More Questions About My Button Quails

[BirdBoy88]

I can't sleep tonight.. nothing new there..lol
Anyways my button quail chicks will be 3 weeks old this coming Sunday and i can already tell the males from the females ( almost ) lol

*Questions**

I have a small aviary with my Zebra Finches - Society Finches - and - Diamond Doves in.. and i wanted to put my button quails in there with them... will the button quails hurt the other birds?

Litter* i know most people use pine shavings...but i wanted to know is there something else you can use? cuz i know for a fact everytime the button quails flap there wings there will be shavings everywhere and more for me to clean

so i want something thats less mess

Cleaning* right now my button chicks are in a tank and i clean the tank every morning but once i put littler in there new aviary or other cage.. when should i clean it? like once every other day or??

Adults* how big do they get? mine are 2 weeks old and still the size of a finch..lol

Trays* are there special trays for small land birds? right now i'm useing a jar cap and they eat from it but also scratch the food out and try and take dust baths in the food.. and the reg, chick feed trays are to big for them.. they fall right in the holes.

 

[BirdBoy88]

Anyone?

 

[tiffanyh]

I thought you already had adult buttons once??
Hmm..maybe that was someone else.

Anyway, I have mine in the bottom of my aviary with finch, doves. No one bothers anyone. I feed them in the bottoms of planter, the small ceramic dishes you would put under your planters so water doesnt go everywhere. for the water, I use a small chicken water you would use for chicks. They get just a bit larger than finch, not much though.

I have a deck like flooring in my aviary so it gets sprayed off weekly.

What state are you in? Is your avairy outside?? If so, be sure it is welded wire and not chickenwire, a predator will pull a quail through EASY! Your other birds are up high and get get away from ground predators, but the buttons can not. Also, they will need to come in for the winter or be offered extra heat...IF they are outside.

 

[BirdBoy88]

My avairy is indoors... i did find some stuff today at the petstore it's like grounded up cork that keeps smell out and everything but it looks just like there food and i don't want them to eat it..lol and yes i have the chick water jar thing and i'll stop by the $1 store and get the plant tray for them

i was guessing since i'll have litter in the bottom of the avairy that i wouldn't have to clean it but only once a week? like i do now with just the finches and doves in there and plus the finches and doves waste ALOT of there food on the floor of the avairy so that would be a added bonus to the button quail food for them .... i'm buying more fake plants today to put in the bottom of the avairy for cover so they can hide if they get scare witch they do alot..lol

Oh how many males should there be to females?

like 1 male - 1 female
or

1 male - 3 females?
.....
i just don't want the males fighting over females if i end up with more males than females

 

[jkcove08]

When you have males to females you want a 1 to 3 or 4 ratio, just dont have more boys then girls... You still might end up with some feather pluckers though. As far as bedding the best thing is to use clear plastic at least 6 to 10 inches around the bottom and then when they fluff it wont go everywhere. I clean the cage about once a week. I use a cat little scooper with the slots in them. It works the best. I also have sand on the bottom and then pine shavings over that in a thin layer. This way the buttons can dust themselves. Your adults will be about 3 to 4 inches long and 2 inches high. As far as plastic plants you will want to wire them to the sides or the buttons will just trample them.. They like to poop on them too if they get a chance. All of my plastics are hanging from the side or the top. Send me any Pms if you have any other specific questions. Jenn