My New Button Quail, and Questions Too!

[BeckyBird]

Hi all! Well, I was surprised when my husband's friend gave me an early Christmas present--10 adorable young button quail! I fell in love immediately, and I just have some questions about them for all of you experienced quail people:0)

Ok, first of all, I wanted to make sure that these really are button quail. Here are some pics of them, in their temporary cage (working on a new one right now!) They are tiny, and not completely feathered yet--there are still some baby down feathers on their faces. Will the brown ones molt into different colors, like the button quail I see on the internet? Or will they stay that color when they grow up?

I read that most button quail are skittish of people, but these guys actually don't mind being touched. Will that change, and will they be skittish when they grow older? Here is a pic of me hand feeding them, and every time I fill up their food dish, they jump all over my hand.

Thanks for any advice you might have, and I look forward to getting to know all you quail moms & dads out there!

Becky

 

[monarc23]

those are coturnixs he he

 

[monarc23]

Quote:
You have A & M coturnix there (the pure white ones), you also have a few tuxedos (brown ones with white on chest), and you have normal browns. The colors you see now are their perminant colors.

They will get much bigger than what they are now, your chicks look about 3 weeks old, as long as you have them under lights in just a few days the males iwll start calling and you'll start getting eggs!

Welcome to the world of coturnixs!

 

[monarc23]

oh and you have two tibetans too.

Your one brown is deffinatly a male (rusty colored chest).

you can check out my post on coturnix quail care and info in my siggy below.

 

[BeckyBird]

Wow, thanks Monarc! Ok, I'm going to go read your information about them, and I'll check back soon!

 

[monarc23]

felt like helping wiht colors and sexes i could tell

A & Ms, Tibetans and tuxedos you cant tell by looking easily if at all....you tell by who lays and who calls, and at breeding time the males have swollen bums that foam comes out of when pressed.

 

[monarc23]

Quote:
you're very welcome!

 

[spookyevilone]

Quote:
I don't think that's a tux. That looks exactly like my bobwhite crossbreed, who's part tux, but has the extra bib. The head shape looks off, too. Huh. Neat!

heh.. that's how I wound up with Coturnix too.. someone said they were button quail. Compared to my actual button quail, they're HUGE.. but so much friendlier.

The ones I had that were friendly as babies are still friendly now. Even the skittish ones are easily bribed with mealworms.

You'll love them. They're awesome. Just make sure you have enough hens for the roos or you'll have a heck of a racket on your hands come spring.
-Spooky

 

[monarc23]

Quote:
I don't think that's a tux. That looks exactly like my bobwhite crossbreed, who's part tux, but has the extra bib. The head shape looks off, too. Huh. Neat!

heh.. that's how I wound up with Coturnix too.. someone said they were button quail. Compared to my actual button quail, they're HUGE.. but so much friendlier.

The ones I had that were friendly as babies are still friendly now. Even the skittish ones are easily bribed with mealworms.

You'll love them. They're awesome. Just make sure you have enough hens for the roos or you'll have a heck of a racket on your hands come spring.
-Spooky

nope,that's a tux, it's just not a nicely marked one. it's not a mixed breed promise. I have a few tuxedos that arent nicely marked as well. I still call them tuxes though as they're not a pure tibe or a pure tux. A tux is produced by an A & M being mixed with a Tibetan.

 

[BeckyBird]

What an informative article! I loved it. You know so much about quail!
Thank you for identifying the babies too--I obviously had no idea what they were!
I'm glad you showed photos of your quail pens. I built a pen last year for my call duck pair, but they didn't like it. They would rather live in the ground pen with the wood ducks. So, I have one empty pen that looks a lot like yours, and it would be just perfect for the quail when they get older. Good, that saves me the trouble of building a new pen, lol! It seems that whenever I have an empty cage or pen, something always comes along to fill it up!
Well, thanks again for all your help, and I am off to do more research!