Mountain Quail
The mountain Quail's range is Western North America; from Washington south to northern Baja California with a habitat of mixed evergreen forests and woodlands.
The largest North American quail, the Mountain Quail is distinguished from the other western plumed species in both sexes having straight, narrow crests.
The crests are black and consist of only two feathers, the female's crest is usually shorter and more brownish than the male, otherwise the sexes are similar.
The mountain Quail's breeding season is late March & early April to June.
With a clutch size of 6 to 15 eggs with a color of pale buff to cream and take 24 to 25 days to incubate.
Mountain Quail do very when kept in large aviaries with lots of evergreen
branches for them to perch and hide. A hardy species, they are very adaptable
and can withstand both extremes of temperature. Artificially reared chicks
are prone to toe picking. Can be controlled by placing alfalfa hay on bottom
of brooder, use dimly lit brooders and/or trim the upper beak back about
1/3. If you need to feed mealworms to encourage the birds to eat, cut into
small pieces and only feed for a few days (the worms resemble toes).