Aussie Finch Forum

I added a pair of silver quail when i first brought home my Gouldians. To be honest, i really dont know much about them except that they 'live on the bottom of the aviary'. I know little about them, their breeding habits etc. I was hoping they would have produced some eggs so i can gather up and place in a corner, hoping they nest...

Fine with the Gouldians, but 'fly up' when im shooing them with my foot to move away from the aviary door. Nearly impossible to hold in the hands as ive found they jolt their bodies forward in a sudden movement, often escaping from my clutches!

Decision to move aviary was made this week, so I havnt had a great deal of time to research this yet.

I have been watching this topic with a great deal of interest. I will be moving my big aviary onto the paved area in the next month, yippee.....just waiting for a nest of gouldians to fledge.

I was thinking about getting some quail to keep a check on any spilt seed. There is so much contradictory information. Seen some of the videos on youtube with them making that spooky noise . Yet other people say their quail are very quiet. Also by the amount of different types with such similar names there are, I want to make the right choice.

Button quail are tiny (thats very good) but I was reading about miniature button quail, is there such a thing? Painted buttons. Are these the same species, or bigger than buttons with different colouring? Then there are Japanese quail, Asian Blue, Chinese Blue breasted, Chinese painted, just to name a few

Another question. If the idea of the quail is to clean up the seed that gets to the floor so that mice are not encouraged wont leaving feed and water down for the quail do the opposite? I have seen an aviary on youtube where the owner had ramps up to different levels for the quail to access seed located higher up the aviary but I guess the mice could use these too!

How much are these birds in SA? I will be going to Camsal today to see if they have any I can take a look at.

What is the best ratio cocks to hens, Im not too bothered about breeding as from the little bit of research Ive been able to do it seems like when breeding one or other of the birds can go into "attack/kill mode" Can you keep a couple of hens together without too many problems?

These days I do not keep Quail,while they are nice in particular the Turnix group they can create problems.
They will call at night which possibly attracts Owls and Cats, also there are a number of my birds that nest on or near the ground and they don't want Quail annoying them. When scared they will fly often crashing into nesting brush and worrying nesting birds. I guess it comes down to personal choice.
These days instead of having quail on the ground I keep Skylarks instead, they worry nothing and by far the best singing species I have ever had.

Quail ID
King Quail,Stubble,Brown Quail etc have 4 Toes,They being 3 forward toes and one back.
Turnix Quail, Painted,Button,Red Chested,Red Backed,Black Breasted etc only have 3 Toes all facing forward no back toe just a heal.
The other difference is the Turnix hens lay the eggs and moves off and the male incubates and rears the chicks. Females boom or call in Males to breed with.
It is better when the male starts to sit you pull the female out and put her in an other aviary with a fresh male.
Turnix Quail are major scratchers and will create little circles through out your aviary. They are far more expensive and rarely lay more than 4 eggs and generally the male will only rare a couple. This family are good quality birds,more expensive but attractive as well especially the Black Breasted(to me at least)

E orix is right about the differences.

I have kept quails since I saw and fell in love with them in a Canberra pet store.
They are no trouble, when they breed I move mum/babies into an inside large brooder.
I have never had them call at night, and they are very quiet during the day as well, unless one of their flock has been removed, or escaped, in which case you will have some NO HAPPY CHAPPY QUAILS and they'll call all day.

Interesting about the skylarks.

I have a colony of 6 atm. would love for more, but mum isn't so fond of them.
I have a handraised silver male 'Skinnipeep' who will eat/take mealworms from my hand, and occasionally even comes for a snuggle on my lap in the aviary

Love the Black Breasted, I've got 1 f & 3m, but they are known to be bulldozers. The floor of my aviaries are covered with mulch for the softbills, & they can turn the entire floor over in a day.

One of the guys at Camsal said the button quail require a permit in SA now, so none of them for me. He also said the Chinese button are smaller and no permit needed if I remember correctly.

I presently have king quails in my aviary. I started off with one male and female. I tried to introduce another female and the one in there attacked her non-stop. So she was removed.
They have just hatched their second clutch of 5 chicks. In the first lot of 7 chicks 4 survived 1 female and 3 males. The father doesn't show any aggression to them at all. They are also very quiet... a well behaved father perhaps? or the mother wears the pants? haha

Mine are King Quail, commonly available in normal brown, silver and cinnamon mutations and best kept in pairs unless you have a large avairy or introduce a trio at the same time. Also known as Chinese Button quail. Personalities can vary but as Mother and I have been breeding a line each and use each others line for outcross purposes with an occassional new blood from somewhere else. We have had no trouble in breeding a quiet line that seldom spooks and flys does not attack the young until mum goes down again and sometimes not even then. And is quite fertile and quite successful at raising the majority of their chicks. I currently have 8 of them in my 3 avaries, so 2 trios and a pair. Did have a pied in the past but was unable to establish the mutation before I lost her. There is some dispute about wheather some of the shades are shades or mutations.
Always willing to have another colour.
LML

There are the three mutations that are available in AUSTRALIA.
There are about 150 mutations of King Quails worldwide.
I'm writing a book on king quails at the moment