Dog Health Questions: Questions about building a quail pen?

Hello all. Im considering building a quail pen so that I may keep quail for dog training. I was wondering whether or not it was a good idea to build the pen without a floor, so that the quail can be on the ground. My only concern with this would be fire ants. Ive heard that fire ants can be a problem for quail, especially when they are nesting. Should I raise it off the ground and use wire mesh for flooring, or will they be ok on the ground?

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I am going to say it depends on the size of the pen. It is is large enough then you really don't need a floor. If your going to build a small pen however, I would make it raised with a wire mesh bottom, and have an area that has plywood for their feet. I have a friend that keeps his in a chicken pen. His has a top on it about 7 feet up. It's big enough for us to walk in, but his quail are not hard to capture, rather tame in fact. They come a runnin' when he brings his feed bucket. So, I don't know if this type behavior is something your looking for to train your dogs or not.

One time, a few of them got loose, and as I was walking up to the porch, they blasted out from under a shrub, and scared the §h!T out of me, but he shook his bucket a few times, and they followed him right back in the pen. I have no idea how they got out, but I guess the made a hole somewhere.

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• If the pen is large enough I don't see fire-ants being a real problem as long as roosts are provided for the birds to get out of harms way. Another way to keep ants at bay is to spray Tempo around the pen every month or so. It kills insects that crawl across the area it is sprayed and lasts for months even after a rain.
  
  I would however put a mesh floor in and secure it to the side mesh. The reason behind this is raccoons can reak havoc on penned birds, and are masters of getting into anything. Many of the lodges I have guided for can attest to this. In one instance I can remember a raccoon tearing a cloth mesh next to a support pole and shimmying down the pole. The hole was not visible from the ground. Chukars continued to be eaten for weeks until one day I caught the little monster in the act.


• Build a fully enclosed wire frame with a box for shelter and roost with rat wire smaller than a weasel. Weasels will kill them all. We had a weasel kill all of ours. Also a fully enclosed pen will prevent digging coons and foxes and other critters. Put a lid with hinges on the box for cleaning and straw. You could bury the wire deep down with concrete I guess.....but,weasels are tunneling bastards. A good dog in the area to bark may keep some animals away....as long as its not a bird dog........LOL........