Button quail noise questions?

Question

I have two questions regarding button quail noises. Firstly: my female has recently started making the "growling" or "revving" noises and chest-puffing that are usually typified by males. I am confused. Perhaps I have mistaken the gender of my quail for the almost-year that I have had her? Or is this something that happens, that I just have not heard of? I am fairly certain she is indeed a female, because she is a buff/grey color without any markings, colors, or bibs, and the one that I know to be a male often expresses aggressive sexual behavior towards her. However, despite this, there have been no eggs laid for a while. Clarification is needed here: for a time, I had a male and [supposedly] two females. There was a natural abundance of eggs while both females were living. However, the other female recently died. I moved the remaining two quails to a different enclosure. So my question is this: One of my friend suggested that the loss of their friend/new habitat may contribute to diminished egg laying. Or the remaining female may actually be a male. So if anyone has any opinions on this, or explanations, it would be much appreciated.
Second question: Both of my quails have taken to making loud calls and screeches for prolonged periods of time. Again, I had heard that this is typical only in males. Seeing as the quails live in my room, them waking me up with their crowing at 4 in the morning has become very irksome. I was wondering is anyone else has this problem and how they combat it and get their quails to quiet down. I have tried covering up the cage, as suggested by a bird-owning friend, but to no avail.
Any advice on these situations would be appreciated very greatly. Thanks!

Answer 1

It looks to me like you have 2 males. The one in the first photo for sure. The second photo the one in the waterer is a female, the 3rd photo is iffy. It looks like a male at first glance. Males always have some red - mahogany on them, Generally on their belly or around their vent. The vent area doesn't show so I can't be sure, you'd have to check it or post a new photo.

These type of quail (commonly called "Button" Quail but are really Chinese Blue Breasted Quail) live in monogamous pairs in the wild and not in coveys or family groups. Therefore should be kept in individual pairs (1 m 1 f) in captivity. They are very territorial and sooner or later fights break out that result in loss of feathers or worse.

If you have 2 males that would explain the growling "bachelor" calls that announces they are available. The males also have the 3 pitch call ( pee pee pew) hens have a 2 pitch call (pee pew) or sometimes just 1 pitch (pew)

If there is any light in the room where you are keeping them they will continue to call / crow. You need to be sure the room is totally dark at night. That should solve the crowing problem.

Answer 2

Button Quail Sounds

Answer 3

No where near big enough a cage. Button quail need room to walk around the don't climb or fly. They all need either a very tall cage (over 3') or an open top container with a mesh lid. They jump straight up and quite high if startled and they would easily be injured or even break their necks on a cage this short. A good option for a single button quail would be a 20 gal long aquarium with a mesh (not wire, cloth mesh) top put on it. As far as gender males can be quite noisy (will "crow") while females tend to have shorter life spans as many become chronic egg layers, other than that no real difference. Next to the window is never a good place for a bird cage because of the drafts, heat from the sun shining in etc. Adult button quail are about the size of a large breed chicken chick. Sounds to me like you don't know near enough about these birds to be getting one as a pet. You need to wait and do a lot more research before rushing out to get one.

Answer 4

Did anyone tell you as adorable as button quail are the females rarely live longer than about eight months due to the calcium needs of their bodies to lay eggs. If this little one has lived longer...it could very well be a male. I was shocked to find out the info I just mentioned...and that pet stores would sell them without providing this info. And as far as sounds....I guess I was never in a close enough room to hear the crowing. My birds...a macaw, a gray, and a conure all wake up at dawn. It seems that when the birds outside wake-up so do they. It is all part of owning birds. Some will follow the cover up thing but the closer they are to their relatives, or to the wild, (like button quail) the more likely they are to react to the wild birds outside.

Answer 5

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Button quail noise questions?

I have two questions regarding button quail noises. Firstly: my female has recently started making the "growling" or "revving" noises and chest-puffing that are usually typified by males. I am confused. Perhaps I have mistaken the gender of my quail for the almost-year that I...