Breeding quails, even at home, is a great alternative to chicken and eggs. If only because they do not require a large chicken coop - 50 adult quails can comfortably be placed on an area of about 1 square. m. It is most convenient to keep them in cells that can be identified in the apartment, in the attic or in the barn.
Cell requirements
Before you start building a cage for these tiny birds, consider the necessary conditions for their maintenance. It is important that the room in which they are located has a constant air temperature of 18-20 degrees, is well ventilated, warm, bright and inaccessible to rodents.
There are several basic requirements that a quail cage must meet:
- Elements of the frame should be tightly fixed, not wobble.
- Feeders and drinking bowls are placed behind the front wall of the structure.
- The distance between the rods of the front wall should be such that only the bird's head crawls into it (for access to food and water).
- The height of the cage is not more than 20 cm. This is necessary in order to protect the quail from the sharp jumps characteristic of the species, as a result of which they can be injured.
- Due to the fact that quails are carried directly to the floor, the structure must be equipped with a tray into which eggs will roll.
- Trays for droppings should be placed under the mesh floor of the cage, this greatly simplifies cleaning.
- The design should provide for the possibility of additional heating and lighting of birds.
One of the first signals of improper care is the quail feathers falling out. They become almost naked, egg production is significantly reduced.
What can a cell be made of?
For the content of quail, you can use cells of several types and designs. Basically, they can be made of metal, wood, plastic or combined:
1 metal cages
In the manufacture of all-metal cells, you can use steel, aluminum, duralumin. They will be durable (especially from nickel-plated steel), hygienic (easy to clean), and let in enough light.
As a rule, their design is made up of a frame from a corner to which metal rods are attached. The mesh floor is tilted to allow eggs to roll into the collecting tray. Such cells can be treated with boiling water, various disinfectants or cleaned using fire (blowtorch or building hair dryer).
However, such cells have their drawbacks. In the cold season, they are significantly cooled. At home, making them is quite troublesome, you need welding and the ability to work with it.
2 wood cages
For the manufacture of wooden cages, it is desirable to use hardwood (oak, birch, beech). Wooden structures can be made quite beautiful.
It is not recommended to use materials that may contain harmful glue and other mixtures (chipboard).
Wooden cages also have flaws. Durability - when kept in damp areas, the tree will pick up moisture and swell. Compared to metal, they are much more difficult to clean.
3Plastic cells
Nowadays, quite often they began to resort to the use of plastic in the manufacture of quail dwellings. This option, in comparison with a tree, has several advantages:
- longer period of operation;
- increased hygiene;
- moisture resistance.
Cell designs for quail of different ages
There are a huge number of cell construction options. In order not to get lost in the features of all existing structures, we give the basic concepts and dimensions, based on which you can easily build a cage for any conditions of detention, whether it is an apartment or a summer house:
- The optimal cell area should be 10 square meters. cm per bird.
- In the case of keeping a large number of birds, it is best to plan prefabricated blocks of cages with the possibility of stable construction on top of each other.
- No more than 30 quails in one cage. Its dimensions should be within 1 m (length) to 0.4 m (width). Depending on the breed of birds, the values may vary by +/- 5 cm. The height of the back wall is 20 cm, and the front wall is 25 cm.
- The angle of inclination of the floor towards the egg tray is 8-10 degrees.
- The egg collector should protrude 7-10 cm and have sides (so that the eggs do not fall down).
- The front wall, fastened with hinges or a simple wire, serves as a door. This significantly saves space.
It is not necessary to buy special feeders and drinking bowls. To reduce the cost of the design, they can be made with your own materials from improvised materials (drywall profile, plastic bottle).
Special attention should be given cages for chicks quail, in which they will be kept up to 30-40 days of age. As a rule, they are equipped with electric heaters.
The walls are tightened with a metal mesh with 10x10 mm cells. The front wall is horizontally divided into two parts. The lower one, which protects the quail from falling out, is fixed permanently (height 70-100 mm). The upper section is hinged to the bottom. It serves as a door and opens from top to bottom.
Drinking bowls and feeders for chicks are installed inside the structure. The floor in the cells is made of mesh (preferably with perchlorovinyl coating). The cell size is 10x10 mm.
Until the first seven days, the legs of the chicks will fail, so you need to cover the floor with thick paper. Corrugated cardboard is best used. It is easy to decompose it evenly and young animals will not be able to hide under it. Paper should be changed daily.
