mix types of quail

[quailmother]

after looking for a companion for my 10 month old, very tame male coturnix quail, i haven't found coturnix in my state, AR. previous experience with shipping them long distance was lethal.,
so i am buying 2 button quail females to stay in the same cage with my coturnix.
i would like advice from fellow quail people as to this plan.
thanks so much.

 

[James the Bald]

I'm confused. Please forgive me for asking this, but didn't you "re-home" 4 quail not long ago? Only because you asked, I would not recommend button quail. I do not know the original purpose of your reason to purchase quail, weather it was for eggs or meat, but I believe your roo can live a normal life without any hens.

 

[quailmother]

yes, i did re-home 4 quail. i had only wanted 1-2 quail in the first place. however, because i couldn't find any quail in my state and my attempt at hatching eggs failed , i ordered from a farm in west virginia. the minimum order was 6. the first 6 arrived dead. they were shipped USPS.they didn't have any hydration, plus the post office in little rock held them too long
i reordered 6 more and sent money for airfare. there was a confusion-because they were shipped by USPS again. this time i drove to little rock to avoid a long layover time. one was dead- the other 5 were fine.i wanted an indoor quail and 5 in our second bedroom soon got to be quite smelly. not only that i had their cage and play area floors covered with bath towels. i was doing a lot of laundry and because i had only wanted one- i re-homed 4 of them.
the guy who got my quail never paid me for the shipping as he said he would. he won't respond to several emails, phone messages. i sent a registered letter, just to be sure he got my letter- he still hasn't gone to his post office to pick up the letter.
so after that i decided to give up on seeing my payment or my quail again. i don't care about the money as much as how he is treating my quail. he said he used to have a game bird permit and had raised turkeys and pheasants. the quail were for his young daughter to raise. i guess trusting someone you don't even know was a hard lesson learned.
more than 1 person and some thing i read stressed the idea that you shouldn't keep just one quail.
so i thought that maybe if 2 types of quail could get along, i could try the button quail. they are smaller. and that would be less of an odor problem. our house is quite small and i am lucky to have a husband who puts up with my bird collection.
i know i sound like an irresponsible pet owner. i am really a good bird owner. i have pet birds that are thriving and they mean the world to me.
i should have learned more about quail before i bought them. and i will never re-home any of my pets again.