Skip wrote
> Any button quail owners here?  My pair consists of a dark grey male
chinese
> quail, (with very clear neck bib) and a common, brown female, (no neck bib
> and typical hide in the grass mottled brown colour)  From what I've seen
> lately, the female is acting like a dominant male, crowing and
territorial.
> The male is submissive, hiding often, has gotten a few head feathers
plucked
> and definately not territorial.  Could this be due to the female being
> bigger (and I suspect slighly older) and perhaps ready to breed, or maybe
> they are not as well matched as I initially thought?   Any suggestions or
> directions to another group or bard appreciated!

The hens are usually larger than the cocks.  It sounds as though your pair
is related e.g. brother and sister.  The male will soon become dominant.
Has your hen began laying?  Once they reach 6-8 weeks they begin to lay.
She will lay 7 days a week for several weeks.  Buttons are not usually good
parents, setting and raising.  So she may never set.  Just remove the eggs,
boil them for 5 minutes and feed them back to them.  Or try crickets and
mealworms, either fresh or canned, from your local pet store.  It will help
the hens live longer.  They use up calcium at a rapid rate due to their
extensice egg laying.
Good luck!

Paul, not Janet




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