Chinese painted/button quail

[oldhen2345]

I have mine in a fish tank with plastic netting on top - that's good for ventilation, although if I could give them more I would

I am just now about to hatch my first button quail eggs. the brooder is all set. I have a question about adult housing. I am having a custom cage built that will have plexiglass about 8-10 inches from the floor- with a removable drawer on the bottom. It will have a few inches of hardwire cloth above the plexiglass and a removable lid made of window screen material. I also want a second enclosure, but would love to have a couple of button quail in an aquarium. I have the old aquarium- a 20 gallon long. I am planning to cover the back and two sides (on the outside) with that sticky cupboard liner. I wonder if drilling a few holes on each side and the back with say a 1/2 inch diamond head hole bit - would that give the quail enough oxygenation and alleviate humidity in the aquarium? Good idea? Bad idea? Any idea?

 

[Emmaxx]

I am just now about to hatch my first button quail eggs. the brooder is all set. I have a question about adult housing. I am having a custom cage built that will have plexiglass about 8-10 inches from the floor- with a removable drawer on the bottom. It will have a few inches of hardwire cloth above the plexiglass and a removable lid made of window screen material. I also want a second enclosure, but would love to have a couple of button quail in an aquarium. I have the old aquarium- a 20 gallon long. I am planning to cover the back and two sides (on the outside) with that sticky cupboard liner. I wonder if drilling a few holes on each side and the back with say a 1/2 inch diamond head hole bit - would that give the quail enough oxygenation and alleviate humidity in the aquarium? Good idea? Bad idea? Any idea?

Your custom build sounds fantastic if I'm picturing it right. The thing I wish I had was a drawer at the bottom for cleaning out.

I'm struggling to understand what you mean about the tank though....maybe I need to wait until the kids are in bed and read it again

 

[DK newbie]

The aquarium sounds rather small. I have one I occationally use for buttons. It's around 31x14 inches. I don't consider it a permanent cage, both due to its size and because of the lack of ventilation. I made a top for it from a sheet of wood with lots of holes drilled into it, but it still tends to stink a lot when I open it. A mesh top would have been better, but even if you combine a mesh top with holes drilled in the glass I'm not sure it'll be enough. But it's always good to have on hand if some of the birds suddenly won't behave.

 

[oldhen2345]

I just found this thread. I've been keeping button quail for almost 3 years now. I also keep Japanese (coturnix) quail. Here are a few things I've learned while keeping these birds.

Dust - quail produce a lot of dust compared to other birds. My Japanese (3 hens and a roo) are kept in a closed spare room with plenty of ventilation. I have a medium sized turbo fan in the room, along with an air cleaner and window fan set to blow the air outside. I vacuum the room at least once per week, my vacuum has a washable hepa filter. I have asthma so I take extra precautions. When cleaning the cages and vacuuming I wear a paper mask. Bird dust over time can cause a condition called pigeon fanciers' lung. It's only a problem if you keep a lot of indoor birds which emit dust (large parrots are another culprit).

Substrate - after experimenting with pine shavings (messy, get into food and water and get kicked out of the cage) and wire (VERY smelly, even after one day, and hard on their feet) I now use playground sand. It's cheap, easily found at hardware stores, keeps the smell down and the birds love to dust bathe in it. I scoop the poop out every day using a metal kitchen sieve. You can also get mesh scoops at reptile suppliers. Cat litter scoops don't work. Every few months I change the sand for a fresh batch. It can also be rinsed and re-used, but at $5 CAD per 40 lb bag it's easier just to change it. Do not be tempted to mix cat litter in with the sand for absorbency. It dries their little feet right out and sticks to their toes, which can cause them to lose a toe. To stop them kicking sand out of the cage, I cut a tarp to size and line the cage with it, with the tarp going up at least six inches on the sides of the cage. I use cable ties to attach the tarp to the sides of the cage.

Cages - I used 10 gallon fish tanks with screen lids to house each of my pairs of button quail. I didn't have problems with "boinking" because there wasn't enough height. They mainly boinked when I was putting my hands in to service the cage. Buttons are little escape artists and good fliers, so don't be surprised if they manage to "squirt" out past your hand and fly away.

