Can you keep female Button Quail together?

[quailgal]

I've found that some strains of Blue-breasted Quail are less aggressive than others when bred in a group situation, although I certainly agree with quaillady that buttons are happiest and remain healthiest and in best condition when paired for breeding.

 

[MicroFarmMom]

So what if you have less boys than girls in a pen? Is that okay?

 

[Robo]

Nope, colony breeding is not too good with buttons. They like to be in pairs, and if not they are very aggressive.

 

[shelleyd2008]

Quote:
Not all of them are aggressive, as quailgal stated. I colony-bred mine forever until this past fall. All my pens had more males than females in the pens. True, I had some bald backs, but I never lost one bird because of aggression.

 

[Robo]

They are meant to be kept in pairs though. I always keep buttons in pairs, but I do have a bachelor pen which works well.

 

[shelleyd2008]

Quote:
Yes, but saying that they are 'very aggressive' is not true. You just said that your males work well together, so apparently you don't have aggressive buttons either.

 

[Robo]

Because there is no competition for a mate...

 

[quailgal]

A number of quail and other game birds that are commonly colony bred are "meant to be in pairs" (meaning what is the case in nature or derived from such) but often are successfully colony bred without excessive picking or cannibalism. While buttons do best in pairs, many people do reasonably well when colony breeding them as Shelly, myself, and many others have experienced.

 

[Robo]

What works for someone may not work for someone else. There are too many variables. I perfer pairs because fertility is better, more broodies, less fighting, and you can control colors. Just my two cents.