After years of owning Coturnix quail and building different types of pens to house them, my husband and I set out to create beginner DIY building plans that would allow backyard keepers to create their own gorgeous little quail cottage coop! Here we’ll go over the features of our visually charming and easy to clean design.
The White Quail Cottage Coop
Interest in Coturnix quail keeping for backyard fresh egg production is on the rise! As we were enjoying our own birds, we realized there were extremely few quail coop building plans online to help new keepers create a safe, comfortable home for their covey.
Quail Coops are Desperately Needed
My own page of free quail coop plans is one of the first things that pulls up when doing an internet search. I noticed few building plans are deliberately cute and designed to sit hidden below a residential fence line. Because let’s face it: our quail hutches are going to attract attention from curious neighbors and possibly the HOA. They absolutely must look good and smell good if they are going to be seen!
Building Plans Thoughtfully Designed from the Ground Up
My criteria for the quail coop we designed were fourfold:
Easy for a beginner to build with 5 common tools, highly attractive, shorter than standard 6 foot tall residential fences plus easy to clean out and keep smelling fresh. (All the things HOA’s tend to have opinions on!)
Detailed Pictures Were a Must
I also wanted our PDF instructions to have lots of clear, crisp images. We ended up building our coop THREE TIMES to make sure everything was perfect. Our building plans are 37 pages with 108 helpful images that ensure beginners can produce a darling little home for their quail, even if this is the first bird house they have ever built!
Easy to Clean
Quail droppings do have an ammonia-ish smell to them when you are up close. And most keepers are interested in collecting the droppings and composting them to use as garden fertilizer. The full-front, swing down door allows you to reach every nook and cranny so you can sweep it clean with a hand broom or blow the entire coop out with a leaf blower. (Please do remove your quail and place them in a cat carrier or small dog kennel before cleaning the coop!) We sprinkle quail poops with Sweet PDZ, which absorbs the ammonia and reduces the smell to zero instantly. Sweet PDZ is made of zeolite, a natural mineral, which is compost-safe and actually good for your garden soil. (Affiliate links.)
Happily Houses Quail Hens
Our 2×4 foot coop is large enough to comfortably house 12 Coturnix quail. If you’d like to keep males for breeding, you can easily house 1 with 6 hens or 2 with 10 hens. (A single male quail may have difficulty regularly fertilizing more than 6 hens.) The quail will enjoy their breezy view from the wide front door and the security of sturdy sides at night or during storms.
Comfort Under Foot
The coop floor is made of 1/2 inch hardware cloth that allows droppings to fall through to the ground underneath, where they can easily be raked away for composting. Wire is a little hard on the quail’s feet so we suggest having a large bowl of sand the quail can dust bathe in.
Try Ceramic Floor Tiles for Easy Cleaning
Placing a spare square of 12×12 ceramic tile on top of the wire inside the coop will give the hens a place to rest their feet. The tile is easy to move around or remove and very simple to scrape or water-hose-squrit clean when needed.
Paint the Coop Any Color You Want!
Our build plans include how much paint to purchase if you want to do a two color coop. We do suggest painting the interior white to help more light enter the quail hen’s eyes, which triggers the pituitary gland that controls her laying.
We Want To See Your Completed Coop Pictures!
You’re going to love the regular stream of eggs coming from your backyard covey and your cute cottage coop will be an attractive way to keep the quail happy and clean!
Pin for Later:
YOU MIGHT ALSO ENJOY READING:
Leave a Reply