A warning about buttons. Always keep a spare/hospital cage set up and ready, because buttons can turn on each other and even kill each other. I have no idea why, but they are highly territorial. I kept two male/female pairs in separate cages for over two years. Suddenly the males started trying to kill their hens. I found one cage covered in blood one evening, the hen lying at the bottom looking dead and the male strutting around like nothing happened. Luckily she survived, but he scalped her down to the bone and her feathers have never grown back. A few days later the same happened with the other pair. I was never able to reintroduce them, nor would they get along when I switched hens. They are now all inhabiting the bottoms of my larger aviary cages, one per cage. Buttons are often kept this way as "cleanup crew" for spilled seeds, and will get along with most species of aviary birds. Your spare cage doesn't have to be elaborate. I use large plastic "kritter keepers" which can be found at pet stores.

Tameness/suitability as pets - I consider buttons to be lovely birds to look at. They are tiny and delicate, not to mention good at escaping from your hand. They can get lost in a room easily if they escape because of their size. They are pretty quiet, although they do make several calls. I didn't try to tame mine, but I think it's possible if you find an irresistible food treat and are willing to spend a long time holding that treat in your hand inside their cage. They love tearing off bits of leafy greens clipped to the side of the cage, so you can hold the leaf like a clip and they'll eat it from your hand. I have one hen who runs to the cage door and starts tearing at her leaf as my hand is still entering the cage! Buttons are good little egg layers, the hens lay almost every day. Their eggs are edible, but I usually boil them, chop them up and feed them back to the birds.

Japanese are better suited as "hands on" pets. They can definitely be kept indoors in small numbers (I wouldn't keep more than 5 indoors). They do need more room than a button quail, however, they can also be kept outdoors, like on an apartment balcony. They are winter hardy as long as their cage is covered against wind. They are less "spooky" and less likely to boink their heads or fly out of the cage when you open it. They're very domesticated and easy to tame either with food or by starting with young chicks and handling them often. I had a hen who had been a child's pet, she was a wonderful cuddler and would step up onto my hand in the cage asking to be cuddled against my chest. The males also make fine pets, though they're a bit noisier because they "crow". The crow is nowhere near as loud as a chicken rooster, so they can still be kept in an apartment. Japanese quail are also easy to breed and hatch out in an incubator (I have some chicks now who are a few days old). They're good egg layers and their eggs are edible. Like buttons, Japanese are also available in a variety of colours.

I have just started with button quail. I have one terrarium (12x48) with three bachelors - Sam, Merry and Pippin. So far they get along wonderfully. I use pine shavings and just scoop them out with a small brush and dust pan. I use the bottle waterer and so far, not too bad although it has to sit just right to get the water to fill the reservoir, which I have to clean out several times a day even though it is on an upturned bowl. I have Milo, Elanor and Poppy in another terrarium - only 12x30. Originally planned to put a couple in there- but can't tell who the female is- which tuxedo? Or are they both male or female? Will have to wait till I can figure it out to remove one of them. Still have about 6 others still in the brooder with the heat off until I can get another cage- am having a custom cage built with a removable bottom pan. Originally wanted to put a male and either two or three females in it, but may not have enough females. It would help if both tuxedos were female- then I could move one to the new enclosure the same time as the others. the sexing difficulty with silvers is a problem. I have three known male wilds and three silvers. I can't see any cream color marking on their faces or pale salmon color to the vent or stomach feathers. Then there is the other one. It could be a cinnamon, but I don't know what sex. Oh well. Time will tell. they are only 5 wks old right now- soon there should be eggs and then I will know.

 

[DK newbie]

Judged from the markings at the backs of your two tuxedos, I think they are actually red breasted hens. I know of no other mutations that creates such markings, and it only does so in females.
With regards to your plan of keeping a roo with several hens, I wouldn't do it. I've tried it several times and in aviaries it sometimes works but even in a 2x5 ft cage with two hens that grew up together, one hen started chasing the other a few months after a roo was introduced. They are monogamous and tend to not appreciate it when we try to change that.

 

[oldhen2345]

I think they are actually red breasted hens. I know of no other mutations that creates such markings, and it only does so in females.

Thanks for the info. I will just keep one hen with one roo and as soon as I get my custom cage, will make the change.

 

[FirstTimeClucky]

Well, I went from 4 two year old birds (pairs) and wanting more buttons for over a year, to an additional 7 birds - total of 4 males and 3 hens. They're all young birds from two different breeders. Two of my new males have extra white on their foreheads and bibs. One is I think a cinnamon, the other looks like a white winged pied. They were hatched together so they still get along. Same with the other 5. Males of that group look like cinnamon or normal, one hen is pale grey with scalloped markings on her feathers (silver?). The other two hens look like cinnamon.

