That Quail Place Forum
Raising Gamebirds => Build It Yourself => Topic started by: TENNESSERED on October 07, 2009, 03:46:28 PM
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I have my new quail house finished and got my birds moved in two days ago. I made in three sections so that I could house my small covey of bobs in one, and I have 5 valleys and 5 gambels in the other two. My property is very unlevel so first I had to build up a level pad using about 15 ton of chirt (chirt is a mixture of clay and rock which packs down into a pad that is almost as hard as concrete). My wife and I did this ourselves, instead of bringing in someone with a backhoe. where we built the house we barely had room for our small compact tractor, so I knew that a backhoe was out of the question. Then we used cyprus for the base and rough popular for the frame and enclosed house on the back. The birds really seem to be enjoying exploring their new "home." Last night I had a raccoon try to break in with no luck, so I guess I have it tight enough. The house is built up about 8 inches about the ground so that when we get our frequent thunderstorms the water flows around and not through the pens. In the pens I put about 3 to 4 inches of river sand/gravel.
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Thats looks like a pretty good place for them s98
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tu2 Thanks for the pictures.
Last night I had a raccoon try to break in with no luck, so I guess I have it tight enough.
The thing about coons is, they don't have to get in to kill/eat your birds. They can eat 'em right through the wire. If you have coons showing up so soon, sounds as if you may want to set a trap for them? I never had my first encounter with coons at my pen for the first 2-3 years. They can rip a hole in 1" poultry wire too.
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Yep coons are a pain. Speaking of traps. I have tried several types and keep getting outfoxed by one big ol' coon who has bugged me ever since I bought the place. I have actually seen him twice and he is just about the biggest coon I have ever seen. The only leg traps I can buy are these new ones which are worthless because they have rubber around the arms and the coons just pull out. I bought one of these big live traps and have had some success catching skunks and some coons. But, Mr. Big just laughs at me and drags the live trap off into the woods. As far as ripping through the 1" chicken wire I have also heard that from others, so I have bought 3' tall 1 x 3 welded wire to staple on the outside to make it a little harder for coons and the neighbors dogs to get at the birds. This is what I have done to my pheasant house and it seems to have worked pretty well. I like having all the nice wildlife on my property, but I just wished they would not consider my birds their supper! Oh, yea you can't see it in the photos very well but I have 1" hardwood planks all around the base of the pen to keep the coons from reaching through and grabbing the birds at night. Also, I train my pheasants and quail to sleep in their houses at night just to make sure. It takes a couple of weeks, but once you get them in the habbit they usually go in an roost by themselves so that way nobody is sleeping up against the side of the pen
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You can look up R_P outdoors (its in louisiana) and you can order a few from them if not give me a pm and i will send you a couple good ones
(Just dont like criiters stealing birds)
Snares work great for old smart coons