NowHere Farms

    I have covered quail aviaries and cages in Quail Housing Part 1 and Quail Housing Part 2 . Let's move on to tractors, an interesting hybrid of cages and aviaries.   When we first began keeping quail back in the COVID years before we lived NowHere we kept the quail in tractors.  Tractors are small(ish) structures which move from place to place giving quail an abundant supply of fresh grass.  The quail mow down the grass and weeds and this is a good supplement for them.  After we moved from the aviary to cages we began to reconsider tractors.  We had learned a LOT more about quail and the technical aspects of their housing needs ~ particularly the height requirement! ~ from our Quail University/Quail 101 investment.  So this time we built tall tractors.  We tried both an A-frame and a standard rectangular construction.  We knew from keeping chicken tractors one of the most dangerous parts of moving a tractor is chicken feet or l...

  Once we decided to stop using aviaries for our quail, Cletus started perusing YouTube Videos (a wealth of information!) for how different people built quail cages.  We both thought "Roll-Out" cages were interesting for the design to allow eggs to "roll out" to the front of the cage where they could be retrieved easily.  We got this idea from Dale's Quails (he sells kits) and Wynola Ranch (they sell prebuilt wire roll-outs).  Cletus was still working an 8 to 5 job at this time, but he got to work after 5 and on weekends to get these built.  Oh my! The first time you build anything is the most challenging, isn't it?  We did not purchase a set of blueprint plans from anyone, or a kit; he simply went to Home Depot, bought the lumber, the wire, and the hardware, and got to work.  It cost more and took longer than we were expecting.  There were some frustrations along the way.  But eventually he got 'er done (he always does; Cletus is AMAZING lik...

  Recently a couple of people have asked me about getting started with some quail.   First, I LOVE questions like this!  If a customer has talked to me and become interested in raising some quail for themselves, I feel as though I am doing something right.  Zack Greene at MyShire Farms  talks about a three-fold purpose to Educate, Inspire, and Enthuse people in the quail world, and we agree with that purpose whole-heartedly.  If you make the time to ask me questions about quail, I am happy to have a conversation and help you find answers. A couple of people have specifically asked me about how to house quail.  Realizing the answer was longer than I could manage in a text I got out, took some pictures, dug up some old pictures, and here we go. The primary options for housing quail are cages and aviaries (with some hybrids along the way). First of all, aviaries.  This is some type of structure which is at least 6 feet tall.  Typically it w...