Quote:
That's definately true, but my buttons have been the only ones contributing to the budget so far. Everyone else has been "gimmie, gimmie, gimmieing", lol. The one huge benefit to buttons is that many pet stores will take them as trade-ins. They're also in demand year-round, instead of having the spring rush like some other poultry seems to have. Not to mention that a pair can be raised in a 10g tank or equivalent. They can be tempermental about laying, but once you've got them figured out, you're good as gold. They will lay an egg a day, not often missing a day of lay. They're also quiet birds, don't eat much at all, and are quite beautiful birds. Not to mention that they hatch in 16 days and start to lay in 6-8 weeks.
Please forgive me I dont mean to offend but other then a pet what is the purpose of them?
Pets mostly. They can be a money making pet if done properly. As someone else mentioned, they're a great clean-up crew for other birds. The eggs can actually be eaten, though I weighed one of them out at 4g, so it WOULD take awhile to make an omelette, lol. They can also be used as a feeder. Their eggs are small enough and they lay enough eggs to feed smaller/baby egg eating snakes/predator pets. The chicks are tiny (really, think bumble bee size) and can be used for feeding small/baby snakes. They also don't get very large at all, so even your "outdated" breeders can then be used as feeders to larger snakes. They can of course be used as feeders for other whole prey diets, such as for cats (just ask my cat, she ate a few of my baby button quail) or ferrets. The eggs can be blown and used in crafts, as can the feathers (either from dead or moulting birds). I've had requests for the blue and red feathers for fly tying.
