a few button questions i need a bit of help with

[xchairity_casex]

so i have a few questions i just cant seem to get any info on mostly age related questions.
like what age is it safe to keep them at 70 degrees?
what age should they be moved out of the brooder and into a soft top cage?(or atleast when she i switch to a soft top for the broder?)
what age will i be able to sex them?
what age do i start trying to pair them up?
what age should i start offering seed?

as far as temps go my chicks are housed in a 10 gallon tank with a heat rock the heat rock stays an even 100 degrees but the surrounding temps are about 85 in the day and 82 at night and the chicks are doing well but im wondering when it safe to remove the heat sorce? 4 weeks? 5 weeks? becuase i dont want them to be removed from it too early and cause them to get sick or die from not being able to heat themselves properly.
and it would be most helpful if you guys could answer with a rough estamate of ages. ive been told to decrease the heat by 5 degrees every week BUT since most people have the entire brooder temps kept at around 90-100 degrees and mine has always been kept around 85 it confuses me greatly (and before you all ask yes i have done searches both here and on google and yahoo)

 

[shelleyd2008]

Quote:
You want to acclimate them to the lower (room) temperatures, not take it away all at once. I don't follow the '5 degree a week' rule since I move coturnix outside at 3 weeks and buttons are without heat by 6 weeks at the most. You just need to watch them and give them more heat if they are huddling. But don't mistake huddling out of fear for huddling for warmth, when you take their light away they will huddle because they are used to having 24-hour light. If you don't have a light for heat they shouldn't do this.

 

[farmdude]

Shelly, if you don't want your buttons to reproduce, can you keep a pen of all hens and a pen of all males? Or is that a recipe for disaster?
Also my buttons are now 5 weeks old, almost 6. I noticed a few are missing feathers on their backs. I haven't seen any aggressive or breeding behavior yet, but the bare backs indicate otherwise. I'm assuming the bare backed ones are females? They are in a 2X4 foot pen and still have a 60 watt light bulb for warmth.

 

[shelleyd2008]

You can keep them in groups of males and females but they're going to lay eggs anyway. I would just let them do their thing and boil the eggs for them if you don't want to hatch them. If they are still inside you probably don't need a light on them anymore. The bald backs is probably a fighting/breeding problem but they are a little young. Make sure they have a dust bath with DE or Sevin Dust since it could also be an indication of mites.

 

[farmdude]

Quote:
They huddle without the light. It is still cold here in Wisconsin. I only keep the house at 60-65 degrees.
Will they still fight if I seperate the males from the females?

 

[shelleyd2008]

The males might, I've never had a pen of only females (females are in short supply around here) so I can't say about that. I have 2 pens of bachelors and they don't have any problems. But they were raised together so they know each other, I wouldn't dare put any new boys in their pen

 

[farmdude]

Quote:
Well you know all mine hatched out together. I guess it is worth a try. I haven't figured out the sexes of them yet. I'll let you know what I ended up with once I find out.

 

[shelleyd2008]

Quote:
Well you know all mine hatched out together. I guess it is worth a try. I haven't figured out the sexes of them yet. I'll let you know what I ended up with once I find out.

Yes, that part was mostly for others who might read it

You should be able to tell sexes by now.

 

[farmdude]

Quote:
Well you know all mine hatched out together. I guess it is worth a try. I haven't figured out the sexes of them yet. I'll let you know what I ended up with once I find out.

Yes, that part was mostly for others who might read it

You should be able to tell sexes by now.

Red vent feathers on males??

 

[shelleyd2008]

Yes, all the males should have them unless you hatched any whites :idunn