Button quail question

[Mwilliams32931]

So I have button quail going into lockdown tomorrow and I am confused as to their living arrangement when they are older and out of the brooder. I have read where I should only have 2 to a cage but then I also see where people raise them in groups. I can't decide on what kind of cage to build, lol

 

[Sycamore27]

As I understand it, once males and females pair off you house them in twos so the adolescents can be in groups for a while until they pick their mates, or if you somehow end up with all one sex they can stay together.
Cheers,
Jessie

 

[SavageChick]

I guess it all depends on how many you eventually decide to keep long-term. At first, I wanted to keep all of my buttons, but as my hobby became more of an obsession, that original plan became a bit too unreasonable. So, I have to keep it limited to just small batches of buttons at a time. We have two separate brooders -- one for the first 2 weeks, then they move into the larger "juvenile" brooder.

To give you some ideas for an indoor pen, specifically for the four adult buttons we are keeping, we will be using a large trophy case similar to this one...

It's an easier alternative if you aren't great at building/staining your own piece of large furniture. You can find something similar on Craiglist - you can just remove a few of the glass panels and replace with mesh, add a background and full-spectrum lighting, and it makes a nice display for a room and home for your birds. Hope this helps.

 

[GrandmaBird]

From hatch through week 6 they should be housed together in a brooder lowering the temp 5 degrees each week, to room temp. Be sure you have a tight lid on the brooder as they will bounce/fly out in no time. at 6-7 weeks you can move the whole group to a large wire cage, with a solid bottom, and keep them together until the males start calling or if you notice any pairing up. If you see any picking on separate them by males/ females and then pair them up from there. I do believe that after reaching sexual maturity at 6-10 weeks they should be kept in pairs only.
good luck and let us know how it goes.

 

[Mwilliams32931]

Thanks for all the help. I am anxiously awaiting them to hatch now