Quail egg swap

[hypnofrogstevie]

I might stick with button then. Thank you for the info

. MAybe next year I will try pharoahs if I have some new cages built. Are they loud?

Sorry for all these questions. I am new to quail

 

[shelleyd2008]

My Pharoahs are out in the barn with the rest of the birds, so I don't know how loud they are. I have only had them a few weeks though. They are maybe twice as big as the buttons, but are still pretty small. I think the sizes are buttons are the smallest and A&M's are the biggest, with the Pharoahs in between

 

[hypnofrogstevie]

Thank you for that info. I cant believe how small these guys are. Tomorrow I will have some more pics for you guys. Fell free to use the pics as a background for your computer or an avatar if you like.

 

[FLOWERPOT]

They are cute!
my males are all silver, 1 is black and silver striped kinda,

Ill get pics of them tomorrow.

 

[justhatchin]

Redhen - My buttons I hatched out from eggbid are 10 weeks old now and have been laying for about a week. I have heard that some will set but after a week I decided to hatch them myself along with some of the corturnix quail eggs. They are bigger about 3x (Texas A&M and pharoahs are this type).

My 9 are in a 2 ft. x 5 ft. pen, I believe there are 4 girls and 5 boys. The males have been crowing for about 2 weeks. If you can catch them crowing you will know which is which.

Are you grinding the feed smaller? I believe the crumbs are too large. Also a good cat food can be mixed in with some finch food. something like 1 cup crumbs, 1 cup dry cat food, 1/4 cup finch food.

You have some nice colored buttons good luck.

Here is a pic of mine. Susan

 

[redhen]

hi susan..and thanks for the info!....some of yours look like mine..

..and thanks for the tips on the cat and finch food..great idea!..i will grind up dry cat tomorrow and add it to their feed...also, when can they eat differant types of food?...like apple slices, or veggies? thanks so much, Wendy

 

[shelleyd2008]

Quote:
Yes the A&M's and Pharoahs are both cortunix, but the A&M's are more jumbo, so I believe, and the Pharoahs are about half as big. I have never seen a grwon A&M, so I will let you know.

 

[hypnofrogstevie]

how loud do buttons crow? Is it as bad as roosters?

 

[Akane]

I have 2 males and 5 females that are about 10weeks old. No eggs yet. They all share a 48x18" aquarium without issue. I am going to seperate the different colors though and I think it's a bit crowded. I haven't found the males to be agressive as everyone says. They are territorial toward outsiders though. I removed a runt for seperate feeding and had a heck of a time putting her back in. I feed mine 22%gamebird starter supplemented with evo red meat bites dog food (42% protein) run through a coffee grinder. Then a container of parakeet grit and some millet sprays to entertain them.

The darker ones are easy to tell male from female. They will have very different coloring. The lighter ones you have to wait for a call/crow. Most of the time they just use a short sort of whistle sound that isn't that disturbing. I barely hear it from my bedroom.

Some pics of the different colors and males compared to females can be found here:
http://ncws.com/mcdonald/Birds.htm
http://www.zebrafinch.com/NewButtonquail/QuailMutation.html

One thing to keep in mind is buttons have a tendency to suddenly flip out and slam into the top of their cage. 2 things that help are first if you have an open top cage like an aquarium you can use spring loaded shower curtain rods, attach mesh loosely to them, and set them inside the edges so you have a top that gives and keeps the birds from slamming into something solid. The other option if you have a solid top is to put a light over them on a timer. I only have a little 15w aquarium strip light but it makes a huge difference. They don't get as upset about stuff around them while the light is on. If I turn on the room light while their light is off it's like someone started popping a bag of popcorn. They all slam into the lid repeatedly.

 

[monarc23]

Button quails are great pets for anyone who loves watching a little society of critters skuttle about without interfering with them too much, and or someone who enjoys genetics...because button quails surely are like "a box of chocolates" you seriously don't know what you'll get color wise (well unless you bred generation to generation of the same colors THEN you may get lucky to get some of the same colors other wise be prepaired for some awesome colors and variations)!

I feed mine game bird chick crumbles (i will until they lay), as well as ground up kitty kibble (and when I think about it wet canned cat food boy do they love that)! I also feed millet bird seed as a treat, boiled egg, bugs, grass clippings, and i havent fed them apple sauce yet (just blended up apples) but i am planning on it soon.

Ofcourse and grit, and oystershell.

I have right now a breeding trio in a 10 gallon tank with 1/2 inch foam taped to the top to keep them from hurting themselves when they play bonk or get scared and bonk. I also have two mcdonalds (yes mcdonalds) cup holders leaning on the back side of the tank, they hide in this and stick thier wee heads through the holes to eat and drink their food which is in the front of the tank. They occationally come out from behind there to walk around but mostly they are happy and safe in the back.

I plan on getting them a bigger cage for the winter then putting them outside once spring warms up this already chilly place.

I heard one of my buttons growl for the first time today...i had thought i heard their growl before but nope this growl is very distint. It almost sounds like someone pressing a very quiet game show buzzer lol!!! Very cute! Or that game where you pull the fake bones and such out of that guy and if you hit the sides he buzzes and his nose lights up that kinda noise but very faint.

My trio consists of one deffinate hen, she's a wild colored pied (white wing feathers), my male is a silver, and my other bird that i *think* is a hen is a cinnamon.

If she turns out to be a he i'll be removing the cinnamon.

I'd post pictures but i've already posted pictures several times on here hehe, but if ya wanna see em just let me know.

you can also check out my website i have a good bit of info on care and my own personal experiences with them on there.

By the way an adult pharoah coturnix is about the size of the american robin...and looks strikingly simliar from a distance! What i think it so neat is in the male american robin his breast is rusty red, in the coturnix it too is rusty red, in the american robin hen, the breast is speckled, in the coturnix hen, the breast is speckled! neat huh! LOL! I have a picture compairson of this too if anyone is interested let me know.

The jumbos are very hard to hold in one hand, so they're like a double sized pharoah.

They eat all the same bascialy that the buttons do but in a bigger amt...and the care is basically the same as well.

by the way noise wise, both buttons and coturnix are not loud at all. Both do quiet "pee pee pee" noises...people say it's Peeping, but it sounds more like they're litterally saying "pee pee pee". It's pretty much like they're whispering. As for the call, it is a whistle...whistle and you'l know about how loud that is. Both the male and female whistle, but the male sounds better at it.

They don't whistle all the time though only when they're happy i've noticed.

Or if you take one of their budies away from their tank...then one of the others will call "Hey where'd ya go!?"


Word of caution....clip their wings.....it will save you from dramatic escapes....they ARE escape artists...even with their wings clipped, i probably have one hop out once every two weeks! LOL! I always get them (they hop out when i open it up) but i've had some close calls. If they had their fligth feathers, they'd be crashing into my ceiling...not good.

Niki