new to button quails

[OpalRaven7]

my 6 button quails are about 1 1/2 months old now, I am pretty certrain I have 2 males and 4 females. The males were trying to mate the females last night

but the females dont seem yet interested, at what age will they be mature and start laying eggs?

Also, the 1 male seems a little.... "odd"... I think he might have a nueroligical issue or something, when started he runs backwards tripping over anything in his way!! lol

Kind of funny, he eats and drinks just fine so it is not impeding his way of living, but I was just wondering if anyone had any thoughts on that or any experiences with buttons like that? He was chasing the females last night doing the "turkey dance" looking thing, but he would peck them and he was scaring everybody... I know the males grab the females feathers behind their neck to mate but he didnt seem to be doing that, just chasing and pecking... is that just because he is young?

There is just so much that they do that I dont understand!! lol I have never had any type of poultry birds before but I am glad I got the little guys, they are just so much fun to watch, better than TV lol

 

[KFCGirla(TM)?]

Quote:
mine will start laying at around 8 wks. i had a few do tht, and they were just fine!

 

[Stellar]

You should start pairing them up around 6-7 weeks of age. In the wild they don't mature until 8 months old and they should start laying eggs around 12 and 16 weeks of age. But they are monogamous and pair bond.

 

[OpalRaven7]

Aww I will feel bad separating them, they all sleep in a cute little pile... And I have 2 boys and 4 girls so it would be 2 boy/girl pairs, and 1 girl/girl pair...

 

[Stellar]

Did you hatch them out that way? I am trying to educate people on the pairing. The males will start courting their mates and once pairs are established, they will drive off "intruders."

 

[OpalRaven7]

I bought them from someone who hatched them, they were incubator hatched and they were all in the same tank when I picked them from the person I got them from even though they ranged from just hatched to almost a week old. I have kept them together since I brought them home, so they have been together since they came out of the incubator...
So is that why they were chasing each other around this morning... But "Pretty Boy" was chasing all the girls and pecking at them this morning, even the 2 he tried to mount the night before...

so how am I suposed to know who he wants? and "Big Girl" was also chasing the others. The only one who did not really seem to get chased this morning was "Backwards" ( the backwards running male who was chasing all the others last night)
This is all sort of confusing lol, so if I pair them off... that still leaves 2 single females... also how big of a cage/tank do a pair need?

 

[Stellar]

That would explain the behavior alright

A pair doesn't need much. They can be in a parakeet cage, a hamster cage, a cage with ventilation. The tanks work for brooding but not so great for adults unless you provide a lot of ventilation and clean it a lot. Pairs are most likely to hatch out their own young so you will have a good chance of getting some males for the two hens.

When my biddies are almost mature, I stick mealworms in the tank and watch the male court the hen he likes with the mealworm. If she likes him, she usually takes the worm. I then pair them up and see how it works out. Sometimes I switch pairs around if they are not compatible. It's like playing match.com but with birds.

 

[OpalRaven7]

wow this is a little more involved then I thought! lol They can eat a full mealworm? I have chopped them up when I ive them to them.
I uploaded pics of my "flock", if you want to try and see them... They are not the greatest pics, taken a week or so ago, the yellow and the yellow/orange one have changed a little in color since then...

 

[OpalRaven7]

Can 1 male be paired to 2 females or that wont work?

 

[KFCGirla(TM)?]

Quote:
nope, sorry.
buttons are monagomous in the wild, and should be kept that way