Advice for Button Quail Project

[nameisjoeandilovepoultry]

Hello, I recently fell in love with Button Quail. How much space do they need? Can they live outside in KY? How many eggs do they lay? How quickly do they mature and when do they die? Also need any advice you got about them. TIA

 

[JaeG]

They need to be kept in pairs and one pair needs about 5sq/ft as they are very active little birds. Sometimes they can be kept in groups but it's usually individuals that grew up together where this works, and it needs to be a single sex group rather than mixed (unless you have a huge aviary type situation for them).

It depends on where you get your stock from as to whether they will naturally incubate their eggs or not. It's very easy to breed that ability out of quail. Just a few generations of artificial incubation and rearing can be enough to lose it.

Birds that will incubate naturally might lay up to 12 eggs before sitting. This is often too many for a hen to sit on properly so you have to remove a few. The male may sit with her sometimes if she lets him. It's when the chicks hatch that they really work as a team. The hen looks after the majority of the clutch, and the male will round up any that stray too far from the group, often warming the straying chick up before returning it to the group.

They do need relatively warm temperatures so if you are somewhere where it gets very cold in winter you will need to house them indoors.

They can also fly extremely well and it's very easy to lose them outside.

They mature from around 12 weeks old from memory (it's been a few years since we've had them) and the females tend to die around 4-ish years old as laying eggs does seem to wear them out faster. Make sure they have access to fine oyster shell grit as it's very important that the females don't become calcium deficient.

 

[muddy75]

Hello, I recently fell in love with Button Quail. How much space do they need? Can they live outside in KY? How many eggs do they lay? How quickly do they mature and when do they die? Also need any advice you got about them. TIA

I have 3 that I acclimated to survive this past winter on the ground in my aviary, so it can be done. But in general they do best at temps above 50* Mine have not laid any eggs nor gone broody since moving them out into the aviary late last summer. The spring before, they were in the smaller aviary and I had a cozy coop heater in the corner on low when low temps were below 50.

 

[007Sean]

Nothing to add here, @JaeG and @muddy75 have said it all.

I was going to tag muddy to see if her experiment with housing them outside in extreme cold weather worked out.
I guess it did!

ETA - I have had buttons that lived for 7 years....and layed until the day they died....but that's not the norm. Buttons lay the largest egg for their body size/weight of any bird... It really takes a toll on them and usually don't survive more than 3 to 5 years. They were housed indoors.
I originally got mine from Burton's Pirogue Avaries. They still retained the instincts to hatch and rear their broods.

 

[Broody-Hen]

Hi, i have two button quails and would like some tips and tricks to keep them happy. I had two females and a male but then the female died. After that i gave the survivors meal worms and they wouldn’t touch them so i think the other died of meal worms some how. I also need to know the minimum temp that they can live at cus i have them indoors now but they smell so I’m getting an outside cage. want the best for my babies.

 

[Nabiki]

Hi, i have two button quails and would like some tips and tricks to keep them happy. I had two females and a male but then the female died. After that i gave the survivors meal worms and they wouldn’t touch them so i think the other died of meal worms some how. I also need to know the minimum temp that they can live at cus i have them indoors now but they smell so I’m getting an outside cage. want the best for my babies.

Button quail would not have died from meal worms unless you were feeding them so many that they got fat and died of a heart attack. That is very unlikely. As a general rule, though, treats should not be more than 10% of their diet.

Give them plenty of space, plenty of places to hide, and they're going to be pretty happy. They are originally from southeast Asia, so they don't take to very cold temperatures very well. I would not keep them outside below 60 degrees, but they can probably survive down to 50 well enough if they have shelter.

 

[Broody-Hen]

Button quail would not have died from meal worms unless you were feeding them so many that they got fat and died of a heart attack. That is very unlikely. As a general rule, though, treats should not be more than 10% of their diet.

Give them plenty of space, plenty of places to hide, and they're going to be pretty happy. They are originally from southeast Asia, so they don't take to very cold temperatures very well. I would not keep them outside below 60 degrees, but they can probably survive down to 50 well enough if they have shelter.

Thank you so much. Just set up the outside cage. I’m gonna add insulation to the place they sleep. It’s currently autumn going to winter now and can get down 5 degrees Celsius. I definitely didn’t feed her too many meal worms. Wonder what it could be. Thank you again.

 

[Broody-Hen]

AH! Some a chick just hatched and is yelling at me. I gave it food. I put one of my females in there but he ignores it and I’m really freaking out. I put wool in the box and it buried under that but i dont know. Also, do i have to feed them constantly or can i just put food and water in the brooder box?

 

[Nabiki]

Is it an only chick? They need company. You can leave food for it, but the food needs to be very fine, almost powder for a button quail to eat it. For water, you can use a jar lid with marbles or pebbles in it (so it doesn't drown or get chilled in it). I use these for new chicks' water.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07PP6PJ2N

A lonely chick will cry constantly. You can try a mirror and a small stuffed animal (the closer to an adult quail size the better). Make sure it's warm enough too.

 

[Ravenlover]

Also if the parents ignoring it bring it inside

No idea if its inside or not since u said adults outside

And keep it about 99.5f sounds like its cold and the parent wont cover it also a tebby bear helps to cuddle with