CARE

Caring for a button quail is not very difficult. Whether you are using them for your aviary or keeping them as pets, they are cool and easy to care for pets. As for feeding them they need a mixture to be healthy. They need a little vegetable (tomato, broccoli, cucumber, sprouts and a few others). They also need a variety of seed (millet, hemp and others). Do not pay too much for food button food should be about 0.30 cents per pound so look around but be aware of course not all food is this cheap. They will also need live food which can be disgusting but you can buy relatively cheap tiny grasshoppers, crickets and mealworms at your local feed or pet shop, or get fly larva and small maggots from a yard where you are sure that there are no pesticides or anything harmful near were the maggots were found. Before giving them meal worms be sure to cut their heads off because if the button eats them whole the meal worm may live for a short time in the bird and cause SERIOUS damage.

Buttons also need grit and minerals like many birds to help their digestion and stay healthy. They can get this grit in a small bowl because they like to sit in it and get it all over their body--kind of like bathing except in rocks. They will need access to water in a shallow bowl. Keep in mind buttons aren't that tall especially when they are young. Some people put marbles (or clean rocks) in the water so they do not walk in it and track nasty stuff in. And also so they don't drown. You will have to change the water often and make sure that it doesn't go dry or get tipped over. You can also come up with your own tricks as long as you make sure your button can still get food water and everything else.

Buttons do not require a fancy habitat. They will need a couple of hiding places because buttons are easily scared. Such things as shoe boxes with a whole cut in or overhanging branches work well. As you can imagine, because they are so little they are easily scared and will fly straight up when they think they are threatened. If they hit their heads they can be hurt badly. I will get in to this more in TIPS, TRICKS, AND SAFETY.  There are all sorts of things you can use for their home so use your imagination. Keep in mind they are ground animals and do not fly up and perch on things so that will not be important. If you wanted button quail for your aviary don't get scared off just yet until you see my aviary page.

Females need a little extra care. This is because they lay eggs of course. They will need extra calcium for because the outside of eggs is pure calcium. So you must make up for that calcium lost in laying. The quail can lay an egg a day for nearly her entire life. You can get calcium by buying it crushed or you can buy a supplement and crush it on your own (this can be much cheaper and is not that difficult). If your female does not get calcium this could shorten her life severely because this depletes their body of the calcium they need. They will also need extra protein because the inside of her egg is pure protein. Now you can make up for this by feeding her layer pellets at the feed store or if you prefer it's back to beheading mealworms. So really it's not that big of a deal. Anything for your button, right? Most females will have no desire to sit on their eggs so you will have to incubate them if you want them to hatch.. I will get in to this more in HATCHING.

First I will start with some tricks that you can use. One of the tricks that seems to work well is the marbles (or clean rocks) in the water. This is so that your button doesn't walk in the water and track nasty stuff in. And also so they do not drown. Another safety tips are to put something soft on the top of your buttons enclosere. When they are scared (which buttons often are) their first instinct is to fly up in the air and they can hit their heads causing serious injury or even death. Buttons do not fly actively mostly when they are scared. So this is not anything hard to do but it could save your button's life.

As with almost all pets you will need to find someone who is knowledgeable about your button quail. It is a real smart thing to do ahead of time. Because if your button gets hurt the last thing you want to do is open a phone book and start searching. So there are many advantages to finding a vet early. And it shouldn't take you that loong to find a knowledgeable quail/bird expert.

Here sacramento button quail page and Amazon.com have teamed up to help you find some great quail books. About quails all over the world from nutrition to color. So check it out.

To hatch buttons you will need an incubator. This is a climate-controled device that creates the ideal conditions for hatching your quail. The climate is supposed to be about 99-101 F with about 85-90 percent humidity. These start about 40 bucks but when you get everything you will need your are up to about 70 bucks. They can be as expensive as 700 dollars for an industrial size chicken roller. You can also rig up your own. This can be tough or easy depending on what you happen to try. The humidity should be high but there should be no persperation on the eggs so if you can rig up something that can manage all of the above go for it. The eggs should also be rolled about once every couple hours so you have to be sure you can open up the incubator with out upsetting the conditions. Some people say they do not roll them and they do hatch but others swear that that's insane. So find your own methods. Most females will not have any intrest in their eggs. If you think you have one that might let her give it a try.but most will not. The eggs do not have to be incubated right away. They can wait even a few weeks to be started but ounce you start you cannot stop or they will not make it. It should take from about 16-20 days for them to hatch depending on the heat. But if they do not hatch within that time frame leave them a bit longer and see if it works out.

