Cute Button Quail Chick

[JaeG]

I just wanted to share some photos of our new Button chick. Our lovely cinnamon girl decided to try hatching some eggs even though it's winter here. She laid a big clutch of nine, then proceeded to sit. We had some cold snaps (some very frosty mornings which is unusual for us) and I checked on her eggs close to hatching while she was having a short break. All but one were infertile or had died, and the one that looked like there was a baby close to hatching inside felt cool. And we were set for more very cold nights so I popped it into our incubator, leaving our Matilda with the rest of the eggs, knowing she'd keep sitting and willingly take back the chick when it hatched.

I worried it wasn't going to hatch, but then it pipped. 24 hours later it was barely starting to unzip and I could see the membrane looked a little yellow. So I took the egg out of the incubator to wet it down a bit. The poor baby must've been very lonely in the incubator with no one to cheer it on because as soon as it heard my voice it started peeping excitedly and it did not stop! It kept up a running commentary as it started to put some serious effort into breaking free. They are chatterboxes when they are chicks!

I know it's some sort of cinnamon but it's head is very dark so I'll be interested to see how it turns out. Our pair has had four other cinnamon chicks but they've all been very light coloured on their heads as chicks - the same colouring as their body fluff. Her mate is a Silver and they've also had Silver chicks and one Ivory that unfortunately didn't make it. Hopefully we'll get some more Ivory babies at some point in the future!


These are the parents, Matilda (cinnamon) and Marvin (silver)


Baby at hatch (I had no idea what colour it would be but I was stunned it had such a dark head)


Baby at two days old


Baby today at 3 days old - our daughter has named it Spicey

 

[Abriana]

Awww! Too cute!

 

[blackdust951]

It's so little! love those colors I once had a cockatiel named spice is that a green egg real?it seems to shiny

 

[JaeG]

It's so little! love those colors I once had a cockatiel named spice is that a green egg?it seems to shiny

Yes, Matilda lays quite a green egg, as do her daughters. If you type in 'Button quail eggs' into Google you'll see the variety of colours they can lay - so pretty. Here's a photo of the little chick still in its shell trying to break free:

 

[Binki]

Aww grats!! And Spicy hehe what a cute name beautiful birds and adorable chick - I'm curious as to what color they will be ^^!

 

[JaeG]

Thought I'd update with a photo. Spicey is now just shy of 3 weeks old and very independent. It has no dark feathers coming through yet so I'm hopeful it will turn out to be a girl. It's chest/tummy feathers haven't quite come through enough for me to tell. Fingers crossed (for my daughter's sake).


I've also had a mystery chick hatch in another batch of babies. I can't find a photo like it online so I'll be very interested to see how this one turns out too. It doesn't have the very ginger stripes that a cinnamon chick has and is instead a soft brown, not dark like the wild type chicks I've seen online. It was quite fascinated with the reflections in my rings - cute! It's being looked after by our disabled Button female who decided to sit and hatch eggs. She ended up with a slipped tendon as a chick and I couldn't fix her but she lives indoors and seems to be coping with four babies ok.


Here's our Waddles is with the two eldest chicks, a cinnamon and a silver, getting a food lesson - she'd found a tasty morsel for them (please excuse the poop in the background - the cage needs a very good clean but I didn't want to disturb her while she was sitting and she's a bit of an anxious mother)! She has a second cinnamon and then this mystery chick.

 

[MageofMist]

Thought I'd update with a photo. Spicey is now just shy of 3 weeks old and very independent. It has no dark feathers coming through yet so I'm hopeful it will turn out to be a girl. It's chest/tummy feathers haven't quite come through enough for me to tell. Fingers crossed (for my daughter's sake).
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I've also had a mystery chick hatch in another batch of babies. I can't find a photo like it online so I'll be very interested to see how this one turns out too. It doesn't have the very ginger stripes that a cinnamon chick has and is instead a soft brown, not dark like the wild type chicks I've seen online. It was quite fascinated with the reflections in my rings - cute! It's being looked after by our disabled Button female who decided to sit and hatch eggs. She ended up with a slipped tendon as a chick and I couldn't fix her but she lives indoors and seems to be coping with four babies ok.
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Here's our Waddles is with the two eldest chicks, a cinnamon and a silver, getting a food lesson - she'd found a tasty morsel for them (please excuse the poop in the background - the cage needs a very good clean but I didn't want to disturb her while she was sitting and she's a bit of an anxious mother)! She has a second cinnamon and then this mystery chick.
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The mystery chick looks like it could be a Blue-Faced Cinnamon chick to me. I have also had cinnamons hatch that were all yellow with no stripes, which got white feathers at first but later got redder ones. My Silver Tuxedo one was yellow with a more silvery hue when she hatched. Could also be a completely different morph to the ones you already own, as I have Blue-Faced and Red Breasted quail, and they ended up having some cinnamon versions of those morphs and then that Silver Tux who came out of no-where from two Blue-Faced parents.

