Recent content by CuriousCreature

  1. CuriousCreature

    How long does it take a quail to lay a clutch of eggs, and other breeding questions.

    Hmm yes, I'd been wondering about that as well. I've got a batch of eggs incubating at the moment - most of them are from my mild-mannered hen but a few of them are from the pecking hen. If I notice the same habit in any of the resulting chicks I will not use any more of her eggs for hatching...
  2. CuriousCreature

    High Protein Feed in the UK?

    I don't know anyone else who keeps quail, at least not yet. But the Heygates pellets came in two 5kg bags so I've been repackaging it into ziplock bags and it's been keeping fine so far. :) I have two local pet stores but both of them only have chicken feeds unfortunately. With that said I...
  3. CuriousCreature

    High Protein Feed in the UK?

    Hey there, I was hoping people could recommend some high protein (20%-30%) food brands suitable for quails that can be ordered online in the UK. My buttons are currently on Heygates game feed pellets, but despite being made specifically for quails and similar birds, it's only 17% protein. I do...
  4. CuriousCreature

    How long does it take a quail to lay a clutch of eggs, and other breeding questions.

    Hmm fair enough. It's a shame though as they get a lot of entertainment out of chasing those crickets around. And the mealworms are just the mini ones - a fraction the size of the standard ones. But I'll try cutting back to twice a week. As for calcium they always have access to plenty of...
  5. CuriousCreature

    How long does it take a quail to lay a clutch of eggs, and other breeding questions.

    Protein-wise they get game-bird pellets and finch seed, as well as a handful of mealworms and crickets daily. I also sometimes give them some Shaw's Egg Biscuit as a treat. I've heard that you can give them dry cat-food in dire circumstances but I wasn't sure whether to go for that or not -...
  6. CuriousCreature

    How long does it take a quail to lay a clutch of eggs, and other breeding questions.

    Yes, I tried keeping them as single pairs initially, but the males just constantly pined for each other, as explained in the other thread I posted. They've all been living harmoniously together in one big cage until this female suddenly started pecking. I guess I could try pairing them off...
  7. CuriousCreature

    How long does it take a quail to lay a clutch of eggs, and other breeding questions.

    There's been a rather unpleasant development. You know that hen that started laying yesterday? Well just today, after laying her egg, she started incessantly pecking at the rumps (I think the preen gland area) of the males. Within a few hours both males are already bloody and raw either side of...
  8. CuriousCreature

    How long does it take a quail to lay a clutch of eggs, and other breeding questions.

    On further reflection I don't know if that would work. I would have to take the lid off even for a partial clean which means the quails are just going to fly out and hurt themselves - it's happened before. The quails live in our dining room and my partner has allergies so I can't simply leave...
  9. CuriousCreature

    How long does it take a quail to lay a clutch of eggs, and other breeding questions.

    Thanks for the info, GrandmaBird. Yes, I figured the ones in the fridge were write-offs, so my partner and I ate them with our salad the other day. :) In other news, my other hen suddenly decided to start laying today, so there are now three presumably fertile eggs in the cage now. I'm looking...
  10. CuriousCreature

    How long does it take a quail to lay a clutch of eggs, and other breeding questions.

    Good points all. I suppose removing eggs only what any other quail keeper would do if they don't want to be overrun. As I understand it, a broody button is fairly rare, so I don't want to deny them the chance to raise at least one clutch the natural way. But I now need consider if I'm ready to...
  11. CuriousCreature

    How long does it take a quail to lay a clutch of eggs, and other breeding questions.

    Because all the guides said that a fertilised button quail would lay a clutch of 4-6 eggs, and I'd always figured that meant one after the after in fairly quick succession, on the same day. And that by contrast laying one egg a day was simply the bird passing an unfertilised egg as normal. None...
  12. CuriousCreature

    How long does it take a quail to lay a clutch of eggs, and other breeding questions.

    Hi Kingmt, thanks for replying. Could you please confirm what you meant by 'If there is a too in there'? I'm guessing that's a typo. :P Do you reckon I should let the eggs gather in the cage over the course of this week and see what happens, then? But as mentioned the quails lose interest in...
  13. CuriousCreature

    How long does it take a quail to lay a clutch of eggs, and other breeding questions.

    Hello! Thanks again to those who gave their advice on my crazy male button quails earlier. Things seem to have settled down for the most part. One of my two female buttons has been laying an egg every day for just over a week now (the other hen hasn't started yet, not sure why). I have been...
  14. CuriousCreature

    Keeping more than one pair of Button Quail - How to stop the males constantly calling to each other?

    I've attached some photos of the two assumed males. (Taken a few days after bringing them home, back in April.) Funnily enough, for the longest time I thought that Squirm, the smaller male, was actually a hen, because in the past he was always flattening himself in the ground submissively in...
  15. CuriousCreature

    Keeping more than one pair of Button Quail - How to stop the males constantly calling to each other?

    Spoke too soon about the noise, I think they had been lying low due to recent thunderstorms. It's as bad as ever again, though they remain less jumpy in the new location which is something at least. In worse news, I put all four quails together in the run while I cleaned out their cage, and...
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