buttin quail

First of all, what is a Button Quail? Buttons are the smallest of the "true" quails, about four inches long, and are native to Australia, Southeast Asia, India, etc. Click here for a map of the distribution of the Button Quail. In addition to the normal "wild type", they come in silver, white, browns and various combinations and shades of these colors, also known as "mutations". Unfortunately, our buttons do not have a very long lifespan; females' can be as short as 18 months, but if they are given proper care and nutrition (see below), you can expect your button hen to live three to four years or even more. Males average four to five years (again, depending on care and nutrition), but I have heard of at least a few male buttons who lived to be as old as nine!

There are actually several different species of birds sharing the name "Button Quail", and they are all not necessarily related. The Button you will see pictured on my pages is commonly referred to as the "Chinese Painted Quail", and is a member of the order Galliformes, family phasianidae. The other birds that we call "buttonquails" are of the order Gruiformes, family turnicidae. These "buttonquails" are not commonly kept in aviculture, are quite difficult to breed, and in fact, there are only a couple of them in captivity in the U.S. at this time! On a separate page, I've compiled a list of some button species as well as some amusing translations from around the world.

I've been really lucky to have some wonderful tame button quails in my life; first Baby Spaz, then Bunny, and now Hercules. There's nothing more adorable than having a little button follow you around the house, or come running when you call to them. But I realize that it takes a lot of patience and attention to get this sort of bird to accept us as one of their own. It's not something you can force on them, so don't be mad at your Button if he prefers the company of other quails. Of course, a Button Quail who is not tame should have at least one other quail for company, so if you think you'd like to go quail shopping, look for pairs or trios that have been housed together; don't break up that happy quail family! The rest of this page is devoted to information I have found useful in caring for my quails, past and present, and I hope you'll be able to find something in it that will help make your quail experience truly fabulous!