In December 2008, my partner brought home two zebra finches. Althought my aviary was not ready for birds I took them in as the previous owner was said to be fed up and adgitated by thier constant noise!! and wanted to rehouse them ASAP.

11th February 2009

As the weather was too cold (even if my aviary had been ready) to put them outside they were transfered from their 1ft square cage into a 4ft x 1ft cage. Their two plastic perches were replaced with natural tree brances from our apple tree giving their feet much needed exercise. The female after two weeks laid an egg, which was removed and both proceeded to build a nest in the rousting box that was  provided for them. It was not my intention to  allow them to breed until they went outside and had plenty of room, daylight, sunshine, rain and all the comforts of my indoor/outdoor aviary. However the pair had other ideas and proceeded to build a nest and lay a further 2 eggs. One egg was broken on the cage floor and the other laid in the nest.Two weeks later (11th February 2009) we are waiting to see if it hatches, and I will keep the site updated to let you know.

14th March 2009

Well here is the update - no luck the egg was infertile.However this pair wasted no time in going to nest again and laid three eggs on  the 19th 20th and 21st February. One egg hatched on the 8th March and at the time of updating this site is 6 days old. One egg I can not find- the parents have either eaten it! or when I remove the nest box and clear it out after the chick has fledged I may find it!. The other I removed today  and found it to have a small hole in the shell, the contents having thoroughly dried out! So we have 1 chick.

2nd June 2009

Well here is the latest update! Chick above sucessfully reared and is a male. He is currently outside enjoying the fredom of his new aviary along with his 6 nestlings hatched in April and May! The two parent birds are now busy sitting on their 3rd clutch and once they have reared these they will all go outside into the aviary for the summer. So in total to date I have 7 chicks ( 1 and 6 chicks in each nest) 5 of which are males and 1 female.

I was never my intention to purcase zebra finces for my aviary, as I wanted to specialise in something a little more of a conservation interest. Nevertheless they are all lively friendly little birds and will be spending their remainig years with us.

Below you can see photos of my zebra finches.

1.2.

1. Above - Hen zebra finch enjoying some spinich and egg food.

2. Above - Six chicks here. Can you see where one starts and another begins!

3. Below - The cock bird and proud father of 7 healthy chicks and 6 eggs !! ( on the 2nd June 2009)

3.4.

 4. Above - 1st chick to be hatched here. He has developed into a fine cock bird, which can be seen above in glorious colour!

 Update on 20th June 2009.- I now have another 6 healthy chicks. Once these have fledged they and the parents will be joining the first two broods in the outdoor/indoor aviary.I will then decide which to keep for next year and which to let go. I have some contacts with whome I can do some swaps for somew blacked cheeked zebras for a little variety. Three of the new chicks look fawn in colour and two of them were rung yesterday. I will be ringing the remaining ones over the next few days.

8th July 2009

Well I have now aquired 6 Gold Breasted waxbills, 3 Black cheeked zebras, a black headed nun, a white headed nun, a bronze winged manakin and

On my website I have included this section in relation  to the Chinese Painted Quail or button quail as they can be called, so that I can share my knowledge and past experiences of this quaint little bird with readers. This page is intended to provide some  information on various aspects of keeping and breeding these small entertaining little birds, and will hopefully include my future experiences as they progress, when I again take up the keeping of these birds.

I kept these birds when I had an aviary at home whilst still at school- too many years ago now to even remember! I recall making my own incubator with  a 60 watt  light bulb some wood shavings and lots of luck! I also hatched  out  some eggs under a  budgerigar – much to  the dismay of the poor budgie!

It  all  started again for me in  2008, when  I decided  to build   an aviary in my garden along with some other projects I have ongoing. After the donation of a pair of zebra finches I decided that these cute little quail would feature next on my list.

So in 2009 I will aquire my first pair of Chinese Painted Quail who will be named no doubt my daughter Lotti.

Chinese Painted Quail latin name excalfactoria chinensis, are  some 4-5 inches in height. These quaint quail are much smaller than other members of the quail family. As with most quail they  are ground dwellers but will fly vertically at speed when frightened and can often suffer injuries as a result if kept in unsuitable accommodation. For this purpose you should always try and make the birds, any birds for that matter, aware of you presence rather than spook them, with sudden apperiances.

I will find them excellent birds for keeping in my outdoor aviary for as well as being low maintenance feeders, they will also help to keep the aviary floor clean from seed spilt by other birds. I prefer to see birds kept in avaries rather than cages as it gives a more natural “feel” and they can scratch and peck around giving them “something” to occupy their minds and bodies. Whatever you decide I would suggest a minimum floor space of 4 foot by 3 foot at least per pair. Common sense should always be used when housing any animal and quail are no exception. Birds should have the facility to move around the accommodation freely without constantly “bumping into” or “tripping over” other birds! or meeting walls!!!!! As well as being little “hovers" they should also be provided with their own food and water at ground level, and should not have to compete with one another for food.

