My First buttons! need advice- Updated 2-17-09

[monarc23]

Mrs. AK-Bird-Brain :

Yes, they are both females, and look to maybe (Niki... tell me if I'm wrong, I suck at the colors!) silver mixes?

They do best with 1/4" hardware cloth for their feet, but can go up to 1/2" or 1x1/2", I've heart. Just watch that their feet aren't falling through.

Juicy fruits and veggies seem to be the favorites... cucumber, grapes, the like.
You want higher protein rations for the quail... 22-24% at the lowest if you can help it. Think about the size of the egg they lay... that takes a LOT out of them.

The one is deffinatly a hen (the one with the stripes) she looks like a redbreasted/silver mix if I had to guess colors (but im no expert at all those mixes you can get). The other one looks like a silver/blue faced male to me....if that's reallya blue im seeing on the face/chest it's deffinatly a male if not *shrugs* "idunno

All ya can do now is wait for the calls like Tori (ak) is saying, and eggies...but you will get eggs from atleast one of them (the stripped/tan one).

edited, you have a male female pair for SURE! I looked back at the pictures, the male (the one with blue on his face and chest) has reddish/rusty tail feathers! I just saw that now lol! Male female! YAY!!!

Congrats!

edted again: she was probably already laying before you got her, however, she make take up to 2 weeks before she'll lay for you...my button quail hen I bought from another breeder took a day over 2 weeks before i saw my first button quail egg! LOL! She may lay one tonight for you, and then not again for a few weeks so just be prepaired for that possibility.

 

[NancyDz]

monarc,


Cool Thanks! He does have reddish brown tail feathers... I didnt really notice that until you pointed it out. Right now they are only making low "cheep cheep" noises but last night they made a louder noise but only once so I didnt hear it too well or know which one it was.

Can't wait for eggs... my chickens have slowed down so much , even though it will take
quite a few quail eggs to make one chicken egg, it will still probably be more quantity than
my 6 girls are doing right now!


Nancy

 

[monarc23]

Quote:
haha MINI fried eggs! Barbie eggs! Oh my gosh that'd be so cute to do for a kid if you raise button quails hahah! Make a barbie omlet or fried eggs.

I entertain myself too easily

Cindy (lilralphieroosmama) has tried boiled button quail eggs said they were good I never have, but i have enjoyed a fried coturnix egg (right now im hatching any i get but one had a crack in teh shell so i decided to cook it and try it and YUM!

 

[Mrs MIA]

They ARE good... and tiny.

I have a batch of coturnix eggs pickling right now...

 

[citalk2much]

They are very cute!

 

[BirdBoy88]

yup that silver one is a male i notice it was as soon as i saw the reddish tail feathers

they both look cute

 

[citalk2much]

One looks like a slate or silver-red breast thou l am looking at the pictures on a tiny phone screen. The other looks like a blue face silver. Again hard for me to see them. The cage set up looks great
I would go no small then 1/4 on the hardware cloth for the bottom.
There's my 2cents that is about its worth LOL
As far as food I do gamebird feed toss the ones not in the aviary finch food give them greens and fruit mealworms and from time to time crickets

 

[Akane]

I was going to say male slate (slate=blue face + silver) and a silver red breasted or silver pearl female. Probably red breasted. The silver rb and pearl are nearly identical aside from the pattern and not having seen both I can't tell you the difference from a pic but the pattern should match which ever the base color is. Slate males have no markings or bibs. They are plain slate grey aside from the occasional reddish brown vent feathers.

I prefer to keep mine on solid flooring. They like it better and I actually don't find it any harder to clean than changing the bedding in a pan and cleaning the poop off wire. If I had a cage with a wire bottom I'd just remove it and use the pan underneath but plenty of people do keep them on wire so it's personal choice.

They should not have a seed based diet. Seeds are treats not a constant food source. It's best not to leave it available all the time. You want to find the highest protein non medicated poultry feed you can. They actually do best up around 28% protein but 22% or higher is acceptable. The better you feed the females they longer they are likely to live and lay. They also need a calcium supplement. Crushed up cuttle bone or liquid reptile supplements work since oyster shell is usually way too big.

 

[citalk2much]

Must be a slow day for my brain. I never thought about taking the test cover out just covering it LOL good thinking I use pine covered with Timothy hay in my cages.

 

[merry hens]

Wow you have some nice looking quail!

I agree that they look like male and female, though it can be hard to tell sometimes with the silvers.

I feed mine a mix of 1/2 lay crumble for chickens, and 1/2 finch/parakeet seed. They also get millet sprays, earthworms, bowls of chopped veggies (mine will eat just about anything if it is chopped up for their size, though they especially like lettuce and carrots). They do great on that diet. Mine are also in an outdoor run so I think they scavenge a lot of spiders and insects, which are high in protein. They love chasing after things that move. They also love seeds.

A lot of folks feed their quail a high protein (at least 21%) game bird mash. This works really well too.

When they start laying it is definately a good idea to mix some calcium grit in with their feed, because button quail lay a LOT and it takes a lot of calcium from their body.

As for the hardware cloth: big enough for their poops to fall through, but small enough for them to comfortably walk on. 1/8th inch maybe?

Good luck with your new quail!