Little Button Quail

[mr.fox]

Howdy all. Just wondering if anyone out there is keeping and breeding the Little button quail at all?
I had some success with my original pair about 5-6 months ago, but since then have had a run of infertile clutches. I swapped the hens around and paired the old birds with younger mates in the hope that this might help but still getting clear eggs. Maybe it's just the wrong time of year. It's been so cold, wet and MISERABLE here lately ( a REAL winter at last i s'pose). Both hens have been madly laying, but I haven't heard the hens giving their booming courtship call for ages so maybe they are just not quite convinced that it's time to go ALL the way yet. Anyway, hopefully things warm up again soon and Little babies start coming out everywere!

[Pete Sara]

is it the button quail that the male incubates the eggs? I have a friend who had them for a while and if its the same type had two males to one female and moved her between cages as she didnt sit on the eggs......pete

[Diane]

I have a pair of button quail that have laid 8 eggs, the hen is doing the sitting.

but I haven't heard the hens giving their booming courtship call

Ive been hearing a kind of "whoo hoo hoo" call, I thought it was the male that was calling
These are the first quail Ive kept so I have no practical experience with them.

[E Orix]

When you refer to Button Quail are you meaning the common King Quail which is called Button Quail in some countries or the Australian Button Quail which is in the 3 toed Turnix family.
The King Quail comes in 3 common mutations Cinnimon,Silver or Normal. the male all have the white throut feather colouration.
The Aust.Button Quail only comes in the various brown shades.
The female calls(booms) and brings the male to her,she will lay 3 or 4 eggs then depart to start the process over again.
Button, Red Chested, Red Backed are alot rarer and alot more expensive,from memory they are over $150 per pair where King Quail are only a few dollars a pair.
Their management is quit different.

[VR1Ton]

Red-Chested (Chesnut-Breasted) run out at $150 a bird, Black-Breasted $200-$300/pr, Littles $160-$300pr, Red-Backed last I saw were $400-$500pr, Painteds $160-$250

Try adding another cock to the cage to try to entice her, but keep an eye on them , just incase the other 2 give him a hard time.

[mr.fox]

I'm refering specifically to the Little Button quail (Turnix velox) NOT the King quail (Coturnix chinesis) You need a permit to keep all button quail species in SA, don't know about the other states. The usual breeding roles are reversed in all button quail species, ie. the female is the bigger, dominant bird and she courts the male with a low 'oom oom' call. After she has laid the eggs, the male takes over the incubation and the rearing of the chicks. Generally, the hen has no further part in looking after her offspring, but some females will assist with both incubation and rearing. My old hen will sit with her mate, but I generally remove her once the male begins incubation as I'm worried that she will provide an unwanted distraction to him. I have thought about trying them as a trio (1hen/2cocks) but worry about inter-male aggression. Guess I'll just wait for the weather to warm up. By the way, the males are absolute perfect little dads, when I had kings years ago, they total brutes!
I paid $100pr for my Littles a year ago (remember seeing a box full for 20 each at a bird sale 10years ago!). Black breasteds about 2-250? last time I saw them. Painteds extremely hard to find in SA!!

[VR1Ton]

Not too common anywhere these days, nor are the Littles, you see more Black-Breasted & Chestnut-Breasted(Red-Chested) than either of the other two, yet the Littles & Painteds are off license, Black-Breasted are a basic, & Chestnut-Breasted are on advanced. Can't figure them out myself.

[Jayburd]

would like to get littles one day.

Interesting birds, like everyone else said, 3 toes, male incubates, hen is more brightly coloured etc. etc. etc.
wish I'd see boxes full of them for $20 each at our sales!!!!
though lots of boxes with a pair/trio each would be much better.

Wattle Aviaries often has button quails. www.wattleaviaries.com but it's a bit expensive + too far for me

[mr.fox]

News; original male is on 3eggs again. I think that I'll remove the hen tommorrow and see what happens this time around. Noticed that my younger hen lays much larger eggs than the old girl. Anyone experienced this sort of thing before with any of the quail species?

[Jayburd]

I haven't really noticed but now I think of it my king hens do.
wish I lived in SA, LOVE the littles SOOO want some!!!!