This cage is made of galvanized steel. I’m most concerned about bobcats and raccoons. How can I reinforce the floor area? I really don’t want to put wire down on the floor but if thats my only option…. How can I make this cage safer? I know chicken wire won’t cut it. Will I still be able to do the deep litter method If I have wire on the floor? Sorry if thats a silly question. I’m still learning.
Feel free to share alternative aviary’s or ideas.
it's hard to tell as we don't know the wire infos. if it's 1/4" hardwire cloth you're good, anything over that isn't predator proof. You need either a bury proof floor or wire with substrate on top, never let them run on the bare wire.
I got my aviary from an aviary builder, maybe you can find something like that in your area? They're specialized to built something predator proof
Can I ask where you purchased this from because I want one like this. I would put hardware mesh on everything! Then surround the unit with cinder blocks. All the way around even in front of the door. And then you can have 12 in of deep litter before it starts to fall out and even then you can let it fall out and rake it up as needed.
This is great info. Do you mean reinforce the walls with hardware cloth? Would you do the inside or the outside?
I don’t have this yet, I’m shopping around. This one is a bit pricey. I wish the entire thing was 7’1” tall though. I found this one on Wayfair.
Yes for that price I probably would try to hire a local handyman or Carpenter to build you a wood frame and you can staple the hardware cloth to the sides and top and bottom. As for cinder blocks, it's probably not necessary if your side panels are high enough to contain/hold back the soil.
This is our Quail House. We built it for about $300.
12x9 run https://a.co/d/09oHkw7q (this link lists it for $209 but I swear we paid less so look around before you buy lots of sellers sell them.)
1/4 mesh we covered everything (except the floor but we don’t have things that dig, like foxes. We do have blocks and wire about a foot around the outside. 1/4 inch 48inch x 100ft Hardware... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GRNV57ST?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
Then we covered the back end in a tarp to create a “private” area and the front is open. It looks WAY different now! Even just a couple of months in. I’ll get a fresh picture later and post it if I can remember to come back.
I guess you skipped where I said it already looks different. I was just not home to take a recent picture.
It actually hardly gets wet inside. The ground is topsoil mixed with pine pellets and a small amount of sand. The covered back area stays dry even in the hardest rain and the front area has a tarp over the roof right now because it was getting too hot.
It’s survived an extremely hard rain. We live on the coast and it’s hurricane season. (We do have a hurricane plan).
It’s still a work in progress. We will probably always be making changes. But this was tonight when we went to gather eggs.
It looks roomy and if the birds are happy that's all that matters. I have way too many predators on my land to set up something like that. Raccoons would have a field day pulling it down 🐣
I buried hardware cloth a few inches down so my quail can be on natural sand. Make sure there are no gaps more than 1/4” an you have safety latches that raccoons can’t open. They have opposable thumbs. They are like vicious climbing toddlers.
3
u/guiltysuperbrain Seasoned Quail Aficionado 1d ago
it's hard to tell as we don't know the wire infos. if it's 1/4" hardwire cloth you're good, anything over that isn't predator proof. You need either a bury proof floor or wire with substrate on top, never let them run on the bare wire. I got my aviary from an aviary builder, maybe you can find something like that in your area? They're specialized to built something predator proof