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June 19th, 2009
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| | Fish Mentor
| B A B I E S ! ! ! !
My button quail have been sitting on about 20 eggs for a while. I have one male and two females, and both females were sharing the nest. My lighter female sort of took over the sitting duties and has been real good about sitting on the eggs. I've seen the daddy and the other female also brooding the eggs. I went out today and there were 6 babies! I know who the daddy is, but I'm not sure about the momma or if both had fertile eggs. I don't think any more of the eggs will hatch - they have been scattered all around the cage. But I have 6 babies ! ! !
The Daddy is all dark with black and white markings on his throat. The darker female pretty much ignores the babies. The lighter female is very protective and looks to be a good Momma. Two of the babies are half dark and half light and the other four are varying shades of dark. It will be interesting to see how they color up when they get their adult feathers in. I just hope most of them are female. The daddy won't tolerate any other males in the cage. When they start getting bigger, I may need to put Daddy in a different cage until I can sell any of the males. I just hope most of them are female.
Here are some pics of the new babies and the proud parents... | 
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June 19th, 2009
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| | Fish Mentor
| and some more pics . . . | |
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June 19th, 2009
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| | Moderator
| Aw, so sweet! Thanks for posting them | |
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June 19th, 2009
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| | Fish Helper
| Ohh... They so cute! | 
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June 19th, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| OMG!!! They're so cute! | |
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June 19th, 2009
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| | Moderator
| They are adorable! Thanks for sharing Gremlin  | |
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June 19th, 2009
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| | Fish Mentor
| I went out to check on them this morning and they are running around after Momma and Daddy. Two of them were following Daddy around and trying to climb up on his back under his wings. I could almost hear them - "Daddy, I'm cold. Daddy, I'm tired, carry me? Pleeeeze?" | |
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June 19th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| they are so cute | |
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June 19th, 2009
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| | Fish Addict
| Hey gremlin! When I saw the title to your thread, I couldn't open it fast enough!!!! What excitement at your house! Babies all the time....
The babies are precious - can't wait to see their growth via your pictures.... Thanks for posting them!!!
Robin | |
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June 19th, 2009
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| | Fish Mentor
| I almost always have young finches around so they aren't that big of a deal anymore. The lovebirds are at my sister's house and they don't have any eggs right now. It has been a while since I've had baby quail so I'm pretty excited. All three of the adults are just a year old so I'm glad the one is turning out to be a good Momma and the Daddy is doing pretty good too. | |
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June 27th, 2009
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| | Fish Mentor
| More pics of the baby quail! They are getting their wing feathers and now I can see what colors they are going to be. It looks like three will be dark like Daddy and Auntie and three will be light like Momma. I dug up the soil a bit so they are picking for worms and such. They are so much fun to watch! | |
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June 27th, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| How precious! | |
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June 27th, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| They're so cute!! | |
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June 27th, 2009
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| | Fish Mentor
| In the first pic of this batch you can see all 9 quail. Daddy is the darkest of the adults with the pretty slate blue on his chest and dark russet under his belly and the black and white stripe/patch on his throat. Auntie is the more brown mottled one. Only the males have the black and white on the throat so Auntie shows what the dark babies will look like if they are female. Momma is the lightest of the adults. The babies that were half black and half yellow are starting to look like Momma. If you look close, you can count all six babies. The sixth baby is hiding between Daddy and Auntie. You can just barely see its tail sticking out from behind Auntie. | |
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June 27th, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| They are so darling! I love baby birds | |
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June 27th, 2009
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| | Fish Addict
| So beautiful... do they let you get anywhere near them?
Robin | |
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June 28th, 2009
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| | Fish Mentor
| Quote:
Originally Posted by Robin4  So beautiful... do they let you get anywhere near them?
Robin | They aren't tame like the lovebirds I've done (Twitters and Kiah), but the adults will take worms out of my fingers and I get in the cage with them. I was in the cage with them when I took the pics. They were pecking in the dirt right by my big feet for part of the time. I have to be careful where I step! | |
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June 29th, 2009
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| | Fish Addict
| I suppose getting anywhere new wildlife is awesome no matter what.... Especially the babies | |
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July 4th, 2009
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| | Fish Mentor
| Well, it has been one week since the last pics, so here are some more. I wish I could get video clips to load...oh well.
Here are some pics mostly of the babies. Daddy is in there too, but Momma has decided to sit on some more eggs already.
They are almost as big as the adults now and have most of their wing/tail feathers and the body feathers are coming in nicely. The head and neck feathers are the last to come in, so right now they all look like they have butch hair cuts. | |
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July 4th, 2009
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| | Moderator
| they are so darling! thanks for sharing and please keep the pics coming
Carol | |
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July 4th, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| omg theyre so cute! congrats | |
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July 5th, 2009
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| | Moderator
| Thanks Gremlin. Are you going to keep them all? | |
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July 5th, 2009
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| | Moderator
| Oh, my goodness! They're growing so fast! They're just adorable. | |
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July 5th, 2009
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| | Fish Mentor
| Quote:
Originally Posted by aquarist48 Thanks Gremlin. Are you going to keep them all? | I would love to, but I'll have to get rid of any that are male. Button Quail boys do NOT like to share. I have to watch real close as the babies get older. The daddy will start to pick on the boys to chase them off to start their own families. When he does that, I'll put him in a separate cage inside the big cage so he can't hurt any of the youngsters. Then as soon as they are old enough to get their neck feathers in so I can positively id the males, I will sell the boys and probably keep the girls. Then daddy will really have a harem! | |
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July 5th, 2009
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| | Fish Addict
| Wow - very interesting... So who do you sell the males to? In the pictures you posted from July 4th, are those random eggs in the pictures? More pictures please.....
Robin | |
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July 5th, 2009
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| | Fish Master
| i cant stop looking at them, i rembered once at my house a quail mommy and her little chicks just walked across my backyard.. theyre so little and fluffy | |
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July 5th, 2009
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| | Fish Addict
| They look so fuzzy in the first group of pictures!  | |
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July 6th, 2009
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| | Fish Mentor
| Quote:
Originally Posted by Robin4 Wow - very interesting... So who do you sell the males to? In the pictures you posted from July 4th, are those random eggs in the pictures? More pictures please.....
Robin | We have a pet store here that is pretty good. They will usually take any extra birds I have. They pay top dollar ($3) for my extra finches because mine are so healthy. Yes those are extra eggs. I have two females and one male (adults) and I'm not sure which female was the biological momma or if both females laid fertile eggs. There are only 6 babies, but the nest had about 20 eggs in it. | |
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July 6th, 2009
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| | Fish Mentor
| Quote:
Originally Posted by tonyluvshisfish i cant stop looking at them, i rembered once at my house a quail mommy and her little chicks just walked across my backyard.. theyre so little and fluffy | The wild quail are about 4 times the size of my little button quail. The little fluffy chicks you saw following the mommy were probably the size of my adults. My baby chicks are probably the size of a dime when they first hatch. | |
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July 6th, 2009
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| | Fish Keeper
| So adorables!! Thanks for posting. | |
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