GOT EM! (2 buttons and 2 questions)

[laughingull]

So we finally got them today!!!! 2 buttons, thanks for all of your help with cage questions, sexing etc.! Pretty sure it's a male and female- saw them breed in at the feed store, then one layed an egg on the car ride home. In the new cage the male (Pappus) has displayed offering the female (Fawkes) pieces of food, grass, wood chips and unfortunately poo. So my questions... 1) their bald backs are simply due to molting... right? I mean 0 feathers on the back between the wings- look like they are ready to be cooked up. 2) what color is she? (i assume the male is silver red breasted?) I decided to go with a cage for them- hoping the spacing of the bars isnt too dangerouse though the bottom 6 inches + is plastic so they cant really get to the bars to try to wiggle through (fingers crossed). Maybe i will post a pic of that tomorrow and ask again. Here they are (he is displaying with a piece of grass in this pic- she stepped right over him and went to harvest her own though).

 

[Stellar]

She looks like a cinnamon red breasted...if she is that red. The male is a silver red breasted.

I love it when the males court the females with bits of food and grass. SOOOO CUTE! The bald spots should heal over time

 

[shelleyd2008]

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How can you tell he is red breasted? All I can see is his silver

She looks like cinnamon to me, the whole picture looks 'that red'.

Unfortunately, the bald backs are from having too many birds in one pen, that's one thing they 'do' when in colonies or groups. They will grow back, though it seems to take forever! Lots of high-protein treats should help with that...and with little man's attempts at wooing his new girl

 

[Stellar]

Most of the silvers with the bibs have a pinkish breast so I just assumed

 

[shelleyd2008]

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Yeah, I've only once seen a 'true' silver male with a bib so I assume it's a red breast too, I just thought maybe you were seeing something I wasn't

 

[laughingull]

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Thank you quaillady!!!

I think the photo makes her out to be a bit redder and darker than she is- but she is still pretty tawny peach/pink colored. Yes, I am loving the courtship- though I think I am more responsive than she is at this point (not that my running over to the cage to see what he has found to show off this time is the response he is looking for!!!) Good- glad the bald patches will heal- they are huge, and I wish we were having warmer weather. I kept a heat lamp on them all afternoon and am relishing running my space heater in my room tonight. Haha the quail might actually improve my quality of life as I rarely pull out the space heater for myself (not that it gets that cold here in Southern Cali, but tonight its in the upper 40s and raining.)

 

[laughingull]

Quote:
How can you tell he is red breasted? All I can see is his silver

She looks like cinnamon to me, the whole picture looks 'that red'.

Unfortunately, the bald backs are from having too many birds in one pen, that's one thing they 'do' when in colonies or groups. They will grow back, though it seems to take forever! Lots of high-protein treats should help with that...and with little man's attempts at wooing his new girl

Thanks shelleyd! I will add meal worms to the menu tomorrow (higher protein than sawdust eh?) Yikes- so they were plucked, Argh. Not a good combo with the current cold weather, the space heater is doing its best!

 

[shelleyd2008]

Just make sure you don't get them too warm, 60-70* should be fine

 

[laughingull]

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Thanks! Poor little ones already got too hot today on their transit home- the place I got them put them in a paper bag and though it was cool out and in the car the stress drove their temps up. (Poor little girl laid an egg as we drove down the freeway). But not much danger of it getting too hot tonight- my space heater is set to 80 but I am still wearing my fleece jacket and warm socks so something tells me it is failing its own expectations.

 

[laughingull]

Another question- why is the gal so much bigger than the fellow? Is this usual? Is their sexual dimorphism in buttons?