Now let us assume you were looking for a button quail for your aviary. You read the care page and totaly fliped thinking you just wanted a little bird to clean up spills. Having a button for your aiviary is fine as long as you keep the bottom clean and make sure it can get to food and water. As for all the special diet requirments, you can give some of these to them about once a week. So give them a little vegatable and try to make sure you other birds don't bully it away. As for calcium, just give them a little in a dish. Make sure they are not overcrowded or they shall start to fight. As for the eggs you should find out what you will do with them ahead of time. They do not need to be hatched. To hatch them you will need an incubator. You may choose one sex but this may create problems and it might work out. So you can give it a try if you like. The females will lay eggs even without a male and although they would not hatch out the hens would still they would still need extra calcium and protein.

When caring for new born buttons one of the most important things is making sure they can get to food and water. Often times people make the mistake of giving them a large bowl. There is no way they could possibly drink out of it. Instead you should use a lid of some kind like a shallow apple sauce lid. If you are waiting for an egg to hatch and it seems that it has opened tho top but cannot get out it may need a LITTLE help. Sometimes the egg can have a tough membrane on it that the button cannot brake. In this case you open it up a little. If the top of the egg has been pushed up and the button can't get outt for an hour or 2 this is when you should help a little. Some eggs do not hatch at all because they just don't develop. You have about a 50% succes rate. When a button makes just a little peck hole, do not, I repeat do not, mess with it. They can make peck holes days before they break out of the egg. After they are born many people suggest leaving them in the incubator for an hour or so (while keeping an eye on) until their feathers are fluffy and they are dry. You will need to put them on a heat pad with a red 25 watt light. The temperature should be decreased by about a degree a day until they are old enough to no longer need the pad. The best enclosure for them is a tuperware box with a heat pad and a light shining on them. This is because they are so small they can squeez through the bars on a cage. And they try to move and get off the heat pad and get stuck and chill.Complications can happen until they are about a week old. No matter what you so some chicks will die because same as humans sometimes there is a defect. But after about a week they should be pretty stable. As for food they will need something like non-medicated chick feed which you will have to grind smaller with a cofee grinder. As for habbitat just make sure there is good heat. And places where they can escape the heat if they get too warm. Make sure there are no tight spots that your button can get stuck in.

To get started with buttons here is everything you will need to do and get. For starers get grit for the bottom of the cage. Oyster shell grit works because it is cheap and your bird gets calcium as well. You can buy a cheaper grit and mix them together also. Then go out and buy your self a cage. This can rage anywere from $10 at a garage sale to a couple hundred at the bird store. When picking your cage make sure that young buttons cannot squeez through bars. For infornation on new hatchling's enclosure see NEW BORN CARE. Make sure it has enough room for all of them and that it works for all your needs as well. The cage does not need to be very tall because they are ground dwellers and do not need the height as much but will need a top. Then you can make them a few little hiding places. That way they have places they can go when they are scared. Make sure they have easy access to water and food which should be sprinkled around. Their food should cost about 30 cents a pound. Usually you can buy it in bulk at feed stores for about 3 bucks for ten pounds. Same goes with crushed oyster shells and grit. So not a lot of expence there. Now you should start looking for buttons. Call a few stores and check prices or you can order them. You should be able to find a quail from about 5-10 bucks depending on where you live. I suggest you get at least two because a solitary bird would feel very insucure. Make sure that the quail appear healthy and that they have some energy for running around and don't just lay there not moving at all. After you have purchased your quail you should put him in his cage and give him/her some time to settle down. Shortly after or perferably before you should pick a vet knowledgable about birds. I sugest you do this before hand because you don't want to be flipping through the yellow pages when you have a sick bird. So this is a low cost bird. You can feed them for pennies a day and the bird isn't real expensive your cage is the biggest cost and in return you have a lot of fun watching them..

Quail can be an interesting inexpensive hobby or pet. The possitive aspects of having button quail are that they are a fun inexpesive pet. Although you should get more than one because a singleton would feel very insucure. They mature incredibly quickly. The age difference is obvious even in 2 day appart hatchlings. It is good for kids to learn about animals and have the responsibility for caring for them. Buttons are not a hugly time consuming pet. But you get what you put in. Don't expect them to be your best bud if you just toss them a little food every day. You will need to spend some time with them so that they can get used to you and be your friend. So basicly you have got a fun pet for kids. It's fast growing. It's inexpensive and it's so cool.

As with all pets though there are issues and responsibilities. You will have to make sure that your birds have fresh food and water and that their cage or enclosure is kept reasonably clean. If you are not willing to care for you birds on an ongoing basis you should not get them in the first place.

Also you need to be able to deal with the fact that not all of the baby chicks you hatch will live. Even with proper care, some of the chicks will not survive the first days of life. Also, when your quail start laying you cannot hatch out every egg as you will soon have too many birds. You need to consider how many birds you can handle or find an outlet for the extras..