Button Quail

[AstroFerret92]

Hi. You seemed like a knowledgeable bunch and I have a few questions. I'm going to get a few button quail in a few weeks and am doing my research. I heard a few mentions on a thread of quail dust bathing in their bedding. Does this mean I don't have to use chinchilla dust, or should I get some? Also, would using dove food be okay for a quail, and if not do you have any suggestions? Also, I just saw a mention of button quail doing better in pairs. I was going to get 3f 1m. Should I just get one of each sex?

 

[nchls school]

Hi. You seemed like a knowledgeable bunch and I have a few questions. I'm going to get a few button quail in a few weeks and am doing my research. I heard a few mentions on a thread of quail dust bathing in their bedding. Does this mean I don't have to use chinchilla dust, or should I get some? Also, would using dove food be okay for a quail, and if not do you have any suggestions? Also, I just saw a mention of button quail doing better in pairs. I was going to get 3f 1m. Should I just get one of each sex?

I would not use chin dust with quail; that dust is very fine and very hard to clean up. It may not even be good for quail. I use fine, dry dirt from my garden for a dust bath. Buttons need a food that is in tiny pieces so dove food would not be good unless you intend to grind it. Even so, it probably won't meet a quails' needs. Game bird mash is better, but also costly. I feed mine a combination of layer mash, scratch feed, dried meal worms, and hard boiled eggs mashed up. Greens are also good; just a piece of sod-dirt, roots, insects and all. ( be sure that all materials are herbicide/pesticide free)

 

[nchls school]

I do not know about the 3/1 ratio as I always kept them in pairs.

 

[DK newbie]

Pairs tend to cause less trouble. I've tried 1,2 and 1,3 and if the space is large enough (like 6-10 sqft for each bird) they seem to get along consistently, anything smaller and there is a high risk that the females will chase each other, at least when hormones are high (I had some that were fine all winter, then chased each other when spring came). Although they get along, they can still cause issues though - I don't know if you intend to let yours hatch their own chicks, but mine do and if there are more females in the cage they tend to lay eggs in the same nest so there are way too many eggs for the broody hen to cover = the eggs go cold in turn and most chicks die, so you'll be lucky to get 1-2 live chicks.
With regards to the dust bath, plain sand works well but soil should too. I use gamebird starter feed and give the females access to chick sized crushed oyster shell. During winter, the gamebird starter is hard to get and I'll sometimes use chick starter feed.
I don't give meal worms, because I read somewhere (probably on here?) that the birds tend to think other quails' toes are worms - in particular the toes of their chicks, and toe pecking can quickly kill a chick.