What would happen if I left Coturnix with Buttons?

[Denninmi]

When I hatched some of my own eggs a few weeks ago, I got about 20 buttons. 4 days later, 3 of the roughly 10 Coturnix eggs I put in hatched.

The baby Coturnix were very small, from the very first eggs my young birds laid, and about the same size as the buttons, so I just put them all together.

Now, everyone is growing, and the 3 Coturnix are starting to stand out, kind of like 3 NBA players standing in line at a movie theater with the general public.

Do you think they will continue to be compatible, or will I need to separate soon for the safety of the buttons?

 

[warmfuzzyfeeling]

I've only tried this once, but I raised 7 button quail with 6 Texas A&M coturnix without any problems. They stayed together until all were fully feathered and nearly full-sized. Just to see what would happen, I later put these large coturnix quail in with a new hatch of button quail. They were just as good natured with the tiny chicks as ever they had been, although they did unintentionally step on them.

So, I think they should be perfectly fine together so long as you keep an eye on them for signs of aggression. You may find that if you try and separate them, the button chicks will be unhappy. (My button chicks seem to get pretty attached to anything resembling a 'mommy'.)

 

[Stellar]

I would separate them soon. Coturnix grow twice as fast as buttons and consume more feed, therefore the buttons may not get enough feed and suffer with nutritional deficiencies.