Male Chinese Painted Quail are distinguishable from the females by having a white bib under their chin and   facial markings. However some variations from the “normal” colour such as the pied and whites  have  no such markings.  In these cases the body language of the different sexes can help you to determine males from females. Some males may when offered live food try to entice the female to take it from him, conducting a little “dance” and making  low throaty lengthy growling noises. Another characteristic of the male Chinese Painted Quail is his funny walk when he is courting the female. He will walk around her head bobbing in front of her trying to “grab” her attention stretching his neck out as far as it will go, almost falling over himself in the process!

 
My quail will be fed a diet of mixed millets, spray millet, chick crumbs and egg food. Additional to this you can feed wholemeal bread and a variety of green foods such as lettuce, spinach, dandelion etc . I intend to sow seeds in the garden in seed trays and place these in the aviary to be devowered  every week throughout the summer months. Grit will also provided or you could supply oyster shell or crushed, cooked egg shells if preferred. Quail are also partial to live foods and you can offer meal worms which will be readerley devoured. Cuttlefish should be given to all quail, and mine will be no exception I will provide a number of cuttlefish bones placed at a suitable height around the aviary for the quail to peck at.  

Vitamins and liquid calcium can be added to drinking water once or twice per week, but supplements should not be required if given a varied diet is offered and taken throughout the seasons. If quail are kept on soil in outside aviaries they will also enjoy a variety of insects which can be encouraged into the aviary in a variety of different ways.

 
If you wish to breed your quail I would suggest buying your breeding stock from a few different breeders so that you are breeding from unrelated birds. This in turn means that you can also offer unrelated birds for sale when selling off your surplus stock. You may find that if you buy birds off a breeder, who hasn't followed this procedure, you are buying brother and sister or closely related pairs which may produce week offspring, infertile eggs etc. 

Chinese Painted Quail  can be colony bred, or kept in pairs or trios, its really down to personal preference and how many birds you wish to produce. We will breed to produce a small family collony, but after we have reached a maximum of 10 birds we will only breed to sustain the numbers.

Egg laying occurs from March to October  and the birds should slowly be brought into breeding condition by lengthening the day light hours and feeding a high protein diet.  Once day light hours have reached around 12 - 14 hours per day and the temperature is over 10C, the birds should be in good condition they should  hopefully start settling down to breed.

Some birds may fight for a number of reasons, but there is usually an explanation. A common reason for fighting to occur is lack of space, or too many males to female ratios. You should keep an eye on body language and watch the birds several times a day for signs of aggression. If the birds are busy fighting with one another they will not get down to serious breeding and injuries could also be sustained making the birds unfit for breeding.

 Quail should always have somewhere dry to shelter from the rain. I will be placing a number of small home made wooden box shelters around the aviary which will be disquised  so that they look “natural”. These shelters will offer the quail protection against the elliments as well as providing some seclusion from one other. The boxes will  be placed so that the openings face different directions and offer protection from the wind and the rain. Hopefully my home made boxes will satisfy all my birds rshelter requirements. They will also have free access into the indoor enclosure.

Eggs can be incubated if you wish to produce chicks on a larger scale, or the eggs collected and stored of you wish to increase egg production. My birds will sit on china  or blown eggs when I have no wish to produce offspring as this will help the adults maintain condition. You may sometimes find surpluss birds for sale and if you wish to view what we currently have for sale you should follow the link FOR SALE from the header of this website page

MY CHINESE PAINTED QUAIL

Well on 16th June 2009 I aquired 5 Chinese painted Quail. I was supposed to be collecting two, but took two younger ones as well!.I was surprised how hard they were to get hold of and found a breeder in Lancashire. After being a little dissopointed with the living conditions of the suppliers birds and spending 40miniutes soaking two of he birds feet upon my return home to remove a build up of excrement! the little chaps and chapeses! have settled in well. Having studied them for the last 5 days I think I have at least 1 male and hope the rest are female Unfortunatley the breeder having assured me that two female and 1 male could definatley provided was unable to guarrentee the sex of the 6? week old birds. I put 6? because the breeder wasnt sure of the  age of the birds either!

See what you think of them from the pictures below:-

 A six week old female white quail.She is a nosey and is the first to explore every situation. Im sure that during the course of her time with us this will get her into mischief!

 Her feet were caked in excrement when she was bought but after 20miniutes of soaking and removing the hard baked material from her feet she is lucky to have all her toes still intack!

The bird on the right sold to me as a 4 (AWAITING PHOTO)

 week old cinnamon CPQ I believe that it is a cock bird. Time will tell! He was very agressive in the first few days and chased all the other birds around. He seems to have settled down now and loves his mealworms. The way he holds himself, cocking his head and the way he behaves leads me to believe that he is a cock bird. A few more weeks and we should know.

AWAITING PHOTO

This is the second Cinnamon CPQ I was sold also believed to be 4 weeks old. I think this is also a female. She is quiet and dosent draw attention to herself. She was house with the CPQ above and was also agressive in the first few days especially to the silver hen below. She ahs also now settled down and  appears to be getting along nicely with everyone.

