Button Quail?

Luke Harrison1992 · Post by **Luke Harrison1992** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 2:49 pm

I had two button quail(I think they looked alot like the pics) but they died one died randomly about a month month and a half after i got them and the other one died after it had a bath in a bucket of water (very long story) then i got some japanese quail (i think) and i had loads of eggs from them and i incubated six and had three hatch one died (dunno why) one was really weak because i helped it out of the shell and it died and the remaining one drowned in about a millimetre of water

Post by **Hilary** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 10:38 pm

My current 3 are in the bottom of a large indoor cage, as were the quail owned by the guy who sold them to me - his seemed perfectly content as do mine.

I was warned - no open water around chicks since they will drown in almost anything or get wet and die. Either use a shallow bowl filled with marbles, or Robert uses a sponge in his.

I'm psyched - I take the eggs out of the turner on Sunday, and they should hatch out next week (any that will, that is). I have a brooder ready to set up in case I do get any fuzzies!

Hilary

Post by **Hilary** » Fri Feb 02, 2007 9:49 pm

Oh, forgot to update! I ended up with 10 little fuzzies (perfect, since I already have one friend who wants 3 of them). I had the BEST time watching them hatch out, which they all did within about a 12 hour period. We don't get to watch the finches hatch, so this was great! One is still struggling, but the others are growing like weeds.

Hilary

tammieb · Post by **tammieb** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 2:29 pm

They sound like alot of fun. Do you have any photos of them?

Post by **Hilary** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 10:08 pm

I posted some pictures in the Gallery under Misc. Bird-Related. It's amazing how much they've grown in a week! The little one with the problems is not growing like the others, so I can really see how much bigger the healthy ones are. (His vent pastes up every time he poops so has to be cleaned off several times a day. Took a couple of days before I realized the problem, and he almost died back then. I'm still hoping it's something that will work itself out and not the result of some deformity. I don't have him on any meds, though I was feeding him first Survive and then Guardian Angel for a couple of days.)

Hilary

tammieb · Post by **tammieb** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 10:26 pm

Ahhh, they are absolutely adorable. Now I want some!

In the spring, a trip to the feed store takes longer than normal cause I just have to drool over the baby chickies they have for sale. I luuuuve them!

Post by **Hilary** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 11:03 pm

They were so cute when they first hatched I just wanted to eat them up! They're about a week and a half old now, and are feathering up - it's happening so fast! I just noticed today that one of my 2-month old hens is already laying eggs....

Hilary

kenny · Post by **kenny** » Sun Feb 04, 2007 5:22 pm

hi hilary
all feet and beak,dont know if anyone knows as it hasnt been mentioned in the posts quail (do not get baths in water) they get dust baths.i just placea shallow dish were they can see it and they look great doing thier aerobic exersizes thas why maybe all of you have lost young make sure your drinking water is in some sort of fountain/bottle do drink from

ken

Post by **Hilary** » Sun Feb 04, 2007 9:34 pm

That's a good point, Kenny. I do have both a dish filled with marbles and a fountain for them, and they take their "dust" baths every day in their dish of crumbles. They are hilarious to watch - little fat birds rolling around, sending food flying!

Hilary

MadHatter · Post by **MadHatter** » Tue Feb 06, 2007 5:06 am

The pedant in me feels the need to post the following:
The species you have been discussing is the Chinese Painted Quail Coturnix chinensis which are not the same as the true Button-Quail of the genus Turnix.
The main taxonomical differences between the True Quail Coturnix and the Button-Quail Turnix are that the Button-Quails lack both a crop and a hind toe. Also, in Button-Quail the usual sexual roles are reversed - ie; the male is smaller and plainer, builds the nest, incubates the eggs and raises the young while the female is larger, more brightly coloured, holds and defends a territory from other females and usually mates with more than 1 male and deposits her eggs in more than one nest.

Rant ends.

vetbridge · Post by **vetbridge** » Mon Feb 19, 2007 1:10 pm

TammyS wrote:Just curious - is anyone keeping the button quail in an indoor aviary? Or are they strictly for outdoor aviaries?

I have two pair that will be going into my new bird room. I got mine from Susan in Michigan.
http://buttonquailheaven.faithweb.com/

ChocoboDragon · Post by **ChocoboDragon** » Tue Feb 20, 2007 12:12 pm

You're right, button quail are so much fun!

I couldn't do without them. I had them with my finches for years and never had any problems. Plus I like setting up their home with plently of places to climb around and hide. And they are very social and their interaction with each other is really interesting.

Note though, that while they usually don't bother other birds, they can be quite aggressive to each other. Often (but not always) males will fight if there are not enough females and can inflict bad injury on each other or worse. I had never come across aggressive females until recently, a female I bought a year ago was very aggressive to other quails at one point. So it's best to either have two quails or even better, one male and a bunch of females.

Heh, you probably knew all that anyway, just telling my experience.

Photos of some of my quails:
Photo 1: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v691/ ... quails.jpg
Photo 2: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v691/ ... /zack2.jpg
Photo 3: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v691/ ... ardian.jpg

TammyS wrote:Just curious - is anyone keeping the button quail in an indoor aviary? Or are they strictly for outdoor aviaries?

I know of one person that keeps them in an indoor aviary with finches. A few people have indoor cages just for quails.

vetbridge · Post by **vetbridge** » Tue Feb 20, 2007 4:02 pm

Great pics ChocoboDragon. What colors do you have?

kenny · Post by **kenny** » Tue Feb 20, 2007 7:17 pm

the answer to that one is in the links

ChocoboDragon · Post by **ChocoboDragon** » Wed Feb 21, 2007 7:33 am

vetbridge wrote:Great pics ChocoboDragon. What colors do you have?

Thanks. I've mostly owned the silver mutation, but in the last year have also started owning the wild type colour. I haven't seen any other mutation around where I live.