Please help! - female hen NEVER laid eggs - would like advice on how best to raise

Jenbunni

In the Brooder
Apr 19, 2017
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I happened to adopt the bird that the pack picked on. There were three pairs in a shop, or had been three pairs. But her mate attacked her, according to store owners and he was sold separately from her. By the time I got to the shop, I see two pairs of rather bland button quails in very small, cramped housing.

I'm from Arkansas, but was in Texas at the time.

I have a friend who owned a button (sadly hers passed), so I knew a bit about them. I wasn't actually interested in buying until I heard they planned on killing her because she had a wound on her head and had no mate, so they were convinced no one would buy her.

She was in no way tamed.

So, the bleeding heart that I am...I adopted this lovely speckled hen (I would offer pictures if she would let me). She was much prettier than the other quails and the only speckled. But I have had her for a year, kept her on feed that is high protein. Given meal worms as treats, but not too many. And...well, her head never fully healed. She has stopped "boinking" since I made a hand sewn pillow to tie at the top of the cage and pad in case she tried.

I am about to move her to a larger space with easier access for cleaning. The problem is that I know she is very lonely. She gives the lonely hen cry often, and I've wondered if it would be safe to find another hen for her as a cage mate since the new cage is more than enough space for two buttons. The issue is that she has never laid an egg. She is very skittish of me, although we've successfully had small contact sessions a couple of times and she now waits when I feed and give her water. She has been burrowing in her pine bedding almost like making a nest a few times, but abandoned the holes and just covered them up.

Am I doing something wrong? I know she isn't comfortable with humans, but she has been becoming more accustomed. And without laying eggs, I understand hens have a longer lifespan. I just want to give her the happiest home possible. Which is why we're moving to a larger spot that I'm gonna fill with some small hiding spots/housing for her to hide if she wishes.

She loves her meal worm time the most, finding them and I've made a game out of it for her...

She is intelligent, as far as buttons go. She has escaped a few times and instead of flying into things, she just gets to floor level and waits for me to come save her from where she landed. Although she doesn't like the actual saving part, since she isn't much for being handled although I cup her gently and safely in my hands so she feels secure and when I release her back to her cage she doesn't cry out as often. But the cries eventually start again. Handling seems to give her some comfort but also stresses her, which is why I'd like to figure a way to help with her loneliness without risking her health since the wound never healed completely.
 
She is most likely not laying eggs, because she is stressed from being alone (which is probably even worse on her health than laying eggs would be). I'd definitely get a friend for her, but whether that friend should be male or female is a harder question. I have actually experienced more issues with females being aggressive towards females than with males being so. However, in those cases I have always kept the females with a male - if the male had not been there, there might have been no problems.
You say her head never fully healed - how 'unhealed' is that? Just lacking feathers? In that case, it might be possible to safely keep her with a gentle male, but if it's worse than lacking feathers, I wouldn't attempt a male.
I any case, I'd get the new friend for her before moving her to the new cage, as buttons are best introduced on neutral ground - a place neither of them have been before, so the new cage would be ideal for that.
 
She is most likely not laying eggs, because she is stressed from being alone (which is probably even worse on her health than laying eggs would be). I'd definitely get a friend for her, but whether that friend should be male or female is a harder question. I have actually experienced more issues with females being aggressive towards females than with males being so. However, in those cases I have always kept the females with a male - if the male had not been there, there might have been no problems.
You say her head never fully healed - how 'unhealed' is that? Just lacking feathers? In that case, it might be possible to safely keep her with a gentle male, but if it's worse than lacking feathers, I wouldn't attempt a male.
I any case, I'd get the new friend for her before moving her to the new cage, as buttons are best introduced on neutral ground - a place neither of them have been before, so the new cage would be ideal for that.


It seems to be just lacking feathers and there is a red spot where the wound was but it isn't a scab or open in any way and seems fully healed, just scarred. I will double check for sure though.

As for obtaining a hen or rooster for her as a companion, I'm a bit unsure how to go about that. It seems adults are rare to find. And I haven't found a breeder in my area as of yet. I've been searching adoption boards on the off chance, and pet shops.
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This is her at the moment. She doesn't have the best set up, and I found a wooden cage with plexiglass an inch around the edges for safety. But right now she is living in a ferret's cage with ramps set to her level that she climbs and flies up to. As well as hides under.

But its lacking running room which is why I got a cage made length wise. Her head is clearly shown though, the wound is at the top and since she's bending over to drink hopefully the wound can be judged.

