Have you wondered if your quail can be kept on the ground instead of in a raised hutch? Do you like the idea of them being able to dust bathe, eat bugs and live more naturally in a protected enclosure? Here is how we built our own quail ground pen and various ideas on how to create a beautiful outdoor aviary for your covey.
Our Garden Coturnix Quail Ground Pen
Benefits of Ground Contact
Quail do just fine in wire-bottom, raised hutches and coops. So why bother with a ground pen? There are a number of reasons why keepers may decide to provide a breezy, open aviary instead of a raised hutch.
Poops Naturally Compost
When quail droppings come in contact with the ground, they pick up dirt and natural bacteria that break them down quickly, just like wild bird droppings. Keepers may find smells are reduced or much easier to control using Sweet PDZ, which instantly absorbs any quail poop smells. The benefit of having a small source of garden compost is an added benefit; the dirt inside the ground pen only needs to break down for about 3 months before it is ready to use.
Sand Baths are Always Available
Coturnix quail are sand bathing fools. They love to dust bathe, engaging in this activity for hours per day or any time they feel they need a bit of stress relief. Bags of play sand can easily be added to a quail ground pen to provide 24 hour access without there being any bowls or other equipment to clean.
Fresh Air and Well-Being
Like all pets, quail need fresh air, clean water and good nutrition. Open, airy aviaries have ample room to meet all of these needs. Because the pen typically allows the maximum amount of daylight to enter the enclosure, hens are more likely to come into lay ‘on time’ and remain laying for as many months as possible each year. With the sunlight comes the ability to add live plants and herbs to the enclosure, which can freshen the air and provide quail with shelter and a sense of well-being. (Parsley should not be planted in quail pens nor fed to coturnix quail.) Oregano, rosemary and thyme are all known to be safe aviary herbs.
Natural Breeding
A greater percentage of quail hens will become broody when they are in a ground pen with access to straw, hay or wild grasses to nest in. She feels safe, secure and is more likely to respond to her instinct to nest, having such useful materials nearby. If you have a rooster, she can raise chicks for you and replenish your covey.
Beware of Ceiling Heights
Quail need short ceiling heights less than 30 inches or higher than 5 feet because they are prone to ascending vertically to escape a threat. 3 foot ceiling heights are known to be deadly. Avoid anything in the 30 to 50 inch high “kill zone” and opt for very low or very high interior ceilings.
How We Built Our Quail Ground Pen
I started from scratch, measuring a shady garden corner where nothing was growing well. Our garden is deer fenced, which provides an extra level of protection for the quail, who reside behind the garden fence and ¼ inch hardware cloth. The pen was built to the measurements of the shady garden corner and features a hinged metal roof that is sloped just enough to drain rain water.
Sandy Bottoms
I use play sand purchased from Lowe’s as a litter for my quail. The quail pen has a full chicken wire bottom that is covered by several inches of sand. The chicken wire bottom stops predators from tunneling in through the soft garden soil beneath the pen.
2023 Update: I now prefer to use Sweet PDZ as ground pen litter! Sand can absorb and hold ground moisture if you have a very wet winter or spring. Give the quail undyed wood chip mulch as a bedding if the sand or ground is holding too much moisture and the bird’s belly feathers are damp in any way.
Open Air Dining
Feeding aviary-kept quail is as simple as providing a shallow dish or feeder that is refilled daily. Anything they kick out does not go to waste, as they are sure to find it later. Food that is not eaten up will break down and become part of the garden compost. You can also plant kale, spinach or Swiss chard in the pen with them, which they will nibble on, enjoying the fresh growing greens.
Clever Divider
Our pen is divided in half to separate the celadon quail from my standard quail in rare feather colors. Half inch hardware cloth on the interior divider walls allows me to securely hang my favorite 2 quart waterers. (Affiliate link.)
A removable, slide-out door allows for quail to have access to both sides of the ground pen if desired. The covey can mingle together every winter and be separated for spring and summer breeding. It is a nice feature that provides plenty of future flexibility all in one coop.
Built to Last
We used pressure treated lumber, which is safe for use around birds, and exterior paint on our quail ground pen. The ¼ inch hardware cloth is sturdy, having held up to a number of curious opossums and hungry raccoons. Coupled with the metal roof, we and our quail should enjoy decades of rugged outdoor use from our pen.
