Help on button quail color/sex?

[mmd5582]

Can anyone tell me what type if button quail and/or sex these two are? I think the first is some sort of pied, but not sure which. It has no rusty feathers on the vent or bib- does this mean female? The second bird I'm also not sure of, and also has no rust colored feathers on the vent.

 

[buttonquailtx]

The first one is a red breasted hen.

The second looks like a lightly marked tux (which is a specific type of pied). Those are harder to sex. In fact, the only ones I can sex on sight by color are red breasted tux hens. All others have to be sexed either by looking carefully for red vent feathers, vent sexing, or sexing by behavior.

How old are these two?

 

[GrandmaBird]

I agree. first one is a red breasted hen, not to be confused with the normal Blue Breasted. The other looks like a male tux or pied. they look about 7-8 weeks to me.

 

[mmd5582]

They're actually about a month old. How exactly can I vent sex the pied, and at what age does it work? I've had trouble finding good info.

 

[GrandmaBird]

try googling for vent sexing button quail and see if there is a site. I remember one but it was about 2 years ago so I a m not sure if they are still on the web. You can search for Stellar Gamebirds, she is in Florida I think and wrote a book about quail so maybe she can help. I don't think you can vent sex too early as you need to look for foam on the males, but I might be mistaken. maybe someone else will chime in on this topic. good luck.