Really good, very informative video. So many good ideas. You should do a follow up video like a month after they have moved in to let us know what worked and what didn’t.
Thanks for sharing those nice tips. I will get one of those solar lights for my setup, but birds tend to be very sensitive to light. I think it might be more of a convenience for us to have it if we need to check something in the hutch than put it there for the birds. The light bothers their vision and also messes with the laying and mating cycles too. The sandbox has been a problem for me. I isolated a section of the hutch with a box 6'' tall and somehow the birds still spelling it everywhere.
I like it! Esp the solar lights & the box feeder. ty for the light link. Do you have a build video with a cut list? Thanks for showing your old set up & what didnt work for water and feed.
No cut list currently, but the feeder is such an improvement that I plan to upgrade my other cages now. I'll be making a few more feeders soon, so I'll keep track of the materials and make a short video on how I built it.
All wire cages with egg roll outs are truly superior to wood cages. Also we tried this same solar light and it only gave us max of 3 hours light and that just is not enough light in the winter for egg production. We ended up with a 100watt solar panel and smaller lithium battery for 4 3watt bulbs on a 12vdc timer, it lasts most night about 7 hours per night and that is enough to give eggs all winter. For easier more efficient feed boxes try regular metal rabbit J box feeder and take a plastic chicken feeder with the ovals in it cut to fit the J box, it works very well. Try not to use much wood in the build especially for the feeder box, it can grow and hold bacteria into their feed.
Thanks for those tips! We've had great luck with the solar lights, but that might be because we get plenty of sun in TX. We'll definitely give the J box feeders a try.
Technically, they poop EVERYWHERE! Haha. They do indeed poop in the sand, but not a lot. I bought a cheap little cat litter shovel and that’s how I get the eggs out or clean the sand.
Yes. Kinda. They only get about 10 feet high and go maybe 30 feet before landing. Their flight is really to relocate in tall grassland environments, not for migration or anything like that.
Why do you say play sand is not good for them? It has been cleaned for human use? I would think the builders sand has no standard on it as it's not for human use, who knows what trash could be in it. The experts say 3 to 3 & 1/2 quail pre square foot is the standard.
Play sand is made by grinding up quartz, so it has a lot of fines (dust) that can cause respiratory issues. I've crowded my birds and I've given them tons of space, and they end up piled together in a corner in either scenario, so I definitely wouldn't stress the area.
@@rusticrabbit2502 I didn't know that about play sand I have used it for years I have had this set of quail for 3 & 1/2 years now. I have used it in the past when I had quail too. I will have to look into that. Thank you. My opinion, I don't crowd my quail either, maybe sometime as they are growing out I will go by the 3 & 1/2 a square foot rule, but the standard should not be lowered by my thinking. The experts know better.