Plans for warm-weather outdoor setup on the ground. Am I missing anything?

[Phlighter]

Then the storm came through at midnight. The coup was sitting solid and I didn't think the wind could move it. I was wrong. The wind rolled it across the yard. Most of the quail had taken shelter under the barrels or in the canteen, but there were a couple scattered.

I thought I might could roll the coup back into place, but, it was cracked in various places and weakened, and also heavy with rain. It collapsed flat when tried moving it.

So I gathered the birds and put them into cages for the night. There were no injuries and none missing. Quail are a lot easier to catch at night if you have a flashlight.

 

[Phlighter]

Day 6: I gathered up the pieces. The end panels were not damaged. I drove T-posts to support each end and stretched net across the gap. So now it is 7x12x7 and they have the room I wanted to start with. Yesterday (after I took this pic) I added a roof of netting also and tied it to the side nets.

I am currently waiting for some green surveyors flagging tape that I will use to make the walls more discernable.

Things seem to have stabilized now and they are active.

 

[Phlighter]

If I had anchored it at all, it wouldn't have been rolled over and been damaged. I would also still be in the smaller version. Constructing ends is really the important part. If you get 2 well supported ends, you can stretch net, or fence, from one to the other.

 

[Phlighter]

I initially thought it wouldn't need a roof as I had never seen a quail fly higher than 6 feet. One of the alpha males proved me wrong.

 

[Nabiki]

it sounds like you're making good progress. You learned some things the hard way, but I'm sure you'll never forget the lesson.

As for flight, yes, they are little footballs, but I had one fly about 30' across a yard and over my house back at my old place, and another fly about 50' and over a 10' sound wall. I found the one that flew over my house, but never saw the one that went over the sound wall again.