Gorgeous Garden Ideas
You can purchase very detailed DIY building plans for building your own aviaries and quail pens. Click on any of the images below to go directly to the building plans for sale from various providers.
Free Rabbit Hutch building plans (that works as a quail pen) can be found here!
Even More Ideas
If building something big feels a little daunting, here are some smaller DIY projects that can house your quail. Click each image to visit the site the photo originated from.
Easy, Effortless Quail
Coturnix quail really are very easy egg layers to keep. Their small coops and minimal requirements make them ideal for suburban back yards. Quail ground pens can make clean up even easier, generate beneficial garden compost and provide delightful entertainment for the family. The natural setting and ample sunlight can help maximize what your covey lays.
Liana says
Thank you for this wonderful post! I just recently became interested in raising quail and had the same idea as what you describe here. I have a deer fence around my garden that we have also reinforced further. May I ask how often you change the sand and exactly how do you go about cleaning or replacing the sand? I won’t be breeding but I thought I could scoot quail into one section while I clean one side at a time? I’m a little confused as you talk about the grasses etc but then I only see sand in their enclosure…do you let your quail out to roam into your garden?? Or would they fly away? Our deer fence is 7 ft high. I appreciate anything you could share with me. My other thought was to be able to move the quail coop around the garden, so they could forage more naturally? In that case I would have to provide a sand box, and maybe a place for them to hide if it got windy or rainy? Looking so forward to your kind reply! Liana
Tay Silver says
I found that using a cat litter scoop to sift the poops out of the sand really helped to keep it clean! If you live in a moist area, the ground moisture can seep up and cause the sand to always be damp, which is not good for the quail so in those environments, mulch is a better option. (I switched to mulch for the wet spring and winter seasons as the sand was often damp and cold feeling.) I would add clumps of dug up grass/weeds or straw to their pen for them to enjoy but they did occasionally escape and run around my garden!
A quail pen that could be moved around would be wonderful! In the past I have used the heavy duty rubber bowls from the Tractor Supply cattle feed aisle filled with play sand to provide a dust bathing bowl, which would be a good option inside a quail tractor. My hubby ended up building a small shelter out of scrap wood that provided some wind and rain protection. Whatever option you choose, I was pleased that I used 1/4 inch hardware cloth on the sides because the wild wood rats were never able to reach into the pen and I never lost a quail to one of them.
Lauren says
Great post! Do you have the plans for the 6×3 ground pen you built for your quail? That is exactly what I’ve been looking for to build for my quail but I and not very handy so definitely need a plan to follow. I would be so very grateful if you could share the plans!
Thank you!
Tay Silver says
I do not have plans for the ground pen my hubby built. He is incredibly talented and can build on the fly without pre-made plans. However, there are wonderful people online who are skilled when it comes to making plans and share them for free. I’ve got lots of links to free quail pen/hutch plans here: https://silverhomestead.com/free-quail-coop-plans/
Julie says
Love your set up. we are just beginning to research the possibility of getting quail. I am curious, how do you get the eggs without your quail escaping? Thanks!
Tay Silver says
Hi Julie! Coturnix quail are sweetheart little birds. They tend to move out of the way when you reach into their hutch/coop to gather the eggs. They would prefer to retreat to the opposite corner away from your hand so if you are moving calmly, they will simply trot out of your way to the other end of the coop. Even if you are opening the roof above them, they want to huddle in a corner. If they do escape, I use a fishing net with a handle to gently cover them (so they don’t startle upward and flap-glide further away) and then return them to the safety of their hutch. The ground pen had a lot more escapees because they would startle upward but this diminished as I hatched and hand fed my own small coveys. Luckily the ground pen is inside my 7 foot deer fenced garden so the quail were still contained in an area where I could quickly recover them.
As of Jan 2023 the ground pen is out of use and is simply a backup pen if I want to breed a certain feather or egg color. I prefer the quail coop my husband and I designed that has the large door for fast clean out and allows poops to fall through the bottom 1/2 inch hardware cloth. The little center door makes daily egg collecting easy while keeping everyone better contained. I hope this helps and please do ask more questions if you have them! I wish I would have known about quail when I lived in the suburbs. They are absolutely adorable and so gentle & sweet!