About the species
The King Quail was described by Carl Linnaeus in 1766 as Tetrao chinensis. Today it is placed in the genus Synoicus, although the older names Coturnix chinensis and Excalfactoria chinensis are still common in avicultural literature and the pet trade. It belongs to the pheasant family (Phasianidae) and is regarded as the smallest true quail in the world. Among the birds on Živalce.si it is the first gamebird – the Zebra Finch, Society Finch, Common Waxbill and Canary are songbirds, and the doves are pigeons.
It has been kept in Europe for more than 150 years: it was first imported into England in 1870, and the first successful captive breeding is recorded as early as 1842 at Amsterdam Zoo.
How to recognise it
The King Quail measures 12.5–14 cm and weighs 28–40 g (Wikipedia gives a wider range of 20–57 g), with a wingspan of about 25 cm. The sexes are easy to tell apart. The male has a dark brown back, blue-grey flanks and neck, a dark red-brown belly and a black-and-white face pattern: a black chin, a white band across the throat and black-and-white stripes below the eye. The female is plain rufous-brown with a paler belly. The male has orange feet, and females are slightly larger than males.
Aviculture has produced many male colour forms – blue, brown, silver, maroon and almost black. Silver and cinnamon are the most common mutations, while pied, albino and charcoal are becoming more widespread. Females never occur in blue shades, and white adults produce yellow chicks.
King Quail, Japanese Quail and "button quail"
The Japanese Quail (Coturnix japonica) weighs 90–100 g in the wild, 100–120 g in domestic strains and up to 300 g in meat strains, roughly three times the weight of a King Quail. Japanese Quail are kept mainly for eggs and meat; the King Quail is kept as an ornamental aviary bird.
In English-speaking aviculture the King Quail is widely sold as a "button quail", but the name is misleading: true buttonquails belong to the genus Turnix in a different family and are only distantly related. When buying a bird or looking up care advice, always check the Latin name.
Life in the wild
The range stretches from India and Sri Lanka through southern China, Taiwan and Southeast Asia to the Philippines, Indonesia, New Guinea and south-eastern Australia. It lives in damp grassland, along marshes and in rice paddies up to about 1,200 m above sea level. It is found in pairs or small coveys, spends most of its time on the ground and enjoys dust-bathing. In the wild it lives only about a year and a half. The IUCN Red List classes it as Least Concern and it is not listed by CITES, but in the Australian state of Victoria it is protected as threatened.
Housing in an aviary or cage
King Quail are kept in pairs or groups of up to four in a planted aviary, singly in a cage, or in colonies in large flights. Because they live on the floor, they do not bother birds that use the branches, and they keep the aviary floor clean by eating spilled seed. Males are aggressive towards each other, and hens also compete among themselves. Their feet are small, so wire-floored cages are unsuitable; if the floor is wire, the mesh must be much finer than for larger quail. Once settled, the King Quail is a hardy bird that can become hand-tame and is cheap to buy and keep.
Diet
The diet is based on small grass seeds – millet, niger, rapeseed – supplemented with fresh greens, fruit and vegetables and a small amount of insects. Laying hens need an extra calcium source such as crushed shell grit, otherwise they risk becoming egg-bound.
Breeding and chicks
In captivity it breeds all year round. The male chooses the nest site, and the female scrapes a shallow hollow and lines it with grass. Wild clutches hold 4–7 eggs, captive ones 4–13, and several hens sometimes lay in a shared nest. The eggs measure about 24.5 × 19 mm and weigh around 5 g. Incubation takes 16–19 days, with avicultural sources quoting up to 23 days. The chicks are precocial and are raised by the hen alone until they are about 4 weeks old, by which time they can fly.
Keepers note that a hen laying on the bare floor is a sign that her housing does not suit her – long grass, twigs or other dense cover help. This exact problem – a hen that lays but will not sit – was discussed in 2011 on a Slovenian forum for canary and exotic-bird keepers, where members advised that an incubator is needed and that incubating only a few eggs is hardly worth it.
Temperament
calm, shy, ground-dwelling, sociable, unobtrusive
Suitable for
for finch or canary aviaries and a quiet cage
Living environment
aviary floor or a wide solid-floored cage with dense grass
Pros & cons
Advantages of the species
leaves birds on the branches alone, eats spilled seed off the aviary floor, cheap to buy and keep
Things to consider
males fight each other, laying hens need extra calcium, coarse wire floors injure its small feet
Notes
It is often sold as a "button quail", although true buttonquails (genus Turnix) belong to a different family – check for the Latin name Synoicus chinensis before buying. Well-fed hens lay about one egg a day and risk becoming egg-bound without extra calcium.
