Button Quail? Or Japanese Quail?

[animal8]

I was wanting to keep a few Japanese quail in rabbit cages indoors, but now I'm wondering if I should have button quail instead as these seem to be less messier. The only problem is, I would like to have eggs as well and button quail eggs are soooo small

I guess I'll have to decide what I really want.

But can anyone tell me about button quail? Any information would be great e.g. How long is their incubation period, how long till they start laying eggs, what is their expected lifespan etc.

I also want to know which would be easier to keep. From what I've heard, button quail tend to be more flightier than the Japanese, but some people have quite tame buttons...Would they have to be kept in a glass tank due to their size? How much smaller than Japs are they? And how much smaller are their eggs?

Any information on their upkeep would be helpful as well.

 

[jfulcher]

Well, I own both, but dont call me an expert. Purely from experience I have known buttons to be very charming pets, I keep a pair in 20gl tanks. You can keep them in 10gl I hear. I have recently cut it down that small for babies. Button quail incubation is 16 days, japanese is 17-18 days. Eggs are significantly different in size. Japanese are tamer, buttons are very flighty. But this is all MHO.. Anymore questions feel free to ask.

 

[animal8]

Quote:
What bedding do you keep your quail on? I've heard of someone who kept her buttons on shredded paper inside a glass tank and she just added another layer every couple of days to keep the smell down and then cleaned the entire thing when it got too messy. Do you think this would work if I used it with Japanese quail in a rabbit cage? The depth of the plastic tray probably wouldn't allow for many layers, but I would be spot cleaning the bedding daily as well. What do you think?

 

[Stellar]

There are a few stickies on cbbq (button quail). They are very neat little bird but should be housed in pairs. Japanese Quail aka Coturnix should be housed in colonies. I have both indoors. Rabbit hutches are better for COturnix in my opinion. I have some of my coturnix in rabbit hutches.

Bedding on cbbq: each pair are on equine pine pellets or yesterday's news unscented.

Both breeds are equally messy.

 

[chance&augie]

My indoor button quails toe nails are getting long. They live on corncob + pine shaving bedding. Should I do anything about it?

 

[shelleyd2008]

You can trim their nails, not much you can do about it otherwise. My buttons' nails get long too and I can't figure out how theirs (being on solid flooring) can be long when the coturnix (on solid/wire flooring) don't have that problem?? Who knows.

 

[FenDruadin]

I have never had button quail, so I may be biased, but I think coturnix make charming indoor pets. In small groups in clean cages they don't have a noticeable odor. Boys can be noisy and will crow at night, but girls make lovely quiet sounds and produce amazing quantities of delicious eggs. For example, I got a new girl last weekend and she has laid an egg every single day, including the day she arrived here. And quail eggs are delicious.

It's also nice that they can be kept in small groups so you can have enough females to make breakfast for you every morning.

On the other hand, button quail come in some amazing colors, so I get jealous of button owners on that account.

Coturnix do come in a variety of colors, just not as many as the button. Among coturnix, the whites are my favorite because they tend to have splashes of basic pharaoh color that shows through, so each one is unique and easy to tell from the others. Tuxedoes are nice for the same reason--they tend to each have a unique pattern. All other colors are hard to tell apart. On the other hand, the whites and tuxedoes are harder to sex at a young age (pharaohs, tibetans, and goldens are easy to sex at around four weeks when the males develop a red breast and the females get spots on the chests). You can still sex them easily at maturity because the males will crow frequently.

Either way, I think you'll enjoy them. If breakfast is important, def go with coturnix. Otherwise, it's a matter of preference. Oh, and my coturnix are quite tame and docile. Can't say one way or the other about buttons, of course.

Good luck!

 

[FenDruadin]

I have never had button quail, so I may be biased, but I think coturnix make charming indoor pets. In small groups in clean cages they don't have a noticeable odor. Boys can be noisy and will crow at night, but girls make lovely quiet sounds and produce amazing quantities of delicious eggs. For example, I got a new girl last weekend and she has laid an egg every single day, including the day she arrived here. And quail eggs are delicious.

It's also nice that they can be kept in small groups so you can have enough females to make breakfast for you every morning.

On the other hand, button quail come in some amazing colors, so I get jealous of button owners on that account.

Coturnix do come in a variety of colors, just not as many as the button. Among coturnix, the whites are my favorite because they tend to have splashes of basic pharaoh color that shows through, so each one is unique and easy to tell from the others. Tuxedoes are nice for the same reason--they tend to each have a unique pattern. All other colors are hard to tell apart. On the other hand, the whites and tuxedoes are harder to sex at a young age (pharaohs, tibetans, and goldens are easy to sex at around four weeks when the males develop a red breast and the females get spots on the chests). You can still sex them easily at maturity because the males will crow frequently.

Either way, I think you'll enjoy them. If breakfast is important, def go with coturnix. Otherwise, it's a matter of preference. Oh, and my coturnix are quite tame and docile. Can't say one way or the other about buttons, of course.

Good luck!