 The CPQ on the right here is a silver hen ( I hoppe its a hen anyway!) she is the shy one of the group and is the last to do anything. She is the one who all the others chased around in the first few days and never retaliated. They have all settled down now and the next few weeks I will get to know them all better, sex them and release them into the aviary. I definatly have one male anyway as on my way down to the aviary today 21st June, I heard the familiar pipipiiiii, which the cock bird makes. Of course when I arrived the bird, which ever one it was stopped calling so I still dont know for definate which one/s are male. Time will tell however reveal all and I will keep the site posted! Lets see if my  first instincts and guesses were correct!

Last but not least is this cinnamon  hen (middle) also believed to be a female. She is confident but not aggressive. A pretty looking bird with good bold colouring. Funny how the three cinnamon seem to huddle up together. Im sure it has nothing to do with their colour though!I have read that the lighter birds seem to be picked on by darker coloured birds, I will keep an eye on this due to the silver hen sinario-she seemed to be being picked on in the first few days although the white one was not.

AWAITING FURTHER UPDATES - watch this space.

The diamond dove is native to the dry central deserts of northern and central Australia. It prefers the open terrain but sometimes it can be found around developed areas such as parks or gardens. It's habitat is usually close to water sources.

The Diamond dove sometimes known as the little dove or the little turtle dove is one of the smallest of the Australian doves. It weighs around 23 to 32 grams and has is around 193 to 213 mm in length. It has a grey body and white specks on its wings. The eyes of the bird are set off by a pronounced red/orange ring. The adult male birds can be sexed by the thickness of the eye ring which is around 2-3mm and the silver grey colour of their wing feathers. The females appear more brown/ grey in colour and have a thinner eye ring of about 1 mm in thickness.

In the wild these doves feed on grass seeds, with the occasional insects. They are ground feeders and are often found in small flocks. This hardy dove  has become one of the most popular aviary birds for beginners, and can usually be kept with other small, peaceful, birds including a variety of finches.  

The male diamond dove usually begins courtship by finding a nesting site and then constantly  calls  for a female to join him and start the process of nest building. The nests are a fragile affair made up of gasses and twigs. After building a nest the male will display on the ground spreading his tail feathers like a fan, while touching his beak to the ground, cooing to his mate. After repeating this action many times the male will mate with the female. Sometimes the male will puff up his feathers and repeatedly strut around the female. He will also make attempts at  feeding her. In captivity Diamonds Doves may live 10 to 14 years or more. 

The male diamond dove begins courtship by finding a nesting site and then constantly  calls  for a female to start the process of nest building. The nests is a fragile affair made up of various  gasses and twigs. After building a nest the male begins displaying on the ground spreading his tail feathers out like a fan, whilst touching his beak to the ground, cooing to his mate. After repeating this action many times the male will mate with the female, puffing up his feathers and repeatedly strutting around the female often making attempts at  feeding her.

There are usually two white eggs laid one day apart. The eggs are incubated for around 14 days. The male  and female take turns at nest sitting sometimes sitting on the nest at the same time! The young as with many birds are hatched blind and naked , but within a week they are fully feathered and within a further week they are flying and fledged all within 14 days from hatching!. The parents feed the young regurgitated food during the first two weeks and the young birds are able to peck food for themselves soon after fledging.

Over the years that Diamond Doves have been kept in captivity, breeders have been working to develop birds with  a variety of colours. There are said to be some 27 colour variations of the Diamond Dove. 

These small quaint little  doves have a variety of calls. They range from what seems  like a long distance  call consisting of two long coos, followed by a pause, and a long, short, and a long coo to an alarm coo which may be several short but loud coos when danger approaches.

The Diamond Dove is  a very affectionate little bird. When one bird of a pair returns to a nest they often great each other with very low, raspy cooing noises. At night, if they are not nesting, they always cuddle up with each other and then appear to "kiss" by giving each other a series of very rapid light pecks around the neck and head while slightly shaking their wings. When the birds become separated they will make a two note call until they become reunited.

Diamond doves can be kept and bred well in captivity and some lines have been bred for so many generations as to be considered domesticated. They spend a considerable amount of time on the ground and require a wide area to walk around. Wire-bottomed cages are not desirable; also, the floor of the cage should be kept clean since they will be walking on it. The cage should also contain perches spaced widely enough for the bird to fly safely.

Diamond doves should be encouraged to eat a variety of greens and vegetables in addition to their seed diets. They swallow seeds whole and should be given access to grit to help digest the seeds. In winter, the birds suffer in cold and should not be placed near drafts; a heating pad or basking rock (such as those sold in pet stores for lizards) can be used as a supplemental heat source, and is greatly enjoyed by many diamond doves.

Diamond doves build nests in open scoops, and will appreciate open-topped nest baskets. They will nest in whatever they find, however, including the seed dish. The mating behavior begins with a repeated call, usually by the male but sometimes by a female if kept singly. The male will display his tail feathers by dipping his head low and raising his tail, spreading the long feathers like a fan towards a desired female while uttering a two-note coo. The pair will stay together for long periods, greeting each other with low coos and vibrating their wings, or symbolically preening each other with rapid light pecks.

Generally, they must live in pairs or flocks, as their need for companionship is high.