Welcome to Button Quail Heaven!!!
My Little Piece of Heaven
Hello from Button Quail Heaven!! We are located in a rural area in Michigan a little south of Grand Rapids. My name is Susan Henderson and I raise and keep several varieties of this special little bird and specialize in the Splash color. I sell hen raised chicks and incubator chicks locally. I also sell eggs and adults. Shipping is available in eggs and adults(over 4 weeks old)only. I recommend that you keep them in pairs. They are very social and do best if they have a mate. Contrary to popular belief, they do not do well in trios or groups. They are not flock birds and are only in pairs in the wild. I guarantee that you will have problems with fighting and feather picking if you keep more than two together.
Make Great Picker-Uppers
Button Quail are a sweet little bird that are fun to have. They make a great little aviary custodian picking up seeds that other birds have dropped. They don't fly much and can't perch so they spend the majority of their time running around on the ground. Buttons love to peck around the bottom to see what treats they can find. They have a habit of popping up when they are scared. Lots of people call this boinking. Because of this if you use wire cages they need the inside of the top of the cage to be padded. You can use carpet padding for this or even the large bubble wrap. If you don't pad their cage they may get seriously injured. We make our own cages out of 90 Qt. Sterilite clear plastic storage bins. We cut out a hole leaving just a small lip and duct tape screen to the inside of the top. These cages work great and keep all of the mess inside. I use pine shavings with hay over it for their bedding. They love to have a dish of play sand to bathe in too!
Pictures of My Quail
These are a couple of pictures of some of my Buttons. Above is my Red-Breasted hen, Pepper. She is surrounded by her 16 babies. Yes, that's right 16 that she laid, sat on and and they all hatched!! What a shocker! Down below is a Slate male. Slate is a combination of Blue Face and Silver together. These males can fool you since some do not have any bib at all.
What They Like to Eat
Buttons need a wide variety of foods to remain healthy. Their main diet consists of Gamebird/Turkey Crumble. A few times a week I mix in a little bird seed. One of their favorite treats are mealworms and small crickets. They love these and it is cute to see the male offer one to his mate. I also offer them egg, grit, bird greens and whatever fruits and veggies they like.
Contact Me
The best way to contact me is by e-mail which is listed below. I also hangout at the Button Quail Bulletin Board that I have linked up above. There are some very nice and knowledgeable people that frequent this board. You can contact me there as well. Look around the Button Bulletin Board as there are a lot of pages of info on these little guys and I have learned a ton from there.
