diamond dove and button quail housed together

[GuineaFowling]

Can I house a diamond dove with button quail. The bottom of the cage will be fore buttons while the top is for the doves. Could any diseases be transmitted?

 

[dc3085]

No worries here but remember that buttons mate for life and breed best in pairs. It may be a little hard to get 2 pairs to get a long unless they have quite a bit of space. If you have 1 male and 3 female buttons you need to keep an eye on the females as they will often attack each other as they age. They are probably one of the most territorial quail I've come across.

 

[GuineaFowling]

So what happens when one of the buttons dies or gets separated? Does the other quail find a new mate?

 

[dc3085]

They will accept a new mate. If they were closely bonded they can die from losing their mate and not having it replaced. My first pair of buttons the female escaped and the male slowly wasted until he was scary thin. I finally found a mate for him about 2 months after he lost the first one and things returned to normal. Had I let him be he would have died on his own.