Everything About Button Quail!

[Lilorp14]

Hello everyone,

I saw some 3 day old button quail chicks at a poultry swap yesterday and fell totally in love. I plan to get some this fall, but I know basically nothing about them. Any and all tips and tricks would be greatly appreciated. I also hope to breed, so breeding-related tips would be great too.

Thanks,

-S

 

[Unexpected chicken lover]

@ButtonquailGirl14

 

[Fishkeeper]

They're sort of like hamsters in general care. Tiny, fragile ground-dwelling prey animals.
You keep them in pairs, otherwise they fight. They aren't flock birds. One male, one female.
Minimum enclosure size is about 2' by 3'. Aquariums are OK as long as there's plenty of air movement for ventilation. Animal cages with close-together bars also work. Whatever you put them in, pad the inside of the top. They jump up when startled, and they can bash their heads pretty hard if there isn't any padding or a canopy of fabric to catch them. They make almost zero use of height, don't bother with a tall cage.
For enrichment, give them a little box full of fine sand to dustbathe in and brush or potted plants to hide under. They'll also use small perches (rocks, branches, etc) to jump on, something that resembles a hollow log they can hide in, and some wicker cat toy balls they can throw around.
They'll eat gamebird feed. If the crumbles seem too big for them, use a mortar and pestle to grind it up smaller. They should also have grit and oystershell, though they might dustbathe in it more than they eat.
Don't ever let other pets near them. Cats and dogs, in addition to scaring the little guys, have bacteria in their saliva that can cause lethal infections from no more than a curious lick or nip.
Try not to put too many bright lights or sources of loud noise near them. Remember, lots of things like to eat button quail.

 

[DK newbie]

This one answers many questions:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...rmation-aka-button-quail.420619/#post-5137331

I aggree with most of what Fishkeeper says (not sure about the hamster thing though! ^^) but would like to add that mine completely ignored my cats, as long as the cage was a box style cage that was only open (with wire) on one side (not the top) - the cats could climb around on the wire and the quail would barely look up. It's true that cat saliva can kill birds, but it needs to get into a wound to accomplish this - my cage (self built) had a board at the bottom and then wire above that and the wire was so small the cats couldn't fit their paws through the holes, so the birds would have to jump into the wire for the cats to stand the slightest chance of even touching them.. I also find that buttons quickly get used to loud noises. A chainsaw working a few meters away is no issue at all, once they've heard it a few times.

With regards to breeding, some buttons go broody every time they have 5 eggs, some never go broody at all, so you might need to incubate the eggs if you want chicks.
If you prefer the natural way, big cages with lots of cover improves the chances. They like making their nest in hay and in places where you can barely see them, so a little hay behind a spruce branch or artificial plant in an enclosed corner of the cage is often where mine nest.

Any specific questions, ask away.

 

[Lilorp14]

This one answers many questions:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...rmation-aka-button-quail.420619/#post-5137331

I aggree with most of what Fishkeeper says (not sure about the hamster thing though! ^^) but would like to add that mine completely ignored my cats, as long as the cage was a box style cage that was only open (with wire) on one side (not the top) - the cats could climb around on the wire and the quail would barely look up. It's true that cat saliva can kill birds, but it needs to get into a wound to accomplish this - my cage (self built) had a board at the bottom and then wire above that and the wire was so small the cats couldn't fit their paws through the holes, so the birds would have to jump into the wire for the cats to stand the slightest chance of even touching them.. I also find that buttons quickly get used to loud noises. A chainsaw working a few meters away is no issue at all, once they've heard it a few times.

With regards to breeding, some buttons go broody every time they have 5 eggs, some never go broody at all, so you might need to incubate the eggs if you want chicks.
If you prefer the natural way, big cages with lots of cover improves the chances. They like making their nest in hay and in places where you can barely see them, so a little hay behind a spruce branch or artificial plant in an enclosed corner of the cage is often where mine nest.

Any specific questions, ask away.

My father had Button Quail as a teenager and he would have 3 females to a male. He never had a problem with fighting. Same with the breeder im going to get them from, she has 3 pairs per 40 gallon breeder tank, no problems. Is 3 females the max you can have per male, or can it be more like five? I've heard both...

