Quail "bin" cage for "pet" indoor quail

[WolfGirlMagic]

hey guys, just got creative for a "bin" cage for my quail. I added some cute decor, plan to add a small dust bath, and then once the chicks (especially the youngest kid)get a litte better feathered, 2 more ventilation windows made out of the 2 long sides.
The demensions make for 6sqft, and i might make a platform to give more "floor space"
What do you think?
Also, unfortunately my hand raised "tamer" quail came out 2 boys 2 girls.
Of course the girls actually seem far from tame but the boys are cuddly-ish. Ugh.
So now i need to decide. Who stays, who goes.
Ive heard you cant keep boys together.
Ive heard you cant keep one girl with a boy and that you actually need 4-5 if i keep a boy.
I wish i could just keep the 4 together....
Maybe crude, but what are thoughts if i snip/file the tips of the boys beaks if they are too rough on the girls or fight with each other?
Ive heard of someone snipping the bully birds beaks once and they stopped fighting.
Idk... probably not a good idea any way you slice it.
Dont really have room or desire for a second bin cage for another group of quail iether...
Delema, delema.

 

[featheredplanets]

Good idea! Definitely more ventilation needed though, when you can. You can keep 2 girls and 1 boy but given the housing, I personally wouldn’t keep any boys, and there still is the possibility for the hens to be over-mated.

ETA: I just wanted to say I’m not saying “good idea” to anything other than the cage, I’ve only seem these for hamsters. I don’t think excessive trimming is OK, but I do trim my quail’s beaks when they grow sharp as they don’t seem to wear down on the rocks they have.

 

[Pandaisy]

hey guys, just got creative for a "bin" cage for my quail. I added some cute decor, plan to add a small dust bath, and then once the chicks (especially the youngest kid)get a litte better feathered, 2 more ventilation windows made out of the 2 long sides.
The demensions make for 6sqft, and i might make a platform to give more "floor space"
What do you think?
Also, unfortunately my hand raised "tamer" quail came out 2 boys 2 girls.
Of course the girls actually seem far from tame but the boys are cuddly-ish. Ugh.
So now i need to decide. Who stays, who goes.
Ive heard you cant keep boys together.
Ive heard you cant keep one girl with a boy and that you actually need 4-5 if i keep a boy.
I wish i could just keep the 4 together....
Maybe crude, but can i snip/file the tips of the boys beaks if they are too rough on the girls or fight with each other???
Ive heard of someone snipping the bully birds beaks once and they stopped fighting.
Idk... probably not a good idea any way you slice it.
Dont really have room or desire for a second bin cage for another group of quail iether...
Delema, delema.

Please do not cut your birds beaks. A rooster does what a rooster has to do, breeding and fighting over territory. It is a natural behavior and nothing that needs to be punished. If you don't have enough hens, you probably have to say goodbye to one or buy more hens and split the group in two. I have never tried to keep only roosters, but I don't think that will work out. They would probably try to mate with each other or start fighting as soon as they hear or see a hen. I am sorry I can't give you another answer.

 

[WolfGirlMagic]

Good idea! Definitely more ventilation needed though, when you can. You can keep 2 girls and 1 boy but given the housing, I personally wouldn’t keep any boys, and there still is the possibility for the hens to be over-mated.

Def more ventilation later. Right now the house is a little cold and drafty at night, so want to make sure they are up for it. Should be like 3 days knowing how fast they grow. Lol
Also, i think im going to have to see what the temperment is like for everybody i think. May need to start over with maybe sex-linked chicks to tame girls. I dont necessarily want excessively boinky, flighty kids inside. So if these girls cant chill, its to the outside flock. They would probably be happier anyways if people are still so scary to them.

 

[WolfGirlMagic]

Please do not cut your birds beaks. A rooster does what a rooster has to do, breeding and fighting over territory. It is a natural behavior and nothing that needs to be punished. If you don't have enough hens, you probably have to say goodbye to one or buy more hens and split the group in two. I have never tried to keep only roosters, but I don't think that will work out. They would probably try to mate with each other or start fighting as soon as they hear or see a hen. I am sorry I can't give you another answer.

