  Are hutches (or as we call them, condos) the best option, letting them be outdoors but eliminating the risks associated with keeping them on the ground?

Keeping them in tractors may be more natural, but the eggs are soiled rather quickly, and we stepped on more than a few when doing the daily egg hunt.  We soon found the tractors need to be moved several times in a week.  With only an acre of land which includes house and garden, we were soon going to run out of grass.  With all of that in mind, we decided to restrict tractor use to males destined for freezer camp.  At 3-4 weeks they would move from the brooder box into the tractors until they got on the bus for camp at 8-10 weeks.

Over time we have noticed that our cage birds were developing problems with their feet.  It seemed no matter how hard we worked to keep their cages clean, they kept developing foot problems common to birds kept on wire.  This is treatable, but the treatment is time-consuming and time is a valuable commodity on a working homestead.  The cages do have some exposed wood in them and we worked to keep them clean, but no matter how often we scraped and treated, we kept having birds who needed to be isolated.

 

The condos were a great idea.  A cage elevated off the ground but over the ground, meaning no need to change poop trays.  Instead, poop is periodically shoveled up from underneath and added to the green compost pile.  Yet the girls did not lay eggs.  We added light.  They did not lay eggs.  Finally I contacted Aaron Guidroz at Guidroz Family Farms.  He suggested something might be getting under the condos "spooking" the girls and keeping them from laying.  We moved half of them into a tractor and left half in the condo.  Shortly after doing this the girls in the tractor finally started laying (at almost 4 months old!).  We improved security measures and now both groups are laying.  Thanks, Aaron!

Through all of this we continued to research what would be the best way to house our quail.  We found that the wire we are using is not the best kind of wire and can indeed create foot problems.  We spent extra money (quite a bit), got coated wire, and Cletus got to work.  

We now have one mega condo ~ with coated wire on the floor ~ and the materials to build two more.  The condo has light (quail need about 17 hours per day for good laying) and the bottom area under the hutch is enclosed to protect them from getting spooked.  The quail in the new condo are lively and happy and consistently laying about 90% daily.  We will be transitioning all our breeders and most of our layers into these as they are built and see how they do.  

Another really nice benefit of the new condos is that they are at eye-level.  We are discovering how nice it is to take a break from garden work and go sit and watch them and listen to them sing.

Again, it is a working homestead, not an Instagram homestead.  

Obviously!