Winter and Quail - MN COLD winter! (-30 to -50 F)

[Squeeing_Onion]

I have googled this question endlessly and can't find a straight answer: does anyone have experience keeping Coturnix Quail outdoors in a ground pen, in winters that reliably reach -30 F and at least once a winter if not several times in our contest winters, usually hits -50 degrees Fahrenheit?

I have heard that Coturnix Quail can tolerate down to -20 F so long as they have shelter from the wind to be dry and cuddle with their covey mates.

So, i would need to be prepared to house my Quail indoors for at least a few weeks or longer every winter when we are going through our coldest period? (I'm very leery about the idea of putting a heater in the coop-- electric things fail so much more easily in that extreme cold)

I'm not exaggerating the temps, mind. I live in Minnesota, and her winters in many areas can be brutally cold even in the years we don't get much snow. The severe chill usually lasts a few weeks before lightening back up into the negative teens and above, so it's not the entire winter.

Come summer, it flips and we hit 108- 110 degrees F every year during the hottest few weeks.

 

[Nabiki]

Is there any chance of making the pen insulated? The birds can put off a fair amount of heat and if it's well enough insulated a heat lamp or small heater may have a better chance of not failing.

I'm sorry, but I don't have a lot of experience with temps that low.

 

[Squeeing_Onion]

Is there any chance of making the pen insulated? The birds can put off a fair amount of heat and if it's well enough insulated a heat lamp or small heater may have a better chance of not failing.

I'm sorry, but I don't have a lot of experience with temps that low.

It's alright, i don't think many people do!

I absolutely plan on insulating the coop hide, the roof, and during winter either tarping or putting up temporary hard walls; we get some brutal winds where I'm at with all the open space from the prairie around us.

So far my idea: having a sand bottom in the coop, but during winter layering it with straw for insulation.

The walls and floor and roof of the coop will be fully insulated with that pink foam

I'm not so much worried about the heater in the coop as i am an extension cord freezing between the coop and the house.

 

[Nabiki]

I would plan on keeping the birds in your garage or something for the first year. Put a thermometer that you can monitor in the pen to see exactly how cold it gets inside there to give you an idea of how effective the insulation is. If you want to simulate bird heat, you could put some hot water bottles in there to see how well it holds the heat as well.

 

[Squeeing_Onion]

I would plan on keeping the birds in your garage or something for the first year. Put a thermometer that you can monitor in the pen to see exactly how cold it gets inside there to give you an idea of how effective the insulation is. If you want to simulate bird heat, you could put some hot water bottles in there to see how well it holds the heat as well.

Or garage is heated and is home to our pewter workshop, so that won't work for testing purposes.

It would be viable to have an empty coop outside to test like that though, and keep them in a temporary enclosure indoors.

My issue is i have hookbill parrots upstairs and three (or four if my bro is visiting with his kitty) downstairs, so i can't put them downstairs, and I'm concerned about bacteria contamination between species upstairs.

That leaves indoor options as the garage and the polebarn; i think pole barn might be the way to go even though I'd have to keep a long path shoveled to get to them. The garage is connected to the house.

The garage would be the easiest all around if i took over one corner for cages, but then i worry about the fumes from the smelter, Pewter dust from sanding, and the chemicals used in polishing. Honestly i think they'll be fine with the smelter and polisher -- we have very heavy duty awesome fans that vent directly outside above each machine, and the polisher head is own room so the only risk of fumes escaping is when we open the door to set it up and check on it, and the fan pretty much takes care of that.

So the pewter dust would be my biggest worry (also making sure my family is okay dealing with the smell of birds in the workplace), as while there isn't a terrible lot it does get everywhere.