It's so little! love those colors I once had a cockatiel named spice is that a green egg real?it seems to shiny

The eggs the silver tuxedo lays are a beautiful blue colour, almost like a robin egg. The father's mother lays light brown eggs while the female I brought and paired him up with lays olive-green eggs, so I believe the two brown egg genes canceled each-other out and so the blue pigment remained. I also have a quail that lays chocolate brown eggs with a slight purple tint, from a male I brought (the founder of my obsession) and the hen that lays the light brown eggs. They remind me of those mini chocolate Easter egg candies.

 

[JaeG]

The mystery chick looks like it could be a Blue-Faced Cinnamon chick to me. I have also had cinnamons hatch that were all yellow with no stripes, which got white feathers at first but later got redder ones. My Silver Tuxedo one was yellow with a more silvery hue when she hatched. Could also be a completely different morph to the ones you already own, as I have Blue-Faced and Red Breasted quail, and they ended up having some cinnamon versions of those morphs and then that Silver Tux who came out of no-where from two Blue-Faced parents.
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The eggs the silver tuxedo lays are a beautiful blue colour, almost like a robin egg. The father's mother lays light brown eggs while the female I brought and paired him up with lays olive-green eggs, so I believe the two brown egg genes canceled each-other out and so the blue pigment remained. I also have a quail that lays chocolate brown eggs with a slight purple tint, from a male I brought (the founder of my obsession) and the hen that lays the light brown eggs. They remind me of those mini chocolate Easter egg candies.
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Your babies are beautiful! And that collection of eggs does look like Easter candy coated chocolate eggs. Gorgeous! That blue egg is so pretty.

I'm in New Zealand and we have less of the colour mutations here. I'm not even sure we have the blueface mutation here but I'm really hoping we do and that's what my dark faced cinnamon chick will be as the photos I've seen of blue faced cinnamons are beautiful.

I talked to the breeder we got our first pair off and emailed him a photo of our latest mystery. He's wondering if it will turn out like it's grandmother who is what's called a Caramel. I thought a caramel was just another version of cinnamon but I found someone in Australia who was discussing it and the caramels have white on the base of all of their feathers with the ginger colour over the top on the ends of the feathers. I wish I could find out more about how the colours are inherited but there's not that much information out there about their genetics.

They are a lot of fun though!

 

[MageofMist]

Your babies are beautiful! And that collection of eggs does look like Easter candy coated chocolate eggs. Gorgeous! That blue egg is so pretty.

I'm in New Zealand and we have less of the colour mutations here. I'm not even sure we have the blueface mutation here but I'm really hoping we do and that's what my dark faced cinnamon chick will be as the photos I've seen of blue faced cinnamons are beautiful.

I talked to the breeder we got our first pair off and emailed him a photo of our latest mystery. He's wondering if it will turn out like it's grandmother who is what's called a Caramel. I thought a caramel was just another version of cinnamon but I found someone in Australia who was discussing it and the caramels have white on the base of all of their feathers with the ginger colour over the top on the ends of the feathers. I wish I could find out more about how the colours are inherited but there's not that much information out there about their genetics.

They are a lot of fun though!

Maybe my Blue-Faced male has some caramel in him? He is a Blue-Faced Cinnamon and it does look like he does have a some form of caramalization, most prominent on his head and the white-ginger-tipped-feathers most visible in the dustbathing pic. Which is odd as I thought they were Australian exclusive. It is either that, or he has some Golden Pearl in him which is what I suspected first, despite him lacking the red eyes.


Whatever my mutant babies are, I still love them as they are beautiful! I also have a batch of eggs in the incubator right now which should start hatching tomorrow, who knows will pop out!

These are his parents, he is the one poking his head out from over mama's wing. Rex is a Pied-Winged Blue-Face while Speckles is a Red Breasted. All their babies barring the cinnamon were Blue-Faced and Red Breasted. The blue faced chicks look like black bear cubs in colouration.

 

[JaeG]

Maybe my Blue-Faced male has some caramel in him? He is a Blue-Faced Cinnamon and it does look like he does have a some form of caramalization, most prominent on his head and the white-ginger-tipped-feathers most visible in the dustbathing pic. Which is odd as I thought they were Australian exclusive. It is either that, or he has some Golden Pearl in him which is what I suspected first, despite him lacking the red eyes.
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Whatever my mutant babies are, I still love them as they are beautiful! I also have a batch of eggs in the incubator right now which should start hatching tomorrow, who knows will pop out!
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These are his parents, he is the one poking his head out from over mama's wing. Rex is a Pied-Winged Blue-Face while Speckles is a Red Breasted. All their babies barring the cinnamon were Blue-Faced and Red Breasted. The blue faced chicks look like black bear cubs in colouration.

Baby photos please! Though I know how hard they are to photograph being so tiny and busy. Good luck with the hatch.

I did see someone on here who thought some of her birds were caramel and she was in the U.S. so it's obviously a mutation that can pop up. They are all so beautiful whatever colour they are!