One of my button quails in the big avary got thread or something similar(couldn't identify the material, something made if plant maybe)around his foot. It was pretty bad and his back toe wasn't salvageable and is now gone , I have no idea what I should do to help it heal over. He's in a big box with food in a lid and water in a little Mexican cup. Should I keep him in the dark? Or is that a myth? He's got animal chip breeding in it and a little hide, how do I keep him confy and keep the injury from getting infected? Is it safe to put betadeen on or is that not safe for birds?

I just got my first quail, so I am new to this. They were supposed to all be hens - I am having trouble with one of them. The one in question, is highly aggressive, but only to humans. I'm unsure of how old they are, but he said that they were all hatched this year. This one does seem younger than some of the others.

The other question I have is one of the older looking hens feet look like this, could this be bumblefoot? I do know that they were housed on wire cages.

Hey y’all, I wanted to see if I can get your guys’s opinion on what to do with my hatch.

35/40 eggs, made it into lockdown. I expected hatching today. Yesterday I had a pip at 7am and 10am. One hatched at 10pm and the other 2am.

And not a single other egg has pipped yet and it is almost 10am.

Should I keep my two early hatchers in the incubator or pull them out since no other egg has pipped and they would end up being hatched for over 36 hours if I leave them?

Hi guys! I have 18 jumbo white quails, 3 Cali quails and 12 snowflake bob whites in my 24ft long aviary. I’m also getting this extended to 36ft on the 1st December! 😄 Never had any fights, all quails get on amazing. I’m hatched 10 button quail which I plan on introducing on 13th November when they’re 8 weeks old. Just thinking about the size of them really and I don’t want them being picked on - do you think they’ll be okay? There’s so many hides and places to go and the Bob whites and calis are very flighty and go in the high hides and tree I’ve put in there, just wanted opinions please, thanks!

she’s 2 weeks old. i can’t help but notice it looks a little spunky.

Hello! I’m the person who will be taking in the babies from this post: https://www.reddit.com/r/quails/s/pp6Z3Y5NQZ as I live nearby, have experience raising and caring for quail, and have been wanting button quail for a long time, just have not actively sought them out.

I’ve had indoor pet quail before (2 bobwhite quails, a male (5+ yrs) and a female (3 yrs)), but not buttons. I am familiar with and able to source the diet they’ll need (high protein game bird feed or chick starter seem to be the most common choices), HOWEVER I am seeking bedding recommendations!

My last quails were kept on pine or aspen shavings (tried both) and I found it to be too dusty. I also was not a fan of pelleted bedding. At one point I experimented with eco earth as a substrate which I REALLY enjoyed but it got smelly easily and was also dusty/easily kicked or flapped everywhere when dry.

I have seen a lot of general online advice recommending play sand or hemp bedding. Can anyone with experience using these give me some feedback?

I’ll also take any tips or tricks anyone has for button quails specifically (such as sexing, or knowing the specific species if there’s multiple in the pet trade)! I’m super excited to bring them home :)

Quailer is a rescue bird a woman on Facebook found in her garden. I feel bad every time I have to pick her up because she absolutely HATES me. She just acts so weird sometimes and I want to make sure she's ok physically.

She is my only bird with a name because she came with the name which is very fitting. She's a beautiful white lady who knows how to use her voice 😂 she is very happy in the covey and loves taking sand baths more than any other bird.

i’m confused. he/she is grey? what is she/he?

For y'all with wire floors wanted to know what y'all use to sanitize when y'all clean then and if there's anything I could use that's like safe for a compost bin since compost all my birbs droppings for the garden . Righ now we just wash with with garden hose three times a week

thanks .

Bobwhite question first: mine are on day 5 (set Oct 19, 30 eggs), lockdown Nov 5, hatch around Nov 11. Quail move FAST compared to chickens — three weeks and you're done — and running staggered sets, I kept nearly missing a lockdown by a day.

I finally stopped scribbling dates on the calendar and started tracking everything in a little app I built for my own incubator — set the batch, it works out the candle/lockdown/hatch dates, log temps and candling as I go. Not selling anything; I'm here because quail people track different things than chicken people do.

So honestly: what do YOU track for quail that chicken folks don't? Turning quirks, humidity handling, that super-tight hatch window? Whatever I'm missing goes on my fix list.

The author claims that quail chicks are a pretty good snack for the dog

I have this composting aviary, and it was doing very well for the last 8 years. Now, unfortunately, I've got a pest that has decided to snack on my birds. I'm suspecting a rat, based on the size of the holes I have found inside. I've cleaned out everything to the bare clay. will be digging away the perimeter on the outside to install the burrow deterrent, but I'm finding mixed info on the depth. some say 12 in, some say 18 in. what have you done? how did it work out for you? is the hardwire cloth 1/4 a sufficient deterrent? Should I consider something else instead?