Trimming beaks in a conservative way is not harmful to the birds. Work in vet field and have experience with personal animals. If you avoid the blood vessels, and dont debeak (process that cuts a huge hunk off) it actually isn't typically painful. I had a quail named Tigra that had liver disease that caused her to get an overgrown beak, and she loved being cliped and filed. (She got treats and snuggles for it)
By filing or sniping i mean just the very very tip that is pointed to avoid major scalping. Its more squared on the tip with a slight deviation of top and bottom.
That is not painful nor punishing in my eyes. I had cage pacers that rubbed more off their beaks and could eat just fine. ( amended the cage, so they are happier now.)
Additionally, animals can be trained out of behaviors to a degree. Ive heard anecdotal evidence from others that trimming the beaks while the roos are rowdy so they cant seriously injure, and allows them to not only sort out the pecking order nicer( without death or serious injury) but also they eventually give up bullying and learn to respect each other.
The result for these birds is, keep them, or freezer camp. And let me tell you, seeing either little shotglass or pappa on the table is so sad of a prospect.
I feel killing them because they are roos (like most do) is more punishment for them being male, then a little light trim.
I appreciate your opinion, however.
I hope i explained my side. Im not doing it to be a monster or just because. And i am NOT debeaking, only considering trimming or filing to blunt the bill and make it just a SLIVER off that biting chunks out of each other is harder.
I am honestly curious if that method could "retrain" them as suggested, also.
Plus, i really dont want these boys to be culled. And dont have room for 2 cages.
Live in a trailer, and my parents house and own the other birds. My mom said any unwanted roos meet their fate if i give them back. Also forget rehoming. People here have no interest in quail as pets. We have tried.
At the end of the day im most concerned about quality of life, and i dont feel trimming beaks on its own can diminish that, HOWEVER the stress of sorting out that pecking order even of they cant seriously hurt each other with trimmed beaks, and overmating for the girls is a concern for me i am considering.
I think im going to let their personalities dictate.
Heck i know one person on here who claimed to have 2 male quail and 1 female quail with no fighting, and only mild overmating during spring.
So, maybe i can hope my kids will play nice. Lol.

 

[Pandaisy]

Thank you sharing your experience! Debeaking chicken and other poultry is forbidden by law in my country since 2017 due to animal welfare concern. The main reason this was practiced is because having to live in poor conditions turned chickens into cannibals and caused other mental health problems, such as feather picking. I see no point in debeaking if poultry is housed correctly. Except of course when there is a medical issue, like a cross beak. You have to do what you think is best for your birds. I am the last person to tell anyone how to raise and keep poultry. It is just an opinion. Good luck!

 

[WolfGirlMagic]

Thank you sharing your experience! Debeaking chicken and other poultry is forbidden by law in my country since 2017 due to animal welfare concern. The main reason this was practiced is because having to live in poor conditions turned chickens into cannibals and caused other mental health problems, such as feather picking. I see no point in debeaking if poultry is housed correctly. Except of course when there is a medical issue, like a cross beak. You have to do what you think is best for your birds. I am the last person to tell anyone how to raise and keep poultry. It is just an opinion. Good luck!

Thank you so much for your graceful response!!! I was prepared to have my head chewed off as people on forums now adays just loose it if someone differs in opinion.
And i agree debeaking is cruel. 100% they have very sensitive nerve endings in the beak that are cut through debeaking. The little see through part on the very tip is typically nerve and bloodvessel free, and that small area is what im describing.
So i wanted to elaborate what i meant so i didnt seem like a debeaking monster.
And i definitely want quality of life for the birds, that i would say goodbye if i had to.
I wish they could breed the territorial nature out of the quail though. It would make things so much easier!
Thats why i like ducks, they dont typically kill or seriously injure each other as often as other poultry tends to.

 

[WolfGirlMagic]

I had thought about splitting the cage.
Since it is 6sqft, i could put 3 birds on 1 part, and 3 on another part. So keep the 4 and buy 2 more girls. HOWEVER im not typically a fan of the 1sqft per bird rule. Especially in this cage.
And again overbreeding is a concern.
Plus, i want to spoil them as pets with a big fun cage.
Ugh.
I want mini quail, that dont fight! Lol

 

[Nabiki]

I had thought about splitting the cage.
Since it is 6sqft, i could put 3 birds on 1 part, and 3 on another part. So keep the 4 and buy 2 more girls. HOWEVER im not typically a fan of the 1sqft per bird rule. Especially in this cage.
And again overbreeding is a concern.
Plus, i want to spoil them as pets with a big fun cage.
Ugh.
I want mini quail, that dont fight! Lol

1 square foot per bird is the minimum amount you want. Remember to subtract space taken up by feeders, waterers, and those plants. The plants and landscaping are good and will help keep them happier, but they do take up space. The more crowded your birds are, the more likely they are to fight.

You can see how they turn out (and you may get lucky), but it is very likely that your two boys are going to fight in your setup.