cute as a button quails

[chika10]

your tuxedo is really pretty. i love button quails i only wish mine were more tame. they see me every day and all the time. i cant believe that joan just lays in your hand like that. my quails are all so flighty. my seperated pair are so noisy too . i played your video to them and the boy freaked out puffing up his wings and calling back it was funny.

 

[GrandmaBird]

they sure are cute..I love to listen to them talking to each other. My male, Henry has vision troubles (I think), he is calling to Stella quite often just to know where she is in the cage. He is happiest when she decides to brood for a few days and he can snuggle up to her and just be cool.

When she is not on the nest he calls to her to encourage her to lay and then mate I am trying to learn the difference in the calls. The crowing is a bit different if she is laying it is like Henry is saying come on girl you can do it! And if he wants to mate it is more like come here girl I want ya! lol
My main purpose of raising these birds was to give the young to the Raptor rehab group in my area to use in retraining the injured raptors (hawks, owl and such) to hunt and to make sure they can before release back into the wild. But I have to say I have not done that yet and I might not I really love the personalities these little birds have and I don't think I could give them away knowing they were going to be food. Funny I don't feel that way about the bigger quail or chickens but these guys tug at my heart strings. ah well Stella and Henry have a good home for the rest of their lives.

 

[gorabbitgo]

Don't let the pictures mislead you, my quail aren't really tame except for Buzz. They'll lay or sit in my hand, but only just long enough to snap a quick picture. Buzz will let me pet and snuggle her for a little bit before she gets fussy. I handle them very regularly so i think they've just become used to it.

I love how devoted Neil is to Violet. He picks through their food to find the yummiest bits and offers them to her first. He also sits right at the door of their pen so that he can be the first to grab treats and present them to her. He'll even jump to snap them from my fingers, and then lay on the ground to present them to Violet!
The rest of the girls shy away from my hands unless they see me holding a dish, though they will take treats from my hand if i hold very still. They preen and snuggle together and each has her own "i laid an egg!" announcement call. They get treats when i come to take the eggs so they usually let me know pretty promptly.

I actually eat the eggs they lay. They're quite small; it takes five or six quail eggs to make one chicken egg. But the extra work is extremely worth it. These eggs are so incredibly rich and delicious. They make the cutest deviled eggs, too. I made cheesecake with them yesterday (it took a whole dozen!) and my boyfriend and neighbor almost made themselves sick with the amount they ate. I think when we move and have a little more space, i'll let Neil and Violet raise a clutch of chicks. As it is, though, we live in a very small flat and there's just not enough room for another quail pen.

 

[chika10]

i love these birds too they really do have there own personalities im glad they didnt become food too.

i heard about how button quail relationships are really serious and that if you seperate the pair they become depressed and die. now that sounds more true with your pair neil and violet.

 

[gorabbitgo]

I did separate them once, briefly. One of my other females, Joan, was crying for a mate for, like, three days. Nonstop crying day and night. It was torture. So i switched Joan and Violet for a few minutes to see if maybe Neil would accept her. Three things happened:
-Neil freaked out and ignored Joan and ran around his cage calling for Violet.
-Whenever Joan got near him, Neil would attack her by grabbing her neck feathers like he was going to mate and then just stepping on her.
-Violet, in the pen with the other girls, became so upset that she threw up on herself and then laid down in a corner with her face pressed against the side of the pen and closed her eyes like she was dying.

After five minutes, i realized that this was not going to work out and i switched them back. Violet immediately popped back to life. She pecked Neil in the head very hard (like it was HIS fault) until he laid on the ground and let her stand on him, and then they spent the rest of the afternoon preening and snuggling. I felt super bad about not taking their commitment seriously and i won't separate them again.

 

[chika10]

i know when i switch up different quails in different cages it goes like that. its just chaos for me.

 

[chika10]

anybody else have something they would like to share?

 

[chika10]

come on keep the thread going about our precious button quails. does anybody else own button quails out there? pictures or just something to share

 

[robopetz]

Hi all,

I just adopted 3 one week old button quails. Ive had them for 2 days now. First off they are just the cutest tiniest things ever. Hahahaha.

My experience with them so far.... Day we brought them home I was already worried, all they did was sleep and sleep and sleep. Woke up the next morning only to hear allot of peeping and to find they had eaten all of their food. So I felt relieved that yay they were eating and healthy. Then, I discovered one of them had one eye closed shut. I didnt inspect it good enough when I went to go pick them out of the bunch. Well the one with the shut eye hasnt been eating the rest of the day and was just sleeping for the rest of the day. Well I let the lil one sleep all day and night. Before bed I was worried as it looked like the lil one was growing weaker. So I had to do something. So I took a soaking wet paper towel and dripped water drops on its beak. Thank goodness it started to drink, and drank allot. Next, I was like hmmm how can I get it to eat. I took the chick crumble mixed it with water and dipped a qtip in it and held it to its beak. Again, thank goodness it realized it was food and slowly ate it. Then ate more and more. Boy was I happy! Lil thing is now more active and is eating on its own. But, I've yet to see it drink on its own. So this morning I had to drip water on its beak again. As for the eye... Last night I wiped it with warm water then there was white stuff coming out, I'm assuming puss???? So I cleaned that up and it's good to know that it's lil eye is open its just swollen shut I guess and not just deformed. I dunno if its just me but the eye looks as if the swelling went down a lil. I'm continuing to keep a close watch on it. But in the mean time I'm so glad it's eating on its own and has lots more energy than before. It's even now fallowing the other two whenever they go exploring, before that one would just stay in the lil house where they sleep. Lastly, I have put a tiny dose of garlic powder in the food as it is a natural antibiotic. Sorry for the long ramble but I'll keep y'all posted.

 

[chika10]

i hope he gets better. i had an experience like that once. i woke up and checked on them and my cinnamons wing was twisted sticking up. i was so worried and didnt think she was goin to make it. she was about 6 weeks at the time and she was last to hatch and one of the smallest. i was so upset because i didnt want to try and snap it back. we looked closer and the wing was twisted stuck to her body by a piece of poop. so we cut that feather off. it just fell back in place i was so suprised. plus i have had quail skin their heads on the top of their cage loose tons of feathers. also had a quail get attacked by his twin brother in the ear and it took a few months and it healed. luckily it was pecked under his ear and he can hear. also after a hatch i had a lazy quail who sleeped the whole time bearly ate and drank. i thought i would lose him but a few weeks went buy and he was still alive and eventually gained some energy to play around. but the all the injured have healed. ive had to go through a lot. these little birds are strong and hold on. i hope yours gets better.