Ok Muscovy lovers - it would REALLY help us to know... Is our new little duckling really a girl? S/he was vent sexed as female "can't promise but nothing popped out" by an awesome bird vet. Now that we have her/im home we are still a bit worried. She/he has quite a long tail (looks a bit like a...
Hi all, been searching through the posts on Coturnix housing. Currently mine are on dirt but I want to change that- lift my coop and expose its wire floor. The floor is made of 1/2" hardware cloth (not coated). Is that OK for their feet or do I need to replace the floor and if so with what? Much...
When do I need to separate my buttons? They hatched long enough ago that they are laying eggs of their own now. I thought they might pair up so I would know who to put in a cage with who but so far no sign of pairing. I have 2 males and 3 females and both of the males seem to like the same...
I think one of my cotournix is suffering from coryza (or something that looks much like it). I do have chickens and though the chicken coop is at the opposite end of a very large vegetable garden with a hedge between the two somehow I must have slipped in my hand washing or someone else did. I...
I failed on the "remove eggs daily" button quail DO and now I am paying the price. I heard a commotion in the cage and found mom chasing dad with a vengence 2 halves of an eggshell and 1 sad baby trying to follow mom across the cold sand. Baby is now in a box on a heating pad under a heat lamp...
I know, bad idea, but my hen became broody for her first time about a week and a half ago and was sitting on 2 infertile eggs. I decided to give her some fertile eggs but all I had that were fertile were cotournix quail eggs. I read on here that folks use silkies to brood cotournix eggs and...
Do I need a lid right away or can it wait a few days? I think I read that they won't be able to launch themselves out for the first week or so? Is this a safe bet? If I get any to hatch I intend to turn my laundry bin (a plastic storage container) into the brooder. Will make appropriate roof now...
So, now that I have by new buttons I am spending way to much time watching them. I am fascinated by the males dedication to courtship and egg care. Unfortunately thus far my female shows little interest. The male checks the one egg that she laid multiple times a minute when he is not otherwise...
What does everyone use to keep their button quail warm enough? I currently have a heat lamp on top of my cage but at night when they actually need the heat I imagine they, and definitely I, would much rather have it off. Last night I ran my space heater (and put blankets over my windows which...
So we finally got them today!!!! 2 buttons, thanks for all of your help with cage questions, sexing etc.! Pretty sure it's a male and female- saw them breed in at the feed store, then one layed an egg on the car ride home. In the new cage the male (Pappus) has displayed offering the female...
Continuing in my pursuit of owning a pair of button quail, I am wondering if my stepfather's old fish tank would make a good enclosure. The tank is 3'long x 15" wide x 16" tall. I have read in many places that fish tanks are good housing for buttons but my concern is air circulation- is this a...
I would love to get a pair of buttons, but each time I consider it at the feed store I am thrown off by my inability to sex them. They have them in large flocks in the cages and though for some colors sexing seems easy, when all the colors and sexs are in one cage i find it far more challenging...
I just noticed a place selling 4 peacocks for over 500 bucks- do folks really pay that? Would those be some kind of special peacocks? Where I live they are feral- in large droves and though pretty, a pretty big nuisance. They are the prime pest in my vegetable garden (to get anything to grow I...
Haha- I am certainly not one to judge, just very much overly proud of the few coturnix I have. Anyway, while fretting over if this little one (growing up so quickly) is a roo or not (thanks for your advice on #s of roos in pens/ hens etc.) I managed to spend too much time in the coop quail...
So I am busy worrying myself that the very very very very pretty (did i mention- wowee what a gorgeouse bird) young tuxedo coturnix that i added to my flock might be a boy. The little one still had yellow chick down eyebrows when i got it and that was only a couple of weeks ago. I am watching...
My new quail coop is done and i am anxious to fill it (with 6-10 coturnix quail). I want mostly females & 1 male because my interest is eggs. I don't really want to hatch eggs or get chicks- where can i find adults that look less sickly than those at my local feedstore? can adult quail be...
I am about done with my three new chickens which have been nothing but sick Now our dear Tiggy who is on her 4th day on Vibramycin (for an endlessly runny nose) has a nasty white yeast infection(?) (white spots along the glottis and down the throat) and breath that would peal the wallpaper (if...
My hens go crazy for their food if I pour water over it. They wont touch the pellets when they are dry, but they gorge themselves when they are wet and mushy. And they just seem to pick the corn pieces out of the lay mash so I have been making a pellet/mash mix in a shallow ceramic pot which I...
Not sure how old she? is (just got her? a few weeks ago), and not sure what breed she is (they sold her to me as a RIR but she? is really small), but I am definitely hoping she is a she? She? is so friendly it was hard to get enough distance between her? and the camera to get a decent pic...
The kid that sold me this hen at the local feed store told me she was a "Buff Orpington" which clearly she is not (right?). It was pretty funny to watch the confused look of the gal at the register as she tried to find out how to charge me given that they didnt seem to have any buffs on their...