Right now they're in 3 separate aviary cages with some of my other birds - zebra finches, diamond doves and budgies. This is just temporary until I build cages for them next week. Of course I'll split them into pairs then. I'm not a fan of aquariums, they're poorly ventilated, heavy and it's nearly impossible to install food and water dispensers. Also, with buttons I don't like cages that open at the top. When I used fish tanks they'd fly out as soon as I opened the lid.

I'm planning to buy plastic tubs with low walls, drill holes in the top of the walls and then attach hardware cloth to the plastic tub bottoms with cable ties. I'll use the lids of the tubs as the top of the cage, and build doors in the sides. This will keep them from kicking bedding (pine shavings) out of their cages. I also thought of getting small rodent cages if they're big enough, but I expect they'll be a lot more expensive.

I'll have to post pics of the little guys, I'm not 100% sure about their colours. Maybe someone with more experience would know better.

 

[oldhen2345]

I'll have to post pics of the little guys, I'm not 100% sure about their colours. Maybe someone with more experience would know better.

I have that problem too - also sexing them. I have six extra little button quail. I think most are male. I don't know about the brown one at all, but the two darker ones are males, I think. On the silvers, one is definitely a male, but don't know about the other two. There are just the six- I took pics as best as I could, showing the bib when I could get a good look. I also used a smaller plastic tub for my "baby brooder". Right now, I have a couple in it awaiting the much larger custom cage.

 

[FirstTimeClucky]

I have that problem too - also sexing them. I have six extra little button quail. I think most are male. I don't know about the brown one at all, but the two darker ones are males, I think. On the silvers, one is definitely a male, but don't know about the other two. There are just the six- I took pics as best as I could, showing the bib when I could get a good look. I also used a smaller plastic tub for my "baby brooder". Right now, I have a couple in it awaiting the much larger custom cage.

I found a site here that has some pretty good photos of the different colours, as well as pics of their chicks. Not all mutations have the bib, this includes some silvers. I have a red breasted silver male, his head is a much darker colour than his body and he has the white bib marking. He also has beautiful salmon pink tint on his vent and belly. I still find it a bit hard to distinguish some of the colours, for example cinnamon vs golden pearl - especially with the males.

One way to tell who's male is behaviour, especially the calls. Even as newly hatched chicks, some are more vocal than others. I find the males stretch up tall and "crow" a lot more than the hens do. They also inflate their air sacs and make a "whooosh" sound. When they do this, the bib marking also inflates. In general, like roosters the males seem to carry themselves more upright, and they tend to pace up and down the cage more while the hens spend more time foraging.

Tonight I saw something cute. I have a cage with two male splay-legged budgies. I rescued them from someone who was going to kill them. They were too old to splint their legs, which stick straight out at the sides. They're in a cage with ramps and flat perches because their legs are too far apart to perch. I put one of my button quail pairs in with them. Tonight I noticed one of the budgies has taken a liking to the female quail. He follows her around, trying to feed her, shaking his little face mask at her and singing a beautiful warbling song. She just ignores him and goes about her business.

It's funny how other species of bird easily accept the button quail. I have my two young males in with my diamond doves, and they all forage on the bottom of the cage together. It's the same with my zebra finch cage, they coexist with the buttons and they share each other's food.

 

[oldhen2345]

Thanks First Time Clucky. Cute story - don't ya just love sweet birds? I have an independent terror that caused me traumification this week end. One of the buttons got out of the big brooder and ran down the hall as fast as his little legs would go. I almost spazzed out because I have a bird killing dog in the house- luckily in another room. He wound up in my bedroom. This was Saturday Morning. I tried and tried to catch that little bugger. I had to put barriers in front of the closet doors and the hall door to keep him in the room- he would scoot under the bed and I could not get him out. I finally had to admit defeat and put out seed and water for him so he could fight another day. Monday morning- I finally caught him and put him in another container- popp- out he came and ran down the hall again - but made a left turn into the guest room. I had to work, so after work today, a friend came with me to catch him- FINALLY- he escaped her twice before we could get him caught for good. Now he is in the secure baby brooder and will remain there with his mate until time to go into his new habitat. Now I get to clean bird poop and seed from the hardwood floors in two rooms- we are naming him Scooter because he really can scoot. Not to mention moving all the furniture back in place- oh yea- company coming tomorrow to stay in the guest room- lol