# button quail?



## ohiogoatgirl (Apr 1, 2012)

hello everyone 

i am wondering about button quail. i saw an ad for some on CL and hadnt heard of them. so of 

course, curious me, goes and looks them up.

i'm not finding a whole lot of information on them. its like three people with them shared 

their info and then the rest of the web just copy/pasted it.  :? 

my biggest questions right now are:

*size- they get to like 5 inches tall at most? are they worth keeping for meat? i mean if they 

are a little meaty then they look like they would be easy as pie to butcher. but isthe meat 

tasty or enough there to be worth butchering?

*eggs- i read that they "are egg producing machines" and that the females if not fed well will 

go right on producing eggs and take calcium from their own bones and eventually get so weak 

they cannot stand or walk. okay but how many do they tend to lay?! argh.... like one per day? 

two per day? one every other day?

*housing- i'm in ohio and i really dont think i would want them inside the house. for one i 

have a small room as it is and for two i'm not one for animal smells in the house. could i have 

them in a barn outside? even through the winter? the coldest we get is usually about 10*F and 

rarely lower. the barn is quite draft proof and i am working on a non-electric and non-flame 

way of heating the barn. i'm also wondering if it would be better to have a sort of large 

colony set up or  smaller family set ups. such as a "room" in the barn of about 5ft by 4ft and 

about 7ft tall. then i could have lots of shelves and ramps and perches and hiding places, 

which would in a way make it much bigger because they could get away from each other if they 

wanted to. and have fake vines and plants all about. and hay as bedding. OR do i want to do 

cages? i was thinkin family group set ups for cages. so a cage of about 2ft by 5ft and maybe 

2ft tall. and probably two adult pairs per cage. this give plenty of space for young hatchlings 

to grow up as part of the family. but i am wondering since they are only about 4-5 inches tall 

as adults how small their feet must be so what size wire mesh would i need for flooring? and if 

it was real small would that just be too much a pain in the butt to clean versus the colony 

type idea?

*feeding- i want to be as self-sufficient as possible. i found that they like millet, apple, 

cabbage, cucumber, broccoli, corn. they like mealworms and crickets (i'm not a bug/worm person 

though i dont imagine it would be hard to have a little mealworm or cricket "farm" bin but i 

have no idea what those eat). 22-25% protein feed is best. feeding mashed up boiled eggs with 

the shell (for calcium). i have read that turkey mash or non-medicated game bird feed is a good 

base. and i read that people who have large aviaries use the little button quail (which are 

ground bird but can fly a good distance) to live on the floor of the aviary to eat the spilled 

and otherwise wasted feed. and that they live entirely on the spilled feed. which to me doesnt 

seem like it would be all that much. 

and the incubation period is 16-21 days and they begin laying as early as 6wks old! 

so can anyone give me any more tips or info on these? thanks!


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## horseychick2 (Oct 8, 2012)

I have a pair of button quail. They are very small, I'd say about 2-3 inches tall. It's not worth raising them for food, because you'd need like 3 carcasses just for an appetizer. They're kept pretty much just as pets, but they are very flighty. The female lays one egg a day, and it's fairly consistent. They should be kept inside since they're so small and don't do well in the cold. But if you keep them in a heated barn they should be fine. I keep my two in a small animal cage with a plastic bottom. It's about 18 in high, 2 ft long, and a foot wide. They don't really like floors with wire bottoms, because they stay on the ground. Only time they're off the ground is when they get scared and fly straight up. I like your colony idea because it gives them a lot of room and seems more natural, but I'm not sure how they get along in big groups. For food, I give mine chick starter, and they do fine. Seeds would be good though, and so would the game bird feed because it has more protein. The females also need a lot of calcium because of the size of the eggs and frequency at which they're produced. My female hatched out 4 eggs a couple weeks ago, and the incubation period was about 16 days. They do start laying really soon too, like 8 weeks. It's actually really easy to raise button quail. I hope this was helpful and good luck if you do decide to get some!


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## Bossroo (Oct 8, 2012)

Button quil wouldn't be my first or even the last choice as a meat bird... much too small.  The most efficient quil for meat is the Coturnix.  Do NOT even think of a colony breeding group as all types of quil  males are very aggressive and will scalp or even kill each other after they reach sexual maturity.  Cages are much preferred as quail are very flighty and fly strait up, hitting the ceiling/ top wire and break their necks. Free ranging quail ( as well as other game birds) is out of the question as they go up, up and away to places unkown.   Provide cage top that is no more than 14-16"high x 12-16" deep x 24-36" wide. 1" x 1/2" mesh cage wire is preferred.    The cage bottom sloping to the front from the back  by 1/2" will allow the eggs to roll to the front of the cage for easy pick up. A battery of fairly small cages is preferred.   I provide 4-6 females for each male per cage.  Incubator hatching is preferred as most female quail ( as well as other game birds) will not incubate their eggs other than in the wild.  Game birds require a high protien feed 25-28%. Fruits and vegies are only an occational treet ( if at all).


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