Near Atlanta, Georgia. I NEED a new home for 2 female button quail. No judgement please.

[topbunkbear]

My roommate took in 2 female button quails, wanting to save them from their home of all males. The original owner needed them gone asap because they were being injured repeatedly. While my roommate had good intentions bringing them home, she did not research these animals at all, and we do not have the resources or time to manage them. I don't, anyway, and apparently they're my responsibility now. I am so very ashamed of the condition of their enclosure and their food, but there is just nothing I can do other than do what I can for them while looking for a good home. They're very shy and jumpy, and one has a major wound on its head but it is healing nicely.
The reason they don't have access to proper food is because the only place that sells quail food sells it in bulk (55 lbs) and the price is just too much for me. I would've never brought them in knowing my financial situation but my roommate did not consider that before bringing them home as a suprise. Better yet, my roommate is now looking for a new place to live and is not bringing the quail with them as they don't want to move the cage/stress them out/ excuse excuse excuse. I am very bitter about this, I know, but I am really in a rock and a hard place here. Further yet, I don't have great transportation so I can't bring them to you if you're too far from my location. I'm in smyrna, georgia, which is sort of near atlanta (about 20 minutes or so). I don't know if birds are anything like reptiles, so please forgive me if this isn't the case, but I know with reptiles they can handle being shipped overnight. I am willing to give these guys away for free but if this is an option and you are willing to pay for the shipping, I can do that as well. (please don't be angry if this isn't possible or safe. I know nothing. I am doing my best. Thank you so much)

ps. they are eating, it's just not the kind of food they need. It's just regular pigeon/dove food.

 

[Battlepants]

TBH, you have nothing to worry about with judgement in this situation. You are clearly doing your best for these creatures and I respect that.

As for shipping, that might not be a viable option since these are considered game birds and many states require licenses to even own them. Shipping birds in general also requires other sets of licenses as well. Grown birds don't do well in shipping unfortunately as they need to eat and drink every day (fresh hatched birds are a bit of an exception here). These would be best to just be boxed up at night and driven directly to their new home if at all possible.

For being shy and jumpy, that's just the nature of the quail, they are a very flighty bird prone to shoot straight up when startled. On this note, I'm not sure what your current storage situation looks like, but you will want a cage that is no more than 1-1.5 feet tall. It's said that a startled quail will accelerate straight up with so much force that they can injure themselves if they had enough time to accelerate. A short ceiling stops this behavior.

For the wound, it might be worth dropping a picture into https://www.backyardchickens.com/forums/emergencies-diseases-injuries-and-cures.10/ so we can take a look and see how it is doing.

Unfortunately I am out of range to take these birds off your hands, but let me know if there is anything I can help with on these.

 

[Dinoroar]

Sorry about the predicament you’re in with the button quail. I would take them if you could drive them but I’m a bit far so hopefully someone nearer by will be able to take them.

Meanwhile for food I know game bird food is hard to come by. The main thing is they need more protein than the dove mix will have. Cat food, scrambled egg or meat scraps are cheep usable sources you may have access too. You can get meal worms or soldier fly larva at Walmart in the pet section but I understand if you don’t have money for that then use the proteins you have on hand.

You can’t ship birds out of state without a special permit so not sure that’s a viable option but I’m sure you will be able to find them a home.

 

[topbunkbear]

Sorry about the predicament you’re in with the button quail. I would take them if you could drive them but I’m a bit far so hopefully someone nearer by will be able to take them.

Meanwhile for food I know game bird food is hard to come by. The main thing is they need more protein than the dove mix will have. Cat food, scrambled egg or meat scraps are cheep usable sources you may have access too. You can get meal worms or soldier fly larva at Walmart in the pet section but I understand if you don’t have money for that then use the proteins you have on hand.

You can’t ship birds out of state without a special permit so not sure that’s a viable option but I’m sure you will be able to find them a home.

I've been giving them wet cat food and mealworms. They havent laid any eggs and I dont know if that means they aren't getting enough nutrition or not. Do you know if I could ship in-state? Also, how far are you? (Just out of curiosity)

 

[topbunkbear]

TBH, you have nothing to worry about with judgement in this situation. You are clearly doing your best for these creatures and I respect that.

As for shipping, that might not be a viable option since these are considered game birds and many states require licenses to even own them. Shipping birds in general also requires other sets of licenses as well. Grown birds don't do well in shipping unfortunately as they need to eat and drink every day (fresh hatched birds are a bit of an exception here). These would be best to just be boxed up at night and driven directly to their new home if at all possible.

For being shy and jumpy, that's just the nature of the quail, they are a very flighty bird prone to shoot straight up when startled. On this note, I'm not sure what your current storage situation looks like, but you will want a cage that is no more than 1-1.5 feet tall. It's said that a startled quail will accelerate straight up with so much force that they can injure themselves if they had enough time to accelerate. A short ceiling stops this behavior.

For the wound, it might be worth dropping a picture into https://www.backyardchickens.com/forums/emergencies-diseases-injuries-and-cures.10/ so we can take a look and see how it is doing.

Unfortunately I am out of range to take these birds off your hands, but let me know if there is anything I can help with on these.

what a relief....i kept thinking I could deal with this on my own because I am so utterly ashamed of this. its been a week of me wrestling with myself on trying to find them a new home but I was so scared of people thinking I don't care about animals, etc. Thank you so much.

 

[Dinoroar]

I've been giving them wet cat food and mealworms. They havent laid any eggs and I dont know if that means they aren't getting enough nutrition or not. Do you know if I could ship in-state? Also, how far are you? (Just out of curiosity)

Sounds like you’re feeding them pretty well I’m not sure about in state shipping legally but I’d agree that it would be really stressful for adult quail and that they might not make it.

I’m about 2 hours from Smyrna. Have you posted on Craigslist? I sell chicks on there sometimes and it seems like there’s a good number of people who still use it for that.