Chinese Painted Quail – Coturnix Chinensis

The Chinese Painted Quail is the most commonly used but actually the correct name of this lovely bird is Asian Blue Quail. 

They’re also known as Blue-Breasted Quail or King Quail. Further more often called Button Quail by mistake which is a similar looking bird.

Looks and habitat

They come in various colors. From blue and brown, silver, white, white and brown, grey, brown speckled and many other variations. The Chinese Painted Quail is native in South-east Asia, the West side of Oceania and in Australia also.

They can be seen on fields, in bushes, rice fields, on the side of rivers and lakes, in scrub-land in thick vegetation and between fern. Prefers low level plains but it can be found as high as 2000 meters above sea level as well.

Family life

The Chinese Painted Quail lives in monogamy. It’s a very family-centric bird with strong ties to his or her partner. Both parties take their part in the nest building process. The nest is well hidden in the thick vegetation from the sniff and eyes of the predators. In the wild they lay 4-8 rusty-brown color eggs which will take 17-19 days to hatch.

The length of the pairing season will depend on the weather conditions and the King Quail can even lay twice in a season under optimal conditions. Their quail chicks are fully independent from their 8th weeks of age. 

Feeding habits

The Chinese Painted Quail is mainly vegetarian eating various seeds but sometimes loves the odd bite of some crunchy insects or even invertebrates. They are very popular among bird keepers and breeders. It is because the Chinese Painted Quail is known as the cleaner of the aviaries.

They just keep running up and down in the bottom of the aviary until pick all the eatable remains up that their flying relatives drop.  In captivity they will live around 5-7 years.

Source: Wikipedia