Thanks for your interest in our blog. Very useful tidbit, thanks very much. Interesting that the male seems to display as if to a hen – generally males (other species) attack the image or try to bluff the other into a retreat.

Please let me know if you need any further information. Good luck, enjoy and please keep me posted.

Best regards, Frank Indiviglio.

Thanks for your note. It’s very common for painted quails to explode straight upward when startled…they often damage their heads on the top of their cage and lose feathers in the process. It can happen at night, due to a noise, so owners often do not see the actual behavior.

However, if the bald area extends far down the back, a skin ailment (fungi, bacteria), mites or a nutritional deficiency may be involved. A vet visit is the only sure way to determine the cause …please let me know if yo need help in finding an experienced avian vet.

Fighting is another possibility, but this usually involves injury to 1 bird and is obvious.

Their nest is usually just a small scrape/depression in the ground. You can provide dry grass or hay (as is sold for rabbits) when they show signs of courting. However, a breeding pair needs lots of room, and they will not likely mate until they are in good health. You may need to remove the male if they nest, as males often continue to court sitting females and may cause them to abandon the eggs.

Good luck and please keep me posted.

Best regards, Frank Indiviglio.

Thanks for the kind words…looks like you’re hooked. They are hard to resist – the chicks are the size of bumblebees when they hatch!

I don’t personally know of breeders near you, but someone at the Michigan Bird and Game Breeders Association should be able to help. When searching for breeders, you’ll more often find them under “game birds” as opposed to pets. Folks that breed other pheasants and quails tend to keep a few pairs. Also try “ornamental pheasant breeders” and “quail eggs” – there’s a market for the tiny eggs, used in many SE/E Asian dishes, suppliers sometimes sell birds into the pet trade as well.

Please remember to figure out sexes, as males will fight.

Good luck, enjoy and please keep me posted.

Happy new year, Frank Indiviglio.

It’s easy to distinguish the sexes of normally-colored individuals, as mentioned in this article, but sexing silver, black and other mutations is very difficult. The best way is to watch their behavior…they breed readily, and males will actively chase hens and offer them insects such as mealworms. If you have 2 males, and they are sexually mature, they would likely be fighting – but not always, as sometimes 2 males will get along fine until a female is introduced. Females usually get along but establish a dominance hierarchy, with or without a male.

Best to be sure of the sexes before getting new birds, and please remember that despite their small size they need plenty of room. There are labs that do “feather sexing” (you mail them a feather) – I can’t think of names off-hand but can find one if you would like to look into that for you. You can keep 1 male with 3-4 hens.

Please check Part II of this article for more details on captive care; detailed natural history info is available at the website of the University of Michigan Natural History Museum. Please let me know what other information you are interested in and I’ll forward you to a source.

Happy New Year, Frank Indiviglio