Button Quail Chicks - what color are they?

[Sara L]

Hi all,
These are my button quail chicks hatched on 8/14/17, so they are 2 weeks old today. Can someone help me figure out what color patterns they are? Or will the color change as their feathers continue to grow in? I have no clue what the parents look like since these were eggs I bought online. This is my first time with button quail.
Thanks!

 

[DK newbie]

The 3 dark ones in the first pic are probably red breasted. The light ones look like a silver cinnamon maybe, since it's quite light for a normal silver, and possibly a white.
The one at the top of the 3rd pic looks like a normal, below that to the left is a silver (again, possibly combined with something else), below the silver is a golden pearl (a lethal gene in double dose - don't pair two golden pearls with each other) and standing behind the golden pearl is one I can't quite figure out yet. It's very pretty though ^^
The colors will probably still change, and I most likely missed some combination mutations, but that should give you a clue about what you are dealing with.
Do post more pics as they get older - I'm particularly interested in the dark one I couldn't figure out

 

[Sara L]

Thank you! I will post more pictures on Monday when they turn 3 weeks. When should I expect to be able to tell if they are males/females?

 

[DK newbie]

Sometimes I've had males get red vent feathers before they were 2 weeks old and sometimes the sex hasn't been obvious before they were 5 weeks. You might be able to find a few certain males already, if you turn them upside down and look for rust red (pink in the grey ones) feathers in the vent area.
If the white one is truly white, it won't get pink vent feathers so you'll have to sex it by behavior. It might need to be 6-8 weeks or even more before that'll work.

 

[Sara L]

Ok, sorry for the late posting, the pictures are from 9/5/17 and the chicks are 3 weeks 1 day. I cleaned the brooder and took some pictures while they were in the temporary container.

I wanted to ask your opinion about the chick in the center with the leg out to the side; that is one of the ones with leg problems I tried to help with the little leg braces. It kind of helped but the chick relapsed and pretty much walks on his/her knee/elbow joints. One leg seems to be ok most of the time but the other sticks out to the side. The chick seems to be eating/drinking/dust bathing ok and the others don't pick on it. It is smaller than the others. Should I cull it or just let it be as long as it doesn't seem to be in pain?

I had most of the birds back in the brooder before I thought to take pictures of their undersides. This would be a male, right? Because of the red breast?

Would this be a female?

Another shot of the one with the bad legs. The leg seems to be completely wrong at the hip joint. The chick doesn't act like it is pain, but it doesn't move around as easily as the others.

 

[DK newbie]

Yes, first one is definitely male, 2nd and 3rd either female or haven't got their red vent feathers yet.
I don't have much experience with leg problems, but if it was my bird and I could make myself do it, I would cull it. It doesn't seem likely to get better, so the bird will probably live a short miserable life before dying a painful death for one reason or another.

 

[JaeG]

Your chick with the leg problem will have slipped its tendon. It happened to one of ours and, at 9 months old she's still ok. She moves awkwardly but lives inside in a smaller cage with her brother and sister and she recently sat and hatched some chicks. Three chicks seems to be her limit as she squashed her fourth. Her balance isn't that great and as they push into her feathers it can throw her off balance. She's been a great mother to the remaining three.

This is her as she was getting comfortable with chicks under her. You can see her little leg off to the side - it's sort of twisted around and sticks straight out. If you are willing to give your chick a little more tlc and set up a cage that makes it easy for it to get around then I think it will be like our Waddles and be content. I'd read that any sort of leg problem was fatal to Button quail chicks, but we gave Waddles a chance and she's done well.

 

[Sara L]

Going to take some more pictures when I clean out the cage this evening. Can I turn the heat lamp off now that they are 4 weeks? The room they are in is staying around 80 F.

 

[DK newbie]

Usually people lower the temperature gradually by raising the heat lamp a little every week, until the brooder temp is the same as the surroundings. They'll probably be able to handle 80 F now (they would if they had been gradually weaned of the heat lamp at least), but if they are used to having a spot with 90+F they will probably miss their heat lamp. So for no, I'd raise the heat lamp rather than removing it entirely.

 

[lena_]

They are lovely colours. The leg... I had a coturnix with splayed legs once, but he was my only tuxedo so I couldn't cull him. I taped his legs under his body (You can also use a rubber band) That leg does look like a slipped tendon though If you try splint it does it cause him any pain?