sexing button quail.

[Quailgirlie]

Hi, I bought three button quail in august. One died shortly after. They were young but fully feathered.
One has Some rusty vent feathers. The other is blue with brown striped pattern on wings and back.
I thought they were a pair but neither has layed an egg. Can you confirm my suspicions that these are both boys?
I know these birds need to live in bonded male female Pairs so I will try very hard to find some females and hope they bond. They haven't fought yet..


Quail number one.

And this is the other one.

I really look forward to hearing what you all think

Thanks!

 

[WalkingNorth]

the red vent feathers say male, also a bib or crowing. your second bird doesn't appear to have either, have you heard it crowing? they can stop laying for a lot of reasons

 

[GrandmaBird]

Number one is definitely a male. and two looks like a female. if she is not getting 14-16 hours of day light she may not lay. have you witnessed her crowing or just calling? my female makes a really loud call but it is way different from the males "crow".
If you want her to start laying now you can try giving them a full spectrum light, a 40 watt bulb is all you need but it must be full spectrum, for 4 hours or more every afternoon/evening and see if that causes her to lay. Or wait till spring and she should naturally start laying. Are you feeding a good quality of game bird food and extra calcium/oyster shell and plenty of grit to aid digestion? all these things can effect her laying or not. let us know if you have any other questions we can help with. and Good luck.

 

[MrNappy]

She may be eating her eggs (whole, yes they do it)

Give em 14 hours of light (artificial or real), 24-28% protein mix, calcium (oyster shells, chicken eggshells, quail eggshells), enough room 1 square foot, let em get comfy (know their surroundings).

First one is male, probably second is female.

Egg eating is due to anxiety, depression?, hunger, calcium deficiency, stressed, stuff like that.

Also, it's good if you give em some hiding places, they are flighty/scared animals.

 

[WalkingNorth]

If you use shavings for.bedding they might bury them also. the light is more important than you might think too, i didnt get a single egg till that light went up

 

[Quailgirlie]

Hi guys.

Thanks so much for the answers everyone was helpful.

They do get a good quality game bird food but I think maybe I'm not offering enough oyster shell so I'm going to make sure to stay on top of that.
Thy always have grit.
No shavings in their home.
I think the light May also be part of it.
I'm going to try all these tips and see how it goes.
Would love to hatch out some of their eggs. We just love these little birds.
I'm not sure about the calls and crows and who is doing which sounds.

We are hoping we can find some more buttons in different colours this spring.




Kylie

 

[WalkingNorth]

If you're interested in hatching you own Quailgirlie, you could try ordering eggs. I got a batch from soaringwings aviary in Alberta and she was kind enough to ship them to Saskatchewan for me. We got 6 from 24 eggs (shipping+my first time incubating contributed to the low hatch rate I think) and I got a great mix of colors including tux and one that I think might be a golden pearl when it matures

 

[Quailgirlie]

Thanks for the info that sound great.
I have never ordered or had eggs shipped before but I'd be willing to try!

I love the really light blue button quail, adorable!