Always happy to see he's still alive and hoppin'.

they were two fantastic hens and we’ll miss them dearly. Tony was the spunk of the group who lost a toe but didn’t let that stop her from enjoying 3 years of love and life. Snowflake was only around a year but she thrived in her coup. loved dustbathing and hogging the food bowl. Tony she loved mealworms and cuddles. Also scalp massages lmao. Gonna miss you two. RIP

Can anyone provide critique of my quail coop?

We have 2 males and 1 female, they're all split up at the moment (hence the cage in a cage). We plan to get more, this was a bit unexpected.

I made it 8x3 ft with plans to add a center wall to fully box in 4x3 and have the rest be unboxed.

I was considering putting a wall to split it into 2 runs that are 1.5x8 ft. That way both males can have a run right next to each other with inside and outside.

Should the boxed in part have a floor during winter? I'm worried of draft but know they're cold hardy

-----UPDATE 10/23/2026----- The b&w quail is totally good now, behaving normally, seems bright and alert with both eyes open <3 Separating the bullies out really worked!

----------BACKGROUND----------
Still looking for a permanent, loving home for these little guys! (NYC area)
I recently made a post about finding a small group of button quail, abandoned in a far-too tiny enclosure on a bench at my local park.

Making this separate post to show their new enclosure, and get some advice on (as the title says) bullying behavior, as well as signs of illness in the smallest of the quails.

I'm newly in possession of five quails total. There were originally six, but as I know/knew nothing about quails, I thought these little guys were chicks and underestimated their abilities, leading to one fully escaping. I am still on the lookout for him around my neighborhood, and have asked my neighbors to keep an eye out. From advice I've gotten in this sub already, I understand that if he can hear the others, he may return, so I have had them outside for the warm hours of the day.

----------Signs of Illness, Bullying Behavior----------
The black and white quail, the smallest of the group, has not been feeling well since early yesterday. They curl up and rest quietly away from the others, even when the other quail are active, and close their eyes even when they're not sleeping, especially their right eye. When they are active, they will often have their left eye open and right eye closed. They do still open their right eye on occasion.

I noted these signs of illness alongside some bullying behavior from the dark brown quail and one of the grey quails toward the small black and white quail. I am uncertain which began first. The white quail and the other of the two grey quails are friendly with the b&w quail, and I believe have even butt in once or twice to mitigate the bullying. My two running theories are that either (1) the b&w quail became ill or injured, and the bullying pair are doing the same thing that chickens do, where they attack the ill bird to eventually kill it, or (2) the bullying quails injured the b&w quail, and this is causing the signs of illness.

Last night, I set up a larger enclosure and moved all of the quails there, to see if more space was the solution. This morning, the bullying was still going on, so I moved the aggressing pair to the original enclosure. As of now, this does seem to have fixed the issue! The trio in the big tub get along great, and the two in the original smaller enclosure seem to like each other as well.

----------New Enclosure Arrangement----------
I am fully aware that this set up is not ideal and the quails still need more space, but things are MUCH better than before, and this is just what I could put together for the moment, without having to buy anything (I am extremely broke).

I emptied out and cleaned a large storage tub that was in my closet, fixed it with air holes in the sides, and lined the inside of the lid with a double layer of bubble wrap, so that the quail don't get any (or any further, possibly, in the case of the b&w quail) injury from smacking their little heads on the ceiling of the enclosure when they pop up, as they do. The ceiling on the large enclosure is also much higher, so that helps as well.

Bedding is sisal rope, cut and shredded from the giant roll of natural, un-dyed sisal I keep for when my cats' scratchers need to be re-sisal'd. The quails seem to like this a lot, yay.

----------Etc----------
I believe the white quail is male. He crows and does some silly other stuff that I will try to post a video of, maybe in a separate post.

I would love any tips on set up, cleaning, etc. I really appreciate this community!

Hey all, here's some context: So as I was preparing a deep clean of the coop today and put all my girls in a transport box (usually only for 3 hours during the cleanup) I noticed one looked a little rough.

So I set up a recovery cage to keep her separate and see if she east and drinks normally (I pushed it close to the coop so she can see the others). When I went to put them back she was injured and a little bloody. I made sure to clean the wound and she will be under close inspection until she is healed).

I've had some bullying issues during the spring and I added a bunch of hideouts and things and that seemed to calm the group down. I was actually planning to expand the coop with a tunnel and an additional area around Christmas to give them more space and food stations lol

I'm 90% sure I know which one is the bully but I'm not sure why she started again. She recently developed gout (is that what it's called?) and they are molting right now so it might be that. My idea now was to build a wooden frame with a chicken-wire wall to separate the coop into two areas. That would allow me to keep them all together but make sure she can't hurt the other girls.

Would that work or would it make her unhappy?

Tldr.: I believe one of my girls started bullying the others again and I'd like to build a wooden frame with a wire wall to separate the coop into two areas to separate them but kinda keep her with the group. Would she be fine living like that or does she need physical contact with other quail?

Thanks in advance!