It is rational to use mesh floors with smaller cells (for example, 5x5 mm) only when grown in the first 3-4 days, when they are still very small. In the future, the litter will fail badly, so it will have to be cleaned daily.
The smallest chicks (from birth to 10 days) are often kept in so-called brooders. They are closed on three sides with plywood, always equipped with a heater and round-the-clock lighting.
Quail meat breeds should be kept in lower cages, because this will limit their movement and allow them to gain weight faster. Reduced physical activity pushes the puberty of birds, which will positively affect the quality of meat.
Step-by-step instructions for making cells from various materials
Now we will consider in more detail how to make a quail cage with your own hands from all of the above materials.
Metal mesh construction
The provided option involves the manufacture of cells for up to 20 adults. It will be optimal for beginner poultry farmers.
It is assembled on the basis of a frame made of a metal corner (25 mm). Depending on the capabilities of the room in which the cage will be installed, for convenience, the dimensions can be slightly changed. For the floor we take a grid with cells of at least 16x24 mm, on the walls and ceiling it can be larger so that the bird's head crawls through.
The manufacturing process itself contains such stages:
- We prepare the corner according to the dimensions necessary for us and weld it into the frame, as shown in the diagram:
- We cut the metal mesh to the size of our walls and attach it to the strips with wire so that the twisted antennae are outside.
- When cutting the floor, an egg collector up to 100 mm long should be considered. We bend its end upwards by 30-40 mm to fix the eggs, and on both sides we close it with borders. Between the front wall and the egg tray, leave a gap of up to 30 mm. Eggs will pass through it.
- We make a rectangular hole in the center of the front wall so that it can be reached to any point in the cell through it.
- We cut the door out of the net and fix it on top using either galvanized strips (20x40) or canopies.
- From the galvanized sheet, cut a rectangle and bend the sides on all sides. You should get an ordinary pallet, the same in width and length with our cage. It is placed under the construction, and will serve as a collection for the litter.
Holds also frameless cell for quail, the manufacture of which is less time-consuming, although its design is not as reliable as in the first embodiment. Here is the nesting scheme and construction order:
- We bend the metal mesh in the form of a box without side parts, we later attach them using wire.
- The egg tray is provided by the extension of the floor, with a slope in the direction of the front and is similar to the frame method. Its size is up to 100 mm. Also do not forget to make a safety edge to keep the eggs from falling.
- From a finer mesh, additionally cut the bottom.
- As in the first version, we install a door and a tray for litter.
You can clearly see all the above stages of manufacturing quail cages in the next video. Also in it, an experienced farmer gives useful recommendations to beginners:
Plywood cage
Such a cage can be made both on the basis of a metal frame, and by the method of joining together with the help of wooden bars:
- From the plywood we cut out the side walls 35x20 cm, the end wall 70x20 cm and the cover 70x35 cm. We make holes for lighting and ventilation in the planes (diameter - about 3 cm).
- We cover all parts with water-based varnish.
- Assembly is carried out on self-tapping screws, with which the walls are attached to the bars located at the internal corners of the structure. For reliability, the joints can be treated with glue.
- From a metal mesh with a mesh of at least 16x24 mm, cut the floor. You can attach it with small nails or a furniture stapler, taking into account the angle of inclination.
- In place of the front wall, we cut out the door from the grid, which we fasten to canopies or galvanized strips.
Plastic
Due to its simplicity and cheapness, an excellent option would be to make quail cages from mesh plastic boxes that are used to transport and store vegetables. To build one cage, you need 2 low drawers and 1 at least 170 mm in height:
- Saw off the corners that protrude on top of the boxes with a hacksaw.
- We put the big one on one of the small ones; it will serve as a pallet. On top we cover the second small one, this will become our ceiling. It is clear that the width and length of all boxes should be the same. We fasten the structure using wire. To avoid further injury to birds, the "antennae" of the twists should be outside.
- Saw three of the four sides of the upper drawer. This will be the door, the hinges of which will serve the fourth (uncut) side.
- Using a knife, increase the holes in the planes of the cell. Through the cells of the front of the quail they will feed, the bird's head should crawl into them.
Beginning poultry breeders would like to say that the chores associated with raising quail are worth having your own (initially small) poultry farm, full of nimble birds, which, apart from commercial benefits, will give you a lot of joyful moments.