So about those button quails...

[Pandapop]

I just have so many questions.

I hatched out 14 (lost one runt) button quails over a week ago, and they're starting to grow actual feathers on their feather shafts. They're at that 'awkward ugly teenage stage' as a few family members call it. "They're so creepy looking!" -- boyfriend. Well, I think they're cute!

Anyway. I've been reading around online, trying to find chick identification guides. Some have helped, others not so much. But none have really helped me decide that "yes, this one is a so-and-so" besides the obvious two white babies I have. I'm trying to find pictures of babies at the same stage as mine, just a day or two after a full week. Pretty sure I have some red-breasted and blue-breasted normals, maybe a silver... then there's a couple that have me stumped.

I've also read that the babies will change their colors once they have their first 'adult' molt. So trying to identify them now (other than male and female for some of the more obvious colors) might not be very reliable. I know that at LEAST 12 days old I should see some red feathers on the males near the vent. My babies are almost there at 9-10 days.

Are there any breeders here that may have some pictures of their feathering babies that I could see? That they know the actual colors of?

 

[DK newbie]

This site has some pics that might help:
http://www.featheredobsessions.com/Watch_Me_Grow.html
With regards to red vent feathers, I have had one that had them at 2 weeks, but usually I don't see any till they are 3-5 weeks old.
If you post pics, I or others might be able to help you identify the colors.

 

[Pandapop]

Well... I got some front and wing shots of all 13 chicks, so here we go. They're aged 12-13 days, with one only 10(?) days old. Image heavy!

#1
I believe this is a silver tuxedo?

#2
Some sort of normal? Red-breasted maybe? Chest feathers haven't really come in yet.

#3
Another normal? Maybe blue-breasted?

#4
Pretty sure this is just white.

#5
I want to say this one is cinnamon, but when it hatched it didn't have that reddish chipmunk striping...

#6
Similar to the one above but much lighter in color? Can't be white.

#7
Another possible red-breasted?

#8
Guessing white.

 

[Pandapop]

#9
Another normal...?

#10
I want to say that this one may be silver, since it's a bit more smokey in color than my whites. But could just be white...

#11
Red-breasted..?

#12
Looks questionable in the image, but I think this one is also just a white. Kind of on the small side.

#13
The youngest of the bunch... white or maybe silver?

 

[DK newbie]

Wow, that's a lot of chicks For #2 I'd consider golden pearl an option too, but it really is hard to tell. #3 is probably blueface. #7 is almost definitely red breasted and I think #9 is as well, and agree #11 is too.
For the rest, I have no better guesses than you

 

[Pandapop]

You think #3 is blueface? I was pretty sure I didn't get blue-anything from these guys, but that'd be pretty neat if you're right.

 

[DK newbie]

Looking at the picture again, I don't think my bluefaces usually have light stripes in their feathers. But it also looks too dark to be a normal and blueface is the only mutation I know that makes them darker.. I guess we'll see for sure in a week or two

 

[Pandapop]

They're over 4 weeks old now, and I have a few updated pictures of some of the chicks I'm not sure about.

Almost all of my buttons are male! :C

#1
I though this guy was a cinnamon, but he just looks so strange. Is he piebald by any chance?

#2
This was the other possible cinnamon. He looks darker than the first...

#3
I've got this chick here that I hope is female... looks like a red breasted hen?

#4
This one here has a pretty defined bib but no rust red vent feathers? No idea about this one.

#5
Another bib, entire bottom is that slate blue color and has rusty vent feathers. I'm guessing blue-breasted roo, as I do see some red feathers starting to grow on his belly.

#6
Also has a bib. Blue chest and red feathers growing on the belly, so blue-breasted roo?

#7
I didn't grab a photo of, but it's a white chick with a single tiny little red vent feather coming in. I thought whites don't get the rusty vent feathers?

 

[DK newbie]

#1 - Consider 'fallow'. They are hard to find pictures of - if you google 'fallow button quail' you'll get many pictures of all kinds of different colors, but my understanding is it's a color reducing factor. I'm trying to breed a color I think is fallow and whereas mine are not exactly the same color as yours, the 3 I have also all have different colors despite being closely related, so it might be a mutation with a lot of variation. Or it could have more than just that one mutation.. Fallow cinnamon perhaps?
#2 I'm not that familiar with cinnamon, but you might well be right
#3+4 Both red breasted hens as far as I can tell, though they are quite different in base color. One of them probably has some other mutation as well, but I couldn't tell you which one of them nor which mutation
#5 could be wild colored, could be red breasted..
#6 - is that the chick I thought might be blueface? Blueface is still the only mutation I know of that makes them darker, but it also removes the bib. So if the bird has a bib, it can't be blueface. So I'll call it 'A melanistic red breasted roo'. Red breasted because it seems to have red feathers in its wings as well and because the edging on its back feathers reminds me of that in red breasted hens - although the roos usually don't have that.. Would be interesting to see if it passes the dark color on
#7 I suppose it's not truly white - perhaps just so heavily pied it covers the entire body - except for that one feather.. But consider yourself lucky, it makes sexing so much easier

 

[Pandapop]

You're right, there are many variations of "fallow"... but isn't that a pink-eyed dilution? My chick doesn't have the pink eyes, though.

If you think both 3 & 4 are hens, then thank goodness... other than those two, I MIGHT have a female out of my silvers, and I still don't know about my silver tuxedo. Out of 12 birds though, the male to female ration is way off and it's kind of concerning, since I wanted to pair some of these chicks up. :c

As for #6 I think that was the one you thought was blueface, yeah. Definitely has a bib though.

Can't say I'm disappointed with the color variation I got out of this hatch! A few interesting individuals for sure.