Questions from a newby....help please!

[Aliyanna]

Hi! thanks for letting me join the group!! I really appreciate it.

These are photos of the abandoned quail we found in our yard. We found him about 2 months ago. He is growing and so affectionate and friendly.

I have had chickens and ducks and geese most of my life but never quails. Our baby is growing and seems happy and healthy except for shedding skin and for that we are putting coconut oil on the skin. We are feeding him canned cat food which is what the human society recommended and he loves it....along with a few berries and apple pieces.

We are unsure of the sex or kind of quail...all we know is that he lives up to the name we gave...Sweetie!
We keep fresh water and grit available and feed about 3 times a day now. Any help or suggestions would be appreciated....We really love having a quail in the house!

 

[quailsrock]

I believe that it is a female from the chest feathers and that it it a coturnix

 

[Aliyanna]

Thanks so much.....I didn't realize that those had the head plume. The coturnix are button quails are they not....I didn't think that these were indigenous to my area...I live in northern WA state.

Is the cat food a good choice for her? What about the skin peeling....is that part of molting??? When we had chickens and they molted they got pretty nasty looking but this comes off in fairly large chunks. She is changing feathers but not drastically. My chickens often looked almost bald!!

If she was a couple weeks or so old when we found her and we have had her for a couple months....is she full grown? She is the most affectionate little thing and my kids just love her to pieces....she rides on their shoulders and pouts if she has to go into her cage for long except for at night. She is quite vocal and shows no interest in other birds outside when we take her out.

TIA for all your help and for any help you can offer.

Aliyanna

 

[drumstick diva]

Looks like you have given her excellent care - what a doll.

 

[Binki]

Oh adorable!!! I don't have experience with quail other than coturnix but I've never seen a coturnix with the head feathers

Looks like maybe it could be a young Gambel's quail?

They are wild and have the tuft?

 

[Binki]

Also button quails are a lot smaller than coturnix, I would give it a high protein (at least 20%) game bird crumb feed (you can get a huge bag from feed stores for like 15 bucks?).

That should provide it with all of the balanced nutrition a growing quail needs because the cat food may be causing the skin problems. It would be ideal to switch her to the feed suited for her species.

Offering a dust bath may help the dander and comfort - quail adorrrrre dust bathing! Dry dirt or sand will do - probably want sand for in the house hehe and you can get sterilized playsand for a few bucks a heavy bag and for practically dustless there's chinchilla show sand option! Hehe

If you give her treats make sure she has grit to help digest it and only give about 10% of the diet in treats to make sure she's getting her balanced nutrition

Finch seed mix and oyster shell grit mixed with her feed in a tray she can hop into and scratch around (but it contains the mess!) would be fun and fulfilling for her too I use old wooden fruit boxes lined with newpaper and oyster shell grit is very cheap for an amount your quail will never use in its lifetime probably hehe. It can also use the sand as grit but might need bigger grit by now

 

[Binki]

Sorry to post again

I've been looking and California (valley) quail are in Washington and your chick looks like it so that's my final suggestion

 

[lomine]

Definitely not a Coturnix. I think the only wild quail in the US with crests are California (also called Valley), Mountain, and Gambel's. Your chick looks similar to all three but the older picture doesn't really match any of them. So I'm not really sure what you have there.

I agree that a bird feed would be much better and may solve the skin issues. Try to see if you can find a show bird or game bird feed with 24-28% protein.

I also agree that a dust bath is a good idea. However, I would not recommend play sand. It is very fine and can cause an impacted crop if too much is ingested.

 

[cmobley]

Looks like some kind of coturnix hybrid. Definitely has feathers of a female coturnix but no coturnix has head feathers.I would just google quail breeds and see what types pop up maybe you could match it to one. I always fed mine purina game bird startena its a 30% protein feed and they grew well on it.

 

[eHuman]

Not a gambel, I have 30+ on my front porch every morning and evening.