I'm confused -- what is a Button Quail?

[Denninmi]

So, the birds that everyone is keeping as pets -- are they the TRUE button quail, family Turnicidae, genus Turnix (I don't think so)?

Or, are they Asian Blue Quail, family Phasianidae, Coturnix chinensis aka King Quail or Chinese Blue Breasted Quail (I think this is what they really are)?

Just a little confused on this one -- no one ever seems to give any scientific names when discussing them, just calls them button quail.

 

[jenjscott]

the pets are the chinese quail.

 

[warmfuzzyfeeling]

Hello,
We are just getting in to Button Quail and so I've been doing a lot of research on the internet. I've found that there is a lot of conflicting information on "button quail" and I'm still sorting it out myself.

Here are a couple of quotations with links which might be of use:

There are actually several different species of birds sharing the name "Button Quail", and they are all not necessarily related. The Button you will see pictured on my pages is commonly referred to as the "Chinese Painted Quail", and is a member of the order Galliformes, family phasianidae. The other birds that we call "buttonquails" are of the order Gruiformes, family turnicidae. These "buttonquails" are not commonly kept in aviculture, are quite difficult to breed, and in fact, there are only a couple of them in captivity in the U.S. at this time!

http://www.cyberquail.com/homepage.html#INTRO

The Button Quail -- Excalfactoria chinensis, is a delightful little bird commonly known as button quail or Chinese Painted Quail.

http://www.gamebird.com/button.html

But the best information I've found so far is here:

I have kept and bred Button Quail for 32 continuous years. Like to many of the birds I keep, they occupy a special place in my collection and I would never be without them. Button Quail are the most charming little game birds, and well suited to almost any bird collection. I can vividly remember seeing my very first one, and marveling at how small and colorful it was. That first vision has never changed and I still look at all of the many color varieties that I keep now an marvel at each one. Every single button quail mutation avaliable in the US, has come from our aviaries first, THAT IS FACT, NOT FICTION. I personally imported all of the newer colors (very single one) and introduced them to US breeders beginning back in 1987. I have also written and published my own book entitled The Care, Breeding and Genetics of The Button Quail. It covers every aspect of how I have kept, bred and raised these little quail during the past 2 decades. The following paragraphs are an excerpt from the book. For the entire story, buy the Book!! [email protected]

http://www.zebrafinch.com/NewButtonquail/MainQuail.html

I hope this helps rather than further confusing the matter.

 

[Denninmi]

Thank you. Confirms what I thought and helps a lot to clarify things.

 

[shelleyd2008]

I know of only a few people in the states that have 'true' button quail, the ones we talk about on here are the chinese painted or blue breasted quail, coturnix chinensis

 

[thatchickenlady]

Whatever scientific or other name you want to attach to button quail, one thing's for sure, they are a joy to own!

 

[Denninmi]

Quote:
Oh, I'm glad to hear that you feel that way -- I just ordered 25 eggs off of ebay from the man that runs the zebrafinch.com website.

I hatched 5 ducks and 6 turkeys already this spring, and I bought 6 isa brown pullet chicks (so I knew they would all be hens). Birds are addictive, I guess. My "flock" will be rather large by the time I'm done with all of these, since I already have 3 hens and 4 ducks.