Button Quail: Need help sexing tuxedo button by behavior

[UtahWelshie]

I have 4 little buttons. We hatched them ourselves and are enjoying them. I have a standard silver roo, with a large white bib, who is in with a tuxedo hen (I know she is a hen because they mate). I have a tiny little roo, he is blue on top, red on bottom and his head is solid black (no white markings). Then I have a tuxedo??? This bird is half white and half light brown. It has feathers around the vent area and they are not rust colored at all. I thought it was a hen, and housed it with the black headed roo, but no action happening there and it isn't laying eggs. The silver and black headed roos both make the growling crow I've heard is characteristic of roosters. They puff up their little necks and bend over, extending their necks and puff and growl. I have never heard this tuxedo growl nor assume this posture. The roos also make a calling sound that sounds like "caw, caw, caw". They stand very upright when they do this, and open their mouth to the sky. I HAVE seen the tuxedo do that. I haven't seen the other hen do it. Is this a roo behavior? I can't figure this bird out. These birds are 14 weeks. The other hen has been laying since 7 weeks. So tuxedo bird: no eggs, no rust on colored feathers around vent, no growling, but an upright "caw, caw, caw".... Hen or Roo????

 

[GrandmaBird]

photos would help but I would venture to guess that both the solid and tux that you have together are males/roos. what other behavior have you seen. does the male offer treats to the other? if you see this then it is a hen. and sometimes the size will help too. It could be that the hen is just not ready to mate yet and now that the seasons are starting to change she might not. are they housed together or close to the other buttons? what type of lighting do they get? type of feed?
but to start lets see a couple photos of both the tux and the black faced one.

 

[UtahWelshie]

Thank you for responding. I'll see if I can get ahold of a camera and get some photos this weekend.

 

[UtahWelshie]

Hen or Roo? No crowing, No eggs.

 

[UtahWelshie]

Here is the black faced roo. He crows every morning... at about 5:30 am. Over and over and over. He had a boink on the head incident a couple weeks ago...

 

[UtahWelshie]

Got the photos!

 

[AandAranch]

They are tricky little things. I have seen/heard my silver female make the same exact "tee hee hee" crow as the males. (I know she's female for sure as she lays eggs.) My other wild color female makes a 5 caw call like "caw caw caw caw caw". The only sound I've never heard either of them make is that low growl. Only my males make that sound.

Very pretty pied you have there. It's markings on its back look like a female blue faced. Try googling that color mutation and compare it with yours. The females look completely different from the males.

 

[AandAranch]

If you feel comfortable doing it, try putting that pied you're unsure of with your other pied female. I think its easiest to tell their sex by the way they act with one of another sex. If it's a roo it will probably mate that female right away. If it doesn't then it might be a female. The only sure way to tell if they are female is if the start laying.

 

[UtahWelshie]

Ok. I put the unknown pied in with the known hen. It didn't mate with her, but it did chase her around. It ran at her, then ran away from her, repeatedly, without actually making contact. Then it chased her around pecking at her. It never mounted her, just pecked at her. (The hen won't mate with the black faced roo either, so even if it were a male she probably wouldn't mate with it. She prefers the silver.) It chased her a lot. Every once and a while it ran away from her too, when it thought she was chasing it. But mostly, it chased her. The hen would go hide in a corner, then when she started moving around again, it would chase her again. It was making a chirping sound while it was doing this. Does this mean it is a rooster?

 

[AandAranch]

I don't think that behaviour necessarily means it is a roo. My females chase all other males that are not their mates away, relentlessly and my males rarely chase anyone. I now keep the mated pairs separate from the others, which i think is best. how old are all your buttons? From what you've told me it sounds like that unopened pies is a female but don't quote me on that. You might just have to wait until they start laying. Sorry I couldn't be of more help. its so difficult to sex these guys with all these color mutations but I seriously think that the top of of the uknown pied looks like the female colors of a bluefaced. Did you gwt to Google that?