Do you have different types of quail eggs?

This article by expert quail breeder and author, Jodi McDonald, is an example of the detailed and authoritative information you'll find in each issue of the quail & Game Bird Gazette magazine. The magazine has great articles, helpful tip, and dozens of pictures on breeding, hatching, raising, marketing and shipping quail, with thousands of quail eggs and chicks offered for sale from reputable and reliable breeders. In addition to information on raising quail, you'll find amazing close-up pictures of the different breeds or types of quail, pens, incubators, brooders, etc. All of the popular species and breeds of quail are covered, including bobwhite quail (on Gazette cover at right), coturnix quail, Scaled Quail, California Valley quail, Mearns quail, Benson, Gambel's Quail, button quail and more.

The upcoming issue of the Game Bird Gazette has a record number of listings for quail and quail eggs for sale. You can subscribe to the magazine at a big discount using our secure and convenient online subscription order page and your subscription will begin with the very next issue! We have been raising various types of quail and other birds for the past twenty years.

About three years ago, we decided to retire and find some much need rest. Little did we know that once you have had the experience of sharing life with the button quail and other birds, you can never be happy doing anything else. After only six months of not being tied down by feathered friends, we were given an elderly pair of button quail.

The owners of the quail were moving and couldn't take them across country with them. Shortly after the pair of buttons came to live with us, we lost the hen quail. We searched high and low to find a new companion for the lonely male.

Our usual sources had no button quail for sale, so we put an ad in the newspaper. We got a response from a breeder who had several of them that she wanted to place in a good home. So instead of one, we adopted nine quail!

Pretty soon we decided to incubate a few quail eggs, and before we knew it, we had once again taken the bait, hook line and sinker. Today, we are once again raising button quail, a few ringneck pheasants, chukar, turkeys, several breeds of chickens, and a barnyard assortment of ducks. All just goes to prove, you can never retire from something you really love.

At Bracken Ranch (named for the abundant Bracken Fern that grow here), we are a small "Mom and Pop" operation, and run our ranch more for enjoyment than for profit. There is no thrill in life greater than witnessing a new quail chick come into this world. It never becomes mundane or routine with us.

Most often used as micro janitors in the bottoms of aviaries, where they do a good job of cleaning up seeds that other birds leave behind. These quail are also used widely by commercial butterfly breeders and in green houses, where they help keep insect and spider populations under control. In their natural habitat, the quail are found in China, but have found their way into the homes and hearts of people in most every country in the world.

The average size of the male button quail is about 4 1/2 inches and the female is slightly larger at about 5 inches. In standard colors, the male is more colorful than the female and has a black and white bib that runs under the chin. In the newer mutated colors, it is often more difficult to distinguish the male from the female by color in these quail.

In these cases, it is best to sex the quail by checking the vent spacing and being aware that the hens are slightly larger and plumper. The males can also be distinguished by listening for their little calls of pee pee pew. Button quail are easy keepers and prolific breeders if their basic requirements are met.

Best results are achieved when kept in solitary pairs, but they are often kept in trios of one male to two hens, or colony bred with several hens and males run together. If more than one male quail is kept in a pen, it is important to know that even though they are tiny, they are mighty. The males, and sometimes the female quail, can be aggressive toward one another.

They are territorial, and resist other quail being in their space. Serious fights can be avoided, however, if the pen is large enough, and there are sufficient hiding places. Here at the ranch, we prefer to keep our breeding adult quail in isolated pairs to avoid conflict and to insure fertilization of the quail eggs.

It's easier for one male to concentrate on one female. We keep the quail in converted chinchilla breeding cages. Each apartment is roughly 20 inches deep by 14 inches wide and 12 inches tall.

Each bank of cages contain seven individual apartments, and we stack the banks four tiers high, so each section houses twenty-eight pairs of quail quite comfortably. Each apartment has a pull out tray in which we place about a half inch of sand and a couple of handfuls of pine shavings. Because button quail are quite active, it is not uncommon for them to track through their droppings.

If they are not kept on clean bedding, a serious problem can arise when the droppings become encrusted on their tiny feet and form into large balls at the ends of their toes. By using the sand and shavings combination, the quail remain clean and healthy. When given the proper conditions, button quail will incubate their own eggs.

If you would like to let the hens do their own incubating, you must provide them with privacy and security. This can easily be done by placing tiny shelter on the floor of their pen.