I've heard that quail get extremely stinky very quickly; this makes me think to have temporary winter cages with pull out trays and wood for them to get off the wire bottoms, but how often would you need to be changing the whole tray to keep smell down? (Id be using small flight cages about 30" x 18" x 18" or so, with one to three birds per cage)

 

[Squeeing_Onion]

Another idea i had was partially burying the coop area. It will be nothing fancy, just an insulated wood box with a sand floor. My idea was to make the front panel double or triple thick for insulation, have a second wall inside (so they enter the coop into a small hallway, walk to the end, then turn and enter the actual coop area) to give extra protection indoors from any draft leaks, and have that front panel able to be opened for access to cleaning and eggs.

Then, bury the three sides and roof in earth (and snow) as even more extra insulation. I don't remember how deep you have to dig to have the constant ground temperature, but i think it's deep enough i would need to build a much larger coop to do something sunken like that and then cleaning might be an issue to haul bedding up. At that rate i might as well just build myself a dugout house and happen to live with quail.


So basically picture a hobbit home with a big aviary pen attached to the front door

I worry about there being enough ventilation.

 

[BA-quail]

Curious what you ended up doing. Any advice for ground keeping in the winter after this past season?

I have a few quail now in a ground pen. I'm in southern Ontario, so we get cold temps but not THAT cold. This past winter was particularly mild. Down to -20 C (-4 F) maybe for a few days throughout the winter, but never lasted long.

This is my set A-frame set up. I'm hoping I will be able to get away with tarping/covering the open section and giving them more spaces to hide/shelter. The bottom is open to the grass/dirt as I wanted to keep it more natural.
Planning on moving it around the yard in the summer, but will likely pick a spot in the winter to leave it stationary, or set it up in a shed if I need to, though hoping to avoid that.

(Ignore the orange bowl ....store ran out of lids the day I picked up the bucket for their feed and I haven't made my way back to pick one up yet ).

 

[jargon777]

I am in Southern Ontario too -- had mine for a couple winters outside now (tri-cities area). I have just covered up the pen just after the temps dip below freezing regularly. This year, yah, the winter was mild. Last year I gave them a bunch of fresh straw to burrow in but not sure if they really needed it, but on very cold nights last year they would huddle and keep each other warm (didn't see this happen this year).

The bigger challenge is regularly checking their water to make sure it hasn't frozen. I have one of those bird-bath style heaters for the water, but I use a bucket with horizontal nipples and sometimes it freezes on the outside (particularly on those -20 nights). Also sometimes the GFIC outlet triggers and disables the heaters .

 

[Susan Skylark]

I don’t miss those winters! But if sharptailed and ruffed grouse can survive them outside in the wild, I would think quail would do just fine with a little help and adequate shelter. I’m just starting out with quail (and moved to a slightly more hospitable climate, it is only -30F for a couple days each winter instead of 3 weeks) and plan to keep them in a hutch outside in the summer and in the garage in the winter. At least the cold keeps the ticks at bay! Stay warm!

 

[spookyevilone]

Super late to this thread but I also live in MN and had Coturnix outside for several years. The first couple of years I brought them in the house, but then I had too many to do that with so I got the Ware Double Decker Bunny Hutch and modified it - yanked all the wire out and replaced it with 1/4"x1" mesh on the inside. I made a cover for the entire thing out of 2" rigid pink insulation covered with cheap canvas painter's tarp soaked in wood glue and then painted with latex paint so it'd withstand beaks and be washable and sturdy. I made the front a double barn door style so I could get in to clean and feed/water. I made it with fabric 'hinges' on all sides so it could be folded flat for storage when not on the coop. Then I stacked straw bales around three sides of it to give more insulation with a few extra in case it got really nasty, so I could insulate the door side as well. I ran LED christmas rope lights out there on a timer so they weren't in the dark all day and made sure there was a tiny aquarium heater in their water so it wouldn't freeze. They survived just fine. I had gravity feeders made out of PVC pipes but had to go out every day to check the water and to make sure nothing had failed. Didn't get many eggs, didn't care, they were mostly pets. You could probably just use the hay bales and throw a tarp over the whole thing to cut the wind but I really liked the insulation cover.