Keeping quail in cages — pros and cons, dimensions, set-up

Quail can be kept in cages; on large farms that is the norm. A cage keeps eggs and feed clean, saves space and makes checking easy. But it takes away movement, scratching and the dust bath. Whether it suits you depends on how many birds you keep and how much of these drawbacks you make up for.

On the author's farm the grown birds lived in cages; the chicks were raised in the brooder.

What speaks for the cage

• Clean eggs. The floor slopes slightly forward. The eggs roll out of the compartment into a gutter, and the droppings fall through the mesh onto a tray. The eggs do not lie in droppings and can be collected from outside.
• Little contact with droppings. What falls through the mesh no longer lies under the birds.
• Space. Cages can be stacked. For 50 birds a battery with a footprint of 0.6 × 1.2 metres and a height of 1.8 metres is enough.
• Overview. One compartment is one group: breeding groups stay separate, and laying rate and feed use can be counted per compartment.
• Feed. Trough and drinker hang outside. The birds cannot scratch anything out, and no droppings land in them.

What speaks against the cage

• Scratching and dust bathing. There is no substrate on the mesh. Without a dust bath the plumage becomes dull and greasy; a tray of sand therefore belongs in the cage too.
• Movement. In commercial keeping each bird has 100 to 130 square centimetres. That is a lower limit for production, not a measure of welfare.
• Feet. Mesh that is too coarse or has sharp edges injures toes and foot pads.
• Calm. Crowding, bright light and strange birds put into a group lead to feather pecking and even cannibalism.
• Work. The droppings trays have to be emptied every day, otherwise ammonia builds up in the air.

Dimensions

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• Height: low. The specialist literature gives 15 to 25 centimetres of clear height. Quail fly straight up when startled; a low cage with a roof of cloth or soft netting keeps them from hitting their heads.
• Floor: mesh with 10 × 10 millimetre openings. The feet find grip on it, and the droppings fall through. The floor slopes forward by 8 to 10 degrees and runs out at the front into a gutter that the eggs roll into.
• Area: 100 to 130 square centimetres per bird in commercial keeping, 125 and more for breeding birds. A compartment of 80 × 40 centimetres is enough for one cock with four to six hens.
• Feed and water: the trough hangs outside at the front, and the birds eat through openings that only the head and neck fit through; the drinker hangs at the back.
• Droppings: a tray under every compartment, emptied daily.

Several tiers

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The lowest tier stands 80 to 100 centimetres above the floor: draughts are strongest at floor level, and at this height every compartment can be tended without bending down. Do not build more than three to four tiers, or you will need a step for the top one. The top tier gets a cover, because the light is brightest there.

What belongs in every cage

• a tray with 5 to 7 centimetres of sand for dust bathing, about two body lengths long;
• a soft roof;
• a shadier corner, because quail look for one;
• fixed groups, because every move costs eggs;
• calm work at the cage and no glaring light.

Cage or house with bedding?

For a small flock in the garden, a house with bedding is usually the better fit. If you sell eggs or keep breeding lines separate, cages make it easier — then with a sand tray and as much space as possible. Which keeping requirements apply differs by country and region; ask your local veterinary authority before you build.

Figures and dimensions in this article come from L. A. Zadorozhnaya's collection «Quail keeping» (2005) and from Stele, Osmanyan, Afanasyev, "Egg production in poultry keeping" (2011).