Button Quail in Aviary

[cindy]

Button Quail question....this weekend we are getting all the materials for the aviary. New dimensons will be 8 long, 6 high, 4 wide. Bottom is plywood covered in 4 ply plastic sheeting with substrate on top....fine pine shavings, kiln dried. I was thinking of adding button quail to help "clean up", like live in maids!!

Do you suggest two or three hens or males. Food wise can they eat what my finches do? Can the finches eat what they eat?

[Dayna]

I'm not sure what other people do but around here most people use chick starter for feed for the buttons. They also like dust bathes like chinchillas. As far as males/females it's better to get all females than males or at least 2 to 3 females per male. Males are very aggressive towards each other at maturity and in some cases will fight to the death over females and territory.

[tinysparrow]

i agree with dayna! its great to hear that you are going to be getting some buttons cindy

i feed my buttons duck starter, or you can get chick starter. you have to make sure that its non-medicated. it comes in little crumbles, so i put mine through an old coffee grinder to make it more fine for the quail.

as for food, they eat everything else that the finches eat, and will gobble up live food. i usually feed my quail mealworm pupae and save the larvae for my other birds. they are really easy to take care of, and have great personalities! i especially love watching them take their sand baths. also, they are steady egg layers, (one per day usually), so i cook the eggs and feed them back to the whole flock.

please post some pictures when you get them!

[DanteD716]

They do eat seed, but would need a pellet or chick starter as a staple diet from what I read (non medicated of course) I would suugest a m/f pair as that how it is in the wild, but if you do not want chicks 3 males as they will not breed and live longer. Godo luck! P.s i suggest buying rabbit/guinea pig sized igloo huts, the need houses of their own on the floor and really love these.

[L in Ontario]

Great points above already - nothing further for me to add except...

Where's the pictures???

[cindy]

We are picking u materials this weekend and starting...so excited!! It will go in the bird room on the wall directly facing you as you walk in. I will have a bank of breeder cages to the left and a flight of either penguins or young opposite the aviary...I have mixed feeling about blending the penguins in with normals....they do well with their own mutation in their flight but it would be nice to give them more room to fly about!

I want to add some bourkes to!!!! just need a big comfy chair to sit in and read and watch them!!!

I need to locate buttons...

[30 Seconds to Bob]

I need to locate buttons...

Why don't you hatch them yourself? Button eggs are dirt cheap and you can safely (and legally) have them shipped to you from anywhere in the country. You can even make your own incubator out of a styrofoam cooler, very, very easily. Bob

[cindy]

I have an incubator.....hmmm!!!! I may try that! Thank you Bob!! Others say they smell....does anyone have that issue?

[debbie276]

I have heard from others that they have a slight smell. The males also crow in the wee hours of the morning. A few people with mixed aviaries have said that they will eat any chicks that fall from nests, not sure if your putting them in a mixed aviary so you might want to watch that.
Sounds like a fun project, good luck

[cindy]

Debbie, at first I am just free flighting pairs and pulling/rotating breeding. The idea is to eliminate some of the single cages and give the birds time to excercise and recoop from breeding. The older pairs that don't do well in a group will have their own cage.

I may change my mind later and breed in the flight though I much prefer to control it with zebras and mutations.

I was concerned about the quail pecking at other birds. Some of my birds like the shaft tails love roosting in a group on the floor of the cage, it is common to see the group at about 4 pm hanging out together.

I may just add a pair of young bourkes. The flight space would be wonderful for them. and maybe diamond doves down the road.

[wellingtoncdm]

I prefer bourkes and diamond doves over quail.

[cindy]

That might be the way to go. I enjoy bourkes and have for years off and on.

[finchmix22]

Why would Bourkes and diamond doves work better than button quail? I've don't know about the differences, if keeping them with finches.

[cindy]

Bourkes I have had before and they can be added to finch flights, they would enjoy the large flight space. Diamond doves are peaceful and sweet, a quiet addition to a large space.

The quail are more for cleaning up the bottom and there is a cute factor...but can have a ordor issue as some members have pointed out. Since the aviary is within our living space...I may go for bourkes!

[DanteD716]

I have an incubator.....hmmm!!!! I may try that! Thank you Bob!! Others say they smell....does anyone have that issue?

(IMO) I say do not incubate.. I just read an article against this, and the reason being is most breeders incubate their eggs as it mass produces chicks (while ok to do when making a new mutation) It is so commonly done that incubated chicks usually are bad parents, and bad sitters, as they never had adults to learn from. Hope I made sense? Plus why ship and hatch eggs when you can locally find adults for 5-10$.

On the smell factor from all my reading they only smell when their enclosures are not cleaned. If you keep the aviary clean and switch bedding/clean the bedding, you should be fine.

Onto the diamond dove thing, I really like them and would have a pair if I could find them (not from the petstore) they do like to scratch and would make a great addition to your aviary!! Bourkes are also very pretty and would do nice, but neither species would act as the buttons do, all though any species you choose would be great. (And about the button quails, they really need mealworms in their diet if you plan on breeding. THey also need freshfood butI know you add that anyways.)

Best of luck on your aviary Cindy!