button quail cages?

[LuvDux]

I'm thinking about getting some button quail. I've never had quail before. I would like to keep them inside if thats possible. A friend of mine had some in a large fishtank. Anyone have any pics of where they keep their buttons? Also, any helpful info like what do they eat etc. would be appreciated before i make a decision.

 

[shelleyd2008]

A cage the size of a 10 gallon fish tank would be a good size for a pair of buttons, though fish tanks aren't very good since they don't allow for air circulation.
Mine are in a rat manor cage, divided in two, so half the birds are on top, and half are on the bottom. They are not happy. The ones on top don't like being in the air, and the cages are too crowded.

I plan on making cages out of a bookshelf, with each 'cage' being 2'x1'x1'. There will be 2 cages per 'shelf', with a 3" lip around the bottoms of each cage, to help keep bedding in, and in case of babies

I have 14 buttons, 5 females and 9 males, so I'll need a few cages, since the plan is to have enough females for the males I already have. So my bookshelf cage will need to be 7' high by 4' wide, and 1' deep. Both sides of the 'shelf' will be hinged and divided, to allow for easier access.

Some people use rubbermaid totes, I haven't tried this, but I would think they would escape pretty easily, since the top would need to be opened for cleaning.

As for their food, they really should have something high in protein, like game bird feed. They can have regular chick starter, but you would need to supplement them with protein, either from eggs or from cat food or similar.

They are really neat birds, you would enjoy them

 

[ya chick ya]

well i heard that quail either need 1x1 or 2x2 space per one i think its 1x1 so depends on how many ur gonna get
i dont have but i do have coturnix which i think are the cutest grown up and chicks but hey were all different but they also lay well and are good for meat and arent super duper awesome flyers so..and very very easy to main tain

 

[ya chick ya]

i have a chicken trac.......Quail tractor and its about 2ft wide and about 4 ft length
and 2ft tall and i only had like 9 Quail in the beginning and it suited them perfectly
they dont eat a whole lot nor drink much either id go with the quart waterer and feeder

 

[ya chick ya]

the cage is made out of 2x4 cut in half with just some wire thats real small like a cm square or something u can get from most hardware stores try ace hardware if u have one and u could just use a board for top or some wire my tops complicated

 

[LuvDux]

I only want like 2. If i can I'll try to find a picture of the cage I'm thinking of using. My camera isn't working right now.

So my cage looks very similar to this one.

 

[ya chick ya]

thats probably good for 2-5 quail as long as u change bedding often enough

 

[citalk2much]

When I first started with buttons I put them in a cage like that. They escaped between the wires. I now use.90qt clear totes with the lid cut out and screen in the cut out. It is nice because screen is soft should they bounk.

 

[NancyDz]

I got two of these cages used a couple weeks ago and have to say they are perfect for buttons. They are a bit pricey but cleaning them is a breeze and you can fit a lot of pairs in small space. Also you can retrieve eggs easily without having to reach hands in the cage.

I was very lucky to find them used but I think if I was going to raise buttons , I would spend the money for one of these.

http://www.ncws.com/mcdonald/cages_8.html


Nancy

 

[LuvDux]

Well I'm not really looking to breed them. I just want a couple as pets. I also read somewhere that its better to keep like foliage or whatnot in the cage so they have places to hide. Is this a good idea?