Brainstorming a flight pen for bobs

[QChickieMama]

All our pens are bursting at the seams, so we must get a flight pen going soon.

Option #1: I have a 10x10x6 chain-link dog pen that we're not using at the moment. Would it work to line the inside with mesh, attach a plywood partial roof, and somehow make the doorway quail-safe? Would predators dig under it? Could put rabbit fencing into the dirt around the edges. Thinking of putting an old wooden dog house inside the pen for shelter. No idea about egg nests. How does one do that in a flight pen?

Is this a plan I should pursue?

Option #2: converting a barn stall. We'd have to mesh the rafters, the tops of the walls, the sliding door which just has rails--basically the entire inside of the stall. There might not be enough airflow in there. Worried about odor and breathability in there.

Option #3: build a completely new free-standing flight pen. Problem here is my dh isn't too handy or available...so it's just little me doing this for his birds.

 

[TwoCrows]

I built a similar aviary to your option #1 with the dog kennel panels. I have used this aviary for 6 years and have never had any predators enter it from underneath, sides or top. I sunk railroad ties completely under ground and used another tie on top, and bolted them together. Then I was able to attach the kennel panels to the ties. I also used a kennel panel for the roof. I covered the entire thing with doubled chicken wire, but later found that snakes and other assorted critters could still get in. The quail also paced along the sides as they could see the rest of the yard and it only enticed them. So I added metal roofing to the sides and left the door way open, only applying hardware cloth. The quail feel very safe now, not being so exposed and they can still hop up and look out the doorway or up on posts I have along the inside sides. The metal sides act as wind breaks during the cold, snowy winters. For the roof, half of it is covered with the same metal roofing and the other half I have a heavy duty tarp that I can unroll for nice days when I want the sun to get in. Along the north wall the entire thing is attached to a greenhouse where a pop hole is cut and they can enter into a large rabbit hutch for shelter during bad weather and cold winter nights. I have a few brush piles for their enjoyment and the floor is strewn with hay.

 

[QChickieMama]

That's a fantastic pen! How many quail can thrive in there? Do they fly a good bit? Do you use them for hunting? We need good, strong flyers.

 

[TwoCrows]

If you are looking for strong fliers for hunting, then this may not be the right sized pen for you. It is not large enough for flight conditioning. You would want to build something a bit larger, such as a 10x30, so that they could get some distance. My bobs do fly in here, but the shortest of distances and only in circles. They say about 4 square feet per bob is the least amount of space they need. This was originally my grow out pen and I have kept up to about 20 or 25 young bobs in here. But as they grew up, they needed more space. So I added larger aviaries, using the same design with the dog kennels. These dog kennel panels are very easy to use and construct pens out of. I highly recommend them.

 

[UndergroundQuailRoad]

My 2 cents are construct things in multiples of 4, since chicken wire tends to come in 4-foot heights, and it avoids unnecessary cutting.

What I did was create a 8'x4'x8' (LxWxH) pen with a 4 foot plat form covering half of it. The bottom 4' is covered in plywood with a hardware cloth (wire mesh bottom). The upper 4' is covered in chicken wire. I attach everything with screws so it is easy to disassemble if I decide that it needs modification. Were I to have more space I would have done a 16x8x8, or even 32x8x8, as I see the length of the pen to be more significant. I put a dusting box up on the 4' platform to encourage them to fly up there.

If you have enough land you could also try a Johnny House setup where you have a smaller coop that the birds return and gain entry through a recall funnel to feed and for shelter, but you release a portion of them at a time and the other portion calls the other quail home. (

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[cadams]

this is what i'm looking to get.http://www.farmtek.com/farm/supplie...ipment-ft1_poultry_fencing_flooring;pgtc2638a