r/quails • u/Holiday_Ad2189 • 2d ago

Help Aviary bedding

Currently using pine shavings as our aviary floor bedding. Our birds just started laying again after being moved from cage to aviary, and their eggs are so camouflaged into the pine shavings! Is there any other kind of bedding you all use that makes the eggs easy to spot?

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u/Salty-Ad-198 2d ago

I use a “deep litter” method that is a combination of pine pellets and topsoil. But I also discovered that not all topsoil is created equal.

We use a topsoil we found at Lowe’s that seems to be a nice mix and doesn’t clump. I’ve tried another brand that seems to have a lot of clay and just became a solid clump.

The pine pellets just turn to sawdust but that’s what helps keep the moisture down.

I also have a big sand bath but our bedding is so soft they don’t use the sand much. They make “Quail Craters” all over the aviary but they also have some that are clearly nests that they reuse to lay eggs. I’ve never had them bury eggs. But their nests seem to have reinforced bottoms using the lemongrass strands.

Here is one of the girls fixing a crater yesterday after I raked. I take over the whole floor about every 2 weeks to mix in their poo. My goal being that their poo becomes part of their litter. I need to add about 4 more bags of topsoil and another bag of pellets just to refresh things. We will probably do that sometime through September.

https://reddit.com/link/p6ulp1b/video/5qh4ty97dkmh1/player

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u/Salty-Ad-198 2d ago

This is the Topsoil we use…

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u/Salty-Ad-198 2d ago

This is what it looks like…

40 Pound(s) All-purpose Top soil https://www.lowes.com/pd/Timberline-40-lb-All-purpose-Top-Soil/999973086

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u/Salty-Ad-198 2d ago

This is the pine pellets we use…

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u/Holiday_Ad2189 2d ago

This is the solution I'm looking for I think!!! I like how yours looks in the video. To start ours out, do you do a 1:1 ratio of bags, if that makes sense? Like for every pellet bag, do you do one top soil bag? How would you recommend I get ours started? And how bad are the flies with your method? We have a huggggeeee fly problem no matter what we do or try, but if I just have to keep up the fly traps, I'd be fine with that as well. Ours love their sand baths and I've mixed soil in a couple times before and they loved it. I think your idea would be a perfect solution for my struggle with spotting eggs, and also to prep them for winter haha.

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u/Salty-Ad-198 2d ago

Thanks for bringing up flies!! We have ZERO flies. But!! When they were in this cage… with just 5 quail we had constant flies. Nothing we did got rid of the flies.

As for the mix… I don’t know. Our ground wasn’t level, there were a couple of big holes we were afraid would hold water so we had to fill those in with dirt first.

Then we spread down dirt until we were happy (and by dirt I mean bags of topsoil). Then pellets until we were happy and then more dirt until we decided we had done enough. (We measured with our hearts… In July… At 9000° and 167000% humidity…)

As far as smell, that’s how we judge that we need to rake it over. It starts to smell and when it does we rake it over. So far we’ve raked it about 3-4 times. So about every week or 2? We’ve had the quail in there since July. Low maintenance is one reason we want to keep our quail numbers low and our square footage high. I just raked yesterday morning and it only took me about 30 minutes or so. But I did a detailed rake this time where I moved hides and raked deep. We’ve used a dirt rake for quick rakes and I use one of those 3 finger hand held claw things this time to really get deep. I use a cat litter scoop in their sand box.

When they were in the cage they came with we just had a sand box and they used it constantly. But now with their deep litter they use their sand different and less often. Now they just make craters everywhere all the time.

I’ll share some more pictures of some of their nests with eggs.

If I left anything out or you want specific pictures just tell me. I am WAY more than happy to help you.

Right now my aviary is EXACTLY what I imagined my quail are happy. It’s easy to care for. It’s peaceful.

I kept reading about “deep litter” but no one really seemed to have a recipe so I just read a lot of comments and just tried what seemed to make sense to me and so far it has worked pretty perfect. I don’t think there is anything I would change.

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u/Salty-Ad-198 2d ago

Here are some pictures of their nests…

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u/Salty-Ad-198 2d ago

This is a fun picture, there are 3 quail in this picture.

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u/Salty-Ad-198 2d ago

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u/Salty-Ad-198 2d ago

And a quail trail they are creating through their lemongrass

It just warms my heart because I have to believe they are happy!

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u/Salty-Ad-198 2d ago

And our rooster. He’s an old man and so pretty!

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u/Ok-Thing-2222 2d ago

I really don't like pine so I've always used straw/hay/alfalfa and leaves from the fall.

But some of my quail really like to use this big low easter basket as a nesting spot to lay eggs. I covered the back of it (like a hoodie) up over the handle with a piece of old brown wool sweater and hot-glued it into place. I left some of the sweater hanging down a little ways in front--and cut it into strips so its sorta like a curtain. They LOVE that thing and on a chilly day the will pile as many as can fit into the straw in there!

I'm making another one since the old one is starting to fall apart--4 yrs old. It also helps to push the handle forward a bit if it will, and then hot glue so it creates a deeper 'hood'.

The other place they like to lay eggs is a box turned on its side and has straw shoved in. They feel comfortable in these 'hiding places'.

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u/Holiday_Ad2189 1d ago

Can you post a pic?! That sounds awesome!

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u/Sufficient-Neat-3084 2d ago

I use different things in different areas.
But mine like to burry the eggs. I just scoop through the bedding once every two days and usually that does the trick

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u/Holiday_Ad2189 2d ago

Thankfully mine lay most of their eggs in their dust baths so far, but I almost stepped on a couple that didn't make it in the baths. I'm going to give the aviary a deep clean tomorrow and see if I find any more hidden anywhere!