Button Quail questions - new to quail

[kellycereal]

Hi there, I'm new to keeping button quail and have a few questions.

We have just obtained some button quail, which are pretty hard to find this time of year. We received the birds from two different people. We got 2 silver females from one. And 2 ivory females and 1 ivory male from another person (the male and females are unrelated). Thimble, Button, Bobbin, Stitch and Haberdasher (male).

My questions are:

Is it ok to keep a 4 to 1 ratio of females to males (there was an establishment of a pecking order, but no fighting going on at all)?

What does 'this season's chicks' mean? The first two females we got were described as such, and therefore we don't know how old they are.

The other 2 females are different ages, the male and female are 2 months old, whilst the older female is just under 3-months-old. At what age do they start laying?

We use pine shavings as bedding in their enclosure, but do they need anything else to make nests? I've seen some people use both shavings and hay.

Do quail behave in the same way as chickens when introduced to a fake egg in the nest? Are they similarly encouraged to lay?

Thanks for any help

 

[lena_]

Hi there, I'm new to keeping button quail and have a few questions.

We have just obtained some button quail, which are pretty hard to find this time of year. We received the birds from two different people. We got 2 silver females from one. And 2 ivory females and 1 ivory male from another person (the male and females are unrelated). Thimble, Button, Bobbin, Stitch and Haberdasher (male).

My questions are:

Is it ok to keep a 4 to 1 ratio of females to males (there was an establishment of a pecking order, but no fighting going on at all)?

What does 'this season's chicks' mean? The first two females we got were described as such, and therefore we don't know how old they are.

The other 2 females are different ages, the male and female are 2 months old, whilst the older female is just under 3-months-old. At what age do they start laying?

We use pine shavings as bedding in their enclosure, but do they need anything else to make nests? I've seen some people use both shavings and hay.

Do quail behave in the same way as chickens when introduced to a fake egg in the nest? Are they similarly encouraged to lay?

Thanks for any help

1. It should be okay, generally you keep button quail in pairs, but if you want groups it's best to keep a 1-3 ratio four should be fine. Where are you keeping them? If it has plenty of hiding spaces, that will encourage your hens to go broody.

2. This season's chicks will mean they hatched this winter/summer(it's summer here)

3. Shavings alone are fine(It can be annoying when they bury the eggs though). Shaving's and hay are better. Try putting boxes. plants and other hiding places in, If you want your quail, to lay in specific spots. Female buttons tend to have a safe place they will go to if feeling scared/distressed, or simply to lay. If you want your buttons to go broody;
*Watch, if they are laying in the same place every time this indicates they may be making a nest
*Watch their behavior, female buttons don't like it when people interfere
*Like i said before, hiding spaces, they love them! I used cardboard boxes, and my buttons love them!

4. No, false eggs for quail don't really do much. Quail lay depending on the amount of sunlight they get each day. 14 hours or more, simulates laying, wheareas less then 14 hours inhibits it

Hope this helps

~Feather Hearts

 

[kellycereal]

Thanks so much for all of this info! I really appreciate it.