Quail Coop Revisions

We raise our coturnix quail in WY. The temperatures from mid summer to mid winter range from 90+ degrees to -25 Fahrenheit, and the wind during different parts of the year can be 50+ mph.

This requires a flexible coop. One that is as good in summer as it is in winter. With the weather being awful now, I wont make any changes to the current design that you can see in pictures. Except the addition of a new circulated, heated water system.

The design includes a few basic things that allows it to work.

The coop is mostly solid walled with good ventilation. Its built onto a stock tank, so the 1st foot of wall from the ground is solid metal and totally draft free.

A dark colored 25 watt bulb was wired into each covey, and the common area, and is enough supplemental heat to keep quail happy. These bulbs turn on with a thermostat when temps go below 35F.

During the summer the front swinging hutch style window/doors allow a ton of fresh cool airflow through 1/4″ hardware cloth. I placed mirror hangers on the door frames and covered them 90% with plexiglass panels for winter. They provide insulation and draft protection.

Removable wooden panels cover wire mesh vents at the top of the coop during winter. There is still plenty of ventilation, just no drafts.

The bedding is a combination of straw, pine shavings, and sand. Which allows fairly easy clean up, whilst providing a good war bedding, even if the heat bulbs don’t operate.

I often wonder how miserable they are and check on them, just to find they are all content in their winterized coop.

They are fine in some really terrible weather, even without additional heat. Any aggressive males can be placed in the cock walk. An internal elevated caged area that can also be used for controlled breeding. A shroud over the bulb keeps the bulb from getting dirty.

I hope this helps anyone considering raising quail in a cold area. Leave me a comment or send me an email if you have any questions.

I’m already bouncing around new coop ideas and improvements, but for this winter in WY this will suffice.