Button Sexing Questions...?

[xxSonja]

I was in at a pet store today enquiring about some button quails and was told that ALL button chicks have FEMALE colouring until they reach maturity so being able to sex young chicks was difficult and the gender of any chicks i got would not be guaranteed.

Is there any truth to that?
And if that is true, when do the males get their male colouring?

Ive read that you can tell males becoz of the redish vent feathers, but at wat age do they appear?

I currently have three 5 week old chicks, one is Silver and two are female Wild colouring, i assumed the browns were female becoz they have female colouring, but the sex of the silver im still not sure.

What is the most accurate way to tell?

sorry for being a pest, im just all confused now...

 

[quailbrain]

Around 5-8 weeks the feathers can start coming in and showing. Chicks are hard to tall until they get these feathers. Your silver would have a bib showing once he gets to that age. The brown you talk about as well as long as they aren't blue faced. The brown blue faced or normal wild will have rusty red vent feathers on the males. You may even be able to see them now if the flock is 5 weeks old. They will become more defined in the next few weeks as well.

 

[citalk2much]

i can sex mine at about 3 weeks you can start to see the reddish vent feathers coming in about that age

 

[smallbluejellybean]

Wow that is so interesting. I would like to know if there is a difference in vents.
Now this is from my canary experience, was sold a so called male singer and the next day it layed an egg. Guess not . . .
Anyways kept her. Since then I have learned to sex them by their vents.
But the reason I am interested in getting some white buttons to join my flock and I really want to get the sexing right.
Whites have no colouration to determine sex - so what do I look for?

 

[xxSonja]

I still dont know for sure about the sex of my chicks, the wild browns still look like females to me, and the silver doesnt appear to have any reddish vent feathers, (but then i also have no idea what im doing so.. lol)
I think ill just wait and see.

On another note how old are they suppose to be when they reach adult size? im paranoid about my chicks (they are still maybe half size or less at 5 1/2 wks?) lol

 

[citalk2much]

They Should be full size at 6 weeks and ready to lay by 8 weeks

 

[xxSonja]

are u serious!? there is no way mine will be full grown by next week, esspecially my little silver, its so tiny still!

 

[quailbrain]

They will still continue to grow and fill out around 3 months. They will not have their adult feather coloration till around 3 months as well. They will continue to molt and change their colors but only VERY slightly after that till they are a year old. They will start to sexually mature and lay eggs as teenagers before they are done filling out and reaching their full adult size.

Your silver may never have red or salmon vent feathers as I have males who do not. The silver males usually have a white bib though, although I have some that have pale bibs but with the lack of mutations in Australia I doubt that the odd bibs are there??? The wild browns should start showing signs now as well. They will have a dark maroon feather cluster around the vent as well as white bibs. If they are the wild coloration and not bluefaced (which I haven't heard about in Australia either) those traits should be pretty standard on the wilds.

There are a lot of folks on here who would help if you want it. Just post some picts and you'll get lots of opinions.

 

[Bettacreek]

What Crystal said. Red vent feathers start to come in around 3 weeks.

Quote:
Some white males have color that will ghost through. Below is a pic of one of my white roos' chest. The other ended up with the same ghosting effect. Not ALL do this, but if they do, I've been told that they're definately males.