Have I been sold duds?

[WalkingNorth]

Recently purchased 3 button quail from a breeder about 2 hours away, 2 females and a male. Ended up with a dead male within a day (was injured when she gave him to me) and now a have a cinnamon female with badly overgrown beak and a white female that's plucking my poor cinnamon despite them living in a HUGE terrarium.

I'm currently incubating a batch of eggs and hoping to produce 4 pairs, I was going to keep the two adult females as part of these but now I'm wondering if the aggression (plucking) and the overgrown beak are traits that will be passed on if I keep them as part of my breeding pairs.

So are these girls duds?

 

[aldren90]

The overgrown beak can simply be trimmed with some nail clippers but don't cut it too short or she will bleed. ( keep some corn starch and neosporan on hand if you do ( not that big of a deal) ). The girl that is doing the plucking is going to have an aggressive trait that maybe passed on in breeding and if the male was already sick the seller shouldn't have sold them to you! I think the white maybe a dud but just try separating her and giving her her own place for a while. That should work. Oh, and welcome to BYC!!!!!!!!!!! And p.s. there are some crappy sellers out there it happens to me OFTEN!!!

 

[WalkingNorth]

Thanks for the advice Cinnamon (creative name right?

) is my little darling, I was worried that the overgrown beak was a bad trait to pass on, her coloring is just beautiful but I think you might be right about Penny. Am I right to think it's a little weird that she is attacking the back of Cinnamon's neck though? In my limited experience the aggressive ones always go for the tops of the head?

Unfortunately I think you're right about bad sellers. There are always going to be some. I was over the moon to find someone relatively close to me with buttons, but I have learned and I ordered eggs from another province, hopefully can avoid the bad ones and get a good mix to start my own breeding pairs

 

[aldren90]

You should do well with eggs. I never have trouble with button eggs hatching. Just try to separate them first she might just be trying to display dominance but be careful because she might kill her also. Best of luck! Any more questions just ask!

 

[WalkingNorth]

Thanks Aldren90 separated them last night, was getting worried that the plucking might escalate. there goes my night's sleep. If I wasn't familiar with the male's call I would think they were boys singing to eachother, but the occasional egg says otherwise lol. Why in the world is Cinnamon calling for her friend when they spend all their time squabbling XD

 

[GrandmaBird]

I would double check that you have two females...sounds like a pair that just do not get along. If you are sure they both are laying then I would sell them both and get your pairs from your hatch. good luck.

 

[WalkingNorth]

I'm pretty sure it's two females, neither have the telltale bib and I haven't seen mating behaviours. I did keep quail years ago but the male's call doesn't sound like these guys. I think your advice is good, I'm not going to keep them for my breeding pairs. Hopefully I hatch a few, the eggs were mailed in -20 weather so it might be a miracle :/

 

[nothingbutbirds]

If the cinnamon has a really nice coloring she may be worth keeping.I have found it hard to find female cinnamons with good coloring (not to mention every female cinnamon I get finds some way to get itself killed :-( :'( )