Quail in battery breeding pens

[zipper]

I keep my breeding pairs of bobwhite and cortunix quail in a GQF 30 section battery pen for egg production. Has anyone ever tried the Gambels, California Valley, or Texas blue scales in this type arrangement? I know these breeds are a little more flighty than the others but it would sure be nice to breed them with this arrangemnt.

[magnumhntr]

Yup, it can be done. That's how I keep my layers.

Chris

[slider]

Chris do u keep them in trios r prs. ?

[Bird Brained]

This is what I made specifically for the valley, gambel and scaled quail.   Only the front was wire.  With the birds being so skidish and unable to tame down, they could run to the back of the compartment where it was slightly darker and feel safe.

The GQF style rollouts might work too.  I would just recommend to isolate the pen so only the front side was exposed to people, etc walking by and you'll need to get a 1x board to lay under the feed trays so they don't get out where the eggs roll out (The valley, gambel and scaled are much smaller bodied).

[MtBullion Gamebirds]

I kept 2 dozen Valley in a GQF Brooder for about 5 months.  They even started laying in it.  Have since moved them outside since it has warmed up, but they did fine during that time.

[magnumhntr]

Chris do u keep them in trios r prs. ?

Pairs. Although I see some keep thiers in trios, I have best fertility if they are kept in pair, plus they are less crowded if kept in the standard 1' X 2' breeder pen.

Chris

[mark]

I have battery pen, but the dividers are wire not solid covering will that be a problem with my 3 sets of breeder quail.

Mark

[slider]

Bird Brained could u please post a close-up of 1 of those pens.I would like to build some like them. From what I can see they look real good. Thanks

[zipper]

Bird Braied, those pens look very good. I, too, would like to build some like them although the picture you posted is quite fuzzt when I try to look at it closer. I would also appreciate some dimensional information as well.

P.S. Thanks to everyone for their advice I will be sure to use it.

[Bird Brained]

Sorry for the fuzzy pictures.  The pictures I have of this cage were taken with one of the early digital cameras years ago.  When I decided to sell my western quail varieties, the guy from Virginia that bought all my birds also bought the cages I kept them in.

That said, I'm limited on what pictures I have to share....sorry.

The overall size of the unit was 8 ft long x 2 feet deep x 6 ft tall.  Each compartment was approx 12 inch tall x 19 inch wide x 24 inch deep.

The very outer framework is 2x4's and the inner framework is all 2x2's.  It was inside a building so the entire outside of the enclosure was luan board (light in weight) and the dividers between compartements, as well as the flooring was the thinest plywood I could find.  The unit was on caster to ease moving it around to clean under and behind it.

oh yeah, I kept them in pairs.  They seemed to do much better that way.

Anyway, here is another picture I found from a closer range.

[slider]

Man I am impressed with how clean everthing is in that picture..The floors of each pen were plywood and not wire. What kind of substraight did u use on the floors of each pen? Thanks

[wildergamebirds]

I have battery pen, but the dividers are wire not solid covering will that be a problem with my 3 sets of breeder quail.

Mark

I have battery pen, but the dividers are wire not solid covering will that be a problem with my 3 sets of breeder quail.

Mark

  Hasn't been for me, but if the partitions were of 2X2, or 2X4 wire, it might be tempting.  You could attach pieces of plastic to the wire, if you have problems.  It may depend on the Quail, are we talking about Coturnix?

  For what it's worth, I have a couple of GQF cages, with the solid partitions, as well, and there is no difference in fertility.

[Bird Brained]

What kind of substraight did u use on the floors of each pen?

...the dividers between compartements, as well as the flooring was the thinest plywood I could find.

Slider - I also sent you a PM.

P.s. I have several 30 section GQF rollout unitstoo.  They did work, but I got better results with the homemade unit for the western quail varieties.  I still use the GQF units for my bobwhites...here's a pic of some of this years bobwhite layers...