Confused about quail

[Chikyboy]

Later this year I wanted to hatch out button quail and keep some so I can breed and sell them. I hear some people say they need to be kept in pairs, and others say multiple females for one male. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Nabiki]

Button quail should be kept in pairs. Coturnix quail should be one male with about five females.

Button quail are fun little pets but are kind of a niche market. They are from SE Asia, so they should be kept indoors or in a heated aviary during winter. They can survive temps in the 30s to 40s with proper shelter, but you may lose some if you let it get that cold for them.

What other information are you looking for?

 

[Chikyboy]

Button quail should be kept in pairs. Coturnix quail should be one male with about five females.

Button quail are fun little pets but are kind of a niche market. They are from SE Asia, so they should be kept indoors or in a heated aviary during winter. They can survive temps in the 30s to 40s with proper shelter, but you may lose some if you let it get that cold for them.

What other information are you looking for?

This is it, thank you. I was already planning to keep them indoors. I keep parrots so I would assume I could put them in there, but will probably build them their own thing anyway. I might keep them outdoors in summer/spring though.

 

[Nabiki]

This is it, thank you. I was already planning to keep them indoors. I keep parrots so I would assume I could put them in there, but will probably build them their own thing anyway. I might keep them outdoors in summer/spring though.

I would be careful about putting them in with other species. Buttons are so small that they could easily get injured or killed by accident even if the parrots aren't aggressive.

 

[Chikyboy]

I would be careful about putting them in with other species. Buttons are so small that they could easily get injured or killed by accident even if the parrots aren't aggressive.

I meant I had empty cages meant for parrots that I could use for them.

 

[Nabiki]

I meant I had empty cages meant for parrots that I could use for them.

Ah. How far apart are the bars? Button quail are only 4" long as adults, so they might be able to squeeze out of the cage.

 

[007Sean]

Ditto on everything @Nabiki said, I'll add that you can have a community pen of buttons if it is a large, well landscaped enclosure.

 

[Chikyboy]

When I say parrots, I don't mean a big macaw, I mean small ones like budgies. So the cage bars are really small

 

[Chikyboy]

Less than an inch. I will probably build them there pen thing anyway

 

[NewfoundMamaBird]

Later this year I wanted to hatch out button quail and keep some so I can breed and sell them. I hear some people say they need to be kept in pairs, and others say multiple females for one male. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

So, I started out with my button quails in pairs, except for one trio for the first year. They seemed happy, but I found the poor girls were always bald from the boys clinging on while mating. That said, they loved each other dearly and I even let a couple hatch and raise their own young. But it got to a point where I wanted to give the poor girls a break from the constant mating for a while, so I separated the males from their mates and kept the girls together in one huge cage and the boys in another (except for 2 who were too aggressive with the other boys). Because I really wanted to keep all the young ones that had hatched from their parents and I wanted to be able to keep my cages to the 6 big cages I am building (its an entire wall unit), I decided to see what would happen if I expanded my original pairs and try to keep more than one male per cage. I was amazed it worked out actually. It helps that I know the personality of my birds so well and that the females and males all had the chance to get to know one another and bond while being separated. But they all seem so happy now that I almost regret not doing it sooner. I have 6 cages. In cge one I have kept the original trio of one male and 2 females, because he doesn't want another male near his girls. In cage 2 I have another trio of 1 male and 2 females. Number 3 has 1 male and 3 females. Number 4 has 2 males and 3 females. The fifth cage has 2 males and 2 females. And the last cage has just two males. So now I'm going to hatch 3 more eggs and pray I get females. Lol. My girls no longer seem as stressed and don't have such bald heads anymore. And most importantly, everyone seems to enjoy the company of everyone else. They all sleep together and groom each other. That said, I don't keep them for breeding, so I can't speak to the fertility rate in the groups anymore, but if I had to guess, I'd bet they are all fertile eggs I get every day. Because keeping these guys from mating all day is an impossible task! Lol