Buttons, sexing and such?

[Bettacreek]

Well, my batch of nine are 8 weeks old now (holy cow, where'd the time go?!) and I still don't have any red vent feathers. I had thought that two of them were getting red vent feathers a few weeks ago, but now that I checked again, there's nothing. I have a few slates/smokies/ivories, but the cinnamons and the two unknowns should have red vents if they're males by now. I can't even find a picture of a regular cinnamon male to try to compare...

Wait, did finally find a pic of a pair of regular cinnamons. The males have bibs, but I don't see red vents. My ivories have bibs now, so shouldn't my cinnies have bibs (or at least the start of a bib) if they're males?

 

[Bettacreek]

GAHH! Now, I have another set of pics of another pair... And, the one male looks bluish, the other male doesn't...

http://www.zebrafinch.com/newbuttonquail/Cinnamon.html

http://www.flickr.com/photos/25215930@N02/2649122469

My three cinnies have creamy colored throats, but not the full fledged bib or anything. It's hard for me to really see the hen's throats to see if they're creamy or what. darn buttons. Hopefully I get a LOT to hatch from my 67, then I'll just start pulling anything that humps anything else, and I'll be sure to have a few females left.

 

[monarc23]

Quote:
cinn hens looks soo much different than the roos if theres no blue in those cinnamons im betting you they are all hens. IF they are normal cinnamons that is.

to me cinnamon roos look like the wild male buttons just dilluted color in areas and actually if im not mistaken cinnamon is the dillute of the wild color (DONT HOLD ME TO THIS THOUGH LOL)!

 

[farmgirlie1031]

Mine had a white ring just like ringneck pheasants when they hatched so I knew the males right away except for the solid white male I couldn't tell him until he grew up and started mating the females. I have since sold them all and didn't take any pics so sorry I don't have any pics to show.

 

[Bettacreek]

But when will they get the blue? My redbreasted cinnie male is just barely starting to get his blue in, and he's like 13 weeks now. These guys are 8 weeks and no blue. I'm assuming that the one pic I linked to was a younger pair, since it had the bib, but no blue...

Seriously, I don't know why I torture myself with these birds.

 

[monarc23]

Quote:
are you meaning the flicker pair? If so that birds just angled wrong it may actually have cinnamon on it's chest. Also any roo cinnamon i've seen had rust vent feathers. Your birds should be in their full adult plumage. I wish I could see em cuz i'd tell ya what i thkn of them

Not that im any expert on it but i could atleast give ya a guess HEHE

 

[monarc23]

btw my hen had a creamy colored throat patch (working on finding a picture of her in adult plumage now)::::


heres her still in baby feathers:

I took pictures of her vent feathers when i was trying to figure out if she was a hen or not:

she almost reminded me of a redbreasted male before i knew how to tell colors better:

here a little older:

her in full adult plumage (laying an egg lol):

and her resting with her buddies (the silver---roo wouldnt crow or mate the hens so they got along well lol):

dunno if this will help any but she was 8 weeks old in those last two....soo if they look like yours its safe to say you got girls.

 

[Bettacreek]

YAAAYYYY! I have at least THREE girls! Now, my problem goes back to egg laying. What in the heck am I doing wrong?! They have sufficient light with a sunlight tube light thing, it's left on probably closer to 20 hours (is that bad?), they get 24% dumor with oystershell mixed in (1:20 ratio), plus snacks and such.

 

[monarc23]

Quote:
honestly im helpless on that problem of yours. My hens started laying when they were supposed to (buttons) and im not gonna sit here and say "oh well you're doing this wrong" when I have no clue! LOL! To me you're doing everything right! I may have mentioned this before to you and you may have something ike this for them but if you can make them a hidey area in side their home my hens used to LOVE laying in them. When we were on major mcdonalds eating hiatus every weekend lol....i'd take their cupholders home and tape two together like a tepee and the hens would hide in there and lay in there it was pretty cute.

 

[citalk2much]

I just email a picture of both male and female cinnamon to niki hope she will post for you