The bottom of the cage is solid and there's a good 3" or more of bedding. And the metal is separated enough she can peek out but doesn't fit to play escape games (she is a little chubby).
 
Also I apologize for the poor quality image, I had to hyper zoom to get a pic that wouldn't startle her. And she is in need of a cage change. Before I had her in a long aquarium which seems to work for some, but she constantly pecked the glass. And seemed unhappy with the glass. Which is why the wooden cage with a bit more open space is my newer choice.
 
My female button only lays eggs when she feels like raising babies so the lack of a mate could explain why your girl doesn't lay. Do try and find her a friend. Hopefully the fact it's spring in your neck of the woods will mean more will be around. A female probably would be best and they shouldn't fight if there are no males present.
 
Just a thought - it is of cause possible that the skin was damaged so much the feathers won't return, but is it possible she is continually hurting her head by boinking into the cage? In most cases the feathers will return if they are not being continually removed, and boinking at night in particular is very common in buttons that are kept alone.
I have 4 cages that I built myself especially for buttons and in all of those I have used various methods to pad the top in order to prevent boinking injuries. Foam rubber is great if you don't need light to get in through the top. If you do need light, a soft mesh like tulle suspended an inch or so below the cage top can work wonders.

A young companion should work if you can't find any adults. By 6 weeks it's getting hard to tell chicks from their parents, so it doesn't take long for a chick to grow up. Introduce the chick carefully though - if it's too young she might hurt it even if they are introduced in a new cage. With regards to the young one, it will most likely submit to her right away if it's less that 6 weeks old, but there might come a difficult time between 6 and 8 weeks as it matures and might want to take charge - or there might not.
You have something called craigslist over there, right? People on here usually recommend that as a source of buttons.

Her color is called red breasted by the way. Not very easy to see why in her, but her male counterpart will have the rust red color that males usually have on their bellies extending up his chest. The female red breast is one of my favorite button colors :)
 
Just a thought - it is of cause possible that the skin was damaged so much the feathers won't return, but is it possible she is continually hurting her head by boinking into the cage? In most cases the feathers will return if they are not being continually removed, and boinking at night in particular is very common in buttons that are kept alone.
I have 4 cages that I built myself especially for buttons and in all of those I have used various methods to pad the top in order to prevent boinking injuries. Foam rubber is great if you don't need light to get in through the top. If you do need light, a soft mesh like tulle suspended an inch or so below the cage top can work wonders.

A young companion should work if you can't find any adults. By 6 weeks it's getting hard to tell chicks from their parents, so it doesn't take long for a chick to grow up. Introduce the chick carefully though - if it's too young she might hurt it even if they are introduced in a new cage. With regards to the young one, it will most likely submit to her right away if it's less that 6 weeks old, but there might come a difficult time between 6 and 8 weeks as it matures and might want to take charge - or there might not.
You have something called craigslist over there, right? People on here usually recommend that as a source of buttons.

Her color is called red breasted by the way. Not very easy to see why in her, but her male counterpart will have the rust red color that males usually have on their bellies extending up his chest. The female red breast is one of my favorite button colors :)
I have pillows sewn and tied along the cage so she can't hit her head on anything when she flies up other than a soft fluff pillow. As far as boinking into the cage, she doesn't seem to do that. At night she isn't very active and tends to keep a nice resting pattern. The only noise I hear from her at night is if she runs out of water, she'll sing at me. Or if she runs out of food (although she's schedule fed, so she doesn't get much out of that but maybe a meal worm or two). They did say the feathers would hear, but there are no signs of feathers anywhere around the injury ever growing. And just where she's always had feathers previously.

I will try Craigslist though, and look for buttons. Is it better to look for buttons with the same color or does that not matter?
 
Also, I know the picture isn't great quality, but compared to most hen picks I've seen...she definitely looks a little plump. Should I worry about her weight?
 
The color doesn't matter, no. You can put her together with any color you like.
In general quail don't over eat, but they do love meal worms and those are somewhat high in fat, so you might want to cut back on those a little.
 
What is another reasonable snack to give her?

She doesn't seem to like the "healthy" snacks like cherry tomatoes or broccoli or any kind of veggie type of snack that most people suggest.

I know there are bird blocks/snacks but I'm not sure if those would be healthy for her, although giving her something new to peck at might be fun for her until I can find her a friend.
 

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