Button Quail Breeding

[shelleyd2008]

Quote:
That color is female, she is a golden pearl. Most female button quail colors are pretty obvious.

 

[shelleyd2008]

Quote:
Red breasted male, pearl female.

 

[PAOpao]

You should buy some(live is good) meal worms. Meal worm are a mating ritual where the male doesn't eat it and call over the female to eat it. This allows the female to loosen up to the male and allow him to mate her. I had mines for a month and after i throw some meal worms there were finally eggs. I just hoping they will incubate them on their own...

If they do that then you can usually tell that it is a pair as well..

 

[obking92]

Hey guys I just bought 2 button quails the other day from a shop and they haven't tried to mate yet and the female hasn't payed any eggs either

 

[obking92]

 

[DK newbie]

Moving is stressful for them, so even if she was laying before, moving is likely to make her stop. Also, if they were not a pair it will probably take a while for them to start liking each other. There can be many reasons for her not to be laying, but if you only got them 'the other day', I would consider it more strange if she did lay.
Just make sure they have a suitable feed(25-30% protein) and that she has a calcium supplement available - and if there isn't vitamin D in the feed or the calcium, make sure the cage gets direct (not screened by a window) sunlight a couple of hours or so a day. And then wait. If she doesn't start laying within a month or 2, you might want to consider whether something is stressing her - cage size is too small, too many disturbances, too few hiding places, male is chasing her around or whatever.

 

[The Quail Guru]

From experience here's some tips I can provide:
Quail:
- Make sure they're already a mating/breeding pair or have been housed together before you got them. If not you must give them time to bond.
- Be sure that you have both female and male quail housed together at all times. It's pretty obvious to tell red breasted buttons apart, females are always brown all over.
- Make sure you have mature quail (8 + weeks).
- Don't disturb the quail and get rid of all disturbances. Leave them alone and they will mate and lay eggs. All you should have to do is feed them and provide them with fresh water, try not to clean the cage as you don't want to destroy their nest.
Food:
- Look for a feed that contains at least 20% of protein.
- Supplement the females diet with a source of calcium such as crushed oyster shells or egg shells in a separate bowl.
- Provide treats such as mealworms but no avocados!
Housing:
- Make sure your quail have plenty of space. 1 foot of square space at least but try to provide them with more, they'll be happier.
- Place their home so that they have plenty of light but yet not too much. 13-15 hours of light per day is great, purchase a light bulb if you cannot provide this much light.
- Provide your quails with nesting materials such as hay or straw. The quail will build their nest.
Eggs:
- Don't collect the eggs, leave them in the cage so the quail pair can sit on them.

Other info:
My quail pair would lay eggs, scatter them about everywhere, build a nest, form a clutch of eggs in the nest, sit on the eggs, eat in the morning and then the eggs will hatch on the 17th day. People say that buttons aren't good natural parents but only time will tell, if the pair abuse their chicks you'll have to hand raise them. And you'll need to be feeding the chicks something with a higher amount of protein such as chicken starter that is broken up into smaller crumbles. Basically, just be patient and your buttons will soon hatch some chicks. I find that buttons breed like rabbits! They constantly want more and more babies!

 

[Johanna Lee]

From the video it looks like you have a lot of males and they're really young. For breeding it's best to have 2-3 females per male. I feed mine Chicken layer and wild bird seed. And personally aquariums aren't really healthy as it keeps the dirty air in. I recommend a cage 3 ft wide 5 ft long and 3 ft high so they all have plenty of space to run and fly if spooked. Make sure to use 1/4 inch mesh. I've also found old plastic coffee containers stuffed with straw make a great nesting box. Here's a pic of my breeding pair that have eggs due to hatch soon.