 

[DK newbie]

My original breeding group was 3 females and a male, because the guy at the pet shop said the male would mate a single female to death.
In general, they have been doing okay together, at least they did at first, but they live in an aviary - I don't think they would have done well in a cage. And actually, they are not doing all that well anymore - they have been plucking each other for more than a year (I think it's mainly one hen doing the plucking, as she still has her feathers), so they look horrible.
This may or may not be because there are too many females, but I have since tried both pairs and trios and in my experience the trios don't do well in normal cages. I had two sisters that grew up together, then I bought a roo for them and everything was fine for several months - then one sister started chasing the other. Not all the time and not to the extent she got hurt - in fact I might not even have noticed if they didn't live in my room - your breeder might not have noticed any problems, but that doesn't mean they are not there. Chase she did, so eventually I put them in an aviary and I haven't seen any chasing since.
That's not to say pairs are always great together, though. But in my experience, trios are worse. So I'd go for pairs - unless you have aviaries for them, in which case trios might be as good as pairs.
Or you could be lucky and never have issues at all, even if you keep groups of many hens to a male..

If you do want to try to breed naturally, trios also tend to cause issues, because when one hen goes broody the other will often keep laying in her nest, meaning there are way more eggs than she can cover and she'll switch back and forth sitting on different eggs, so the eggs go cold in turns.

 

[jaymean]

I have 4 female buttons that are kept indoors (as pets). The original pair have been going strong for 2 years now. I have 2 buttons per cage. I tried to get them to live together, but the new pair were extremely aggressive, even in neutral territory.

I live in an apartment and they are noisy! One bird will start making noise and then they'll all jump in.

They are great nest makers and diligently sit on their eggs. I have coturnix quail as well (1 male and 2 females), and they are terrible at sitting on their eggs.

The biggest issue I've had is them flying up in their cages at night and their head feathers getting messed up. My boyfriend lined the top of the cage with padding and we didn't have the problem after that. Aside from that, they are easy birds with fun personalities.

 

[ButtonquailGirl14]

They're sort of like hamsters in general care. Tiny, fragile ground-dwelling prey animals.
You keep them in pairs, otherwise they fight. They aren't flock birds. One male, one female.
Minimum enclosure size is about 2' by 3'. Aquariums are OK as long as there's plenty of air movement for ventilation. Animal cages with close-together bars also work. Whatever you put them in, pad the inside of the top. They jump up when startled, and they can bash their heads pretty hard if there isn't any padding or a canopy of fabric to catch them. They make almost zero use of height, don't bother with a tall cage.
For enrichment, give them a little box full of fine sand to dustbathe in and brush or potted plants to hide under. They'll also use small perches (rocks, branches, etc) to jump on, something that resembles a hollow log they can hide in, and some wicker cat toy balls they can throw around.
They'll eat gamebird feed. If the crumbles seem too big for them, use a mortar and pestle to grind it up smaller. They should also have grit and oystershell, though they might dustbathe in it more than they eat.
Don't ever let other pets near them. Cats and dogs, in addition to scaring the little guys, have bacteria in their saliva that can cause lethal infections from no more than a curious lick or nip.
Try not to put too many bright lights or sources of loud noise near them. Remember, lots of things like to eat button quail.

Great Advice!!!

My father had Button Quail as a teenager and he would have 3 females to a male. He never had a problem with fighting. Same with the breeder im going to get them from, she has 3 pairs per 40 gallon breeder tank, no problems. Is 3 females the max you can have per male, or can it be more like five? I've heard both...

it is un-natural and unhealthy for the birds, you really should consider what is best for them and what works.

 

[Fishkeeper]

Three to five females per male is the recommendation for coturnix quail, which are flock birds. Button quail aren't flock birds. If you put a bunch of them in a big enclosure, they tend to pair off, like bobwhite quail. If you get lucky, you might find a group of more than two that gets along, but they can seriously injure or kill each other if they don't get along or if their opinions of each other change. It's not worth the risk.
If the female has space and hiding places to avoid the male, they'll be fine in just a pair.

The breeder is potentially focusing on profit rather than the animals' welfare. How do you know there are no problems? Have you sat and watched the birds for long periods of time to be sure? I wouldn't put three pairs of buttons in anything less than triple that space, with a lot of cover and escape routes.

 

[ButtonquailGirl14]

Three to five females per male is the recommendation for coturnix quail, which are flock birds. Button quail aren't flock birds. If you put a bunch of them in a big enclosure, they tend to pair off, like bobwhite quail. If you get lucky, you might find a group of more than two that gets along, but they can seriously injure or kill each other if they don't get along or if their opinions of each other change. It's not worth the risk.
If the female has space and hiding places to avoid the male, they'll be fine in just a pair.

The breeder is potentially focusing on profit rather than the animals' welfare. How do you know there are no problems? Have you sat and watched the birds for long periods of time to be sure? I wouldn't put three pairs of buttons in anything less than triple that space, with a lot of cover and escape routes.

x2