Education Pt.18: What your quail colors really mean, and what it means for your farm. Preview for genetics class offerings.
- Zero G Quail Farms
- 4 days ago
- 3 min read
Mission Brief: Color Is Just Color
Here’s the most important takeaway up front: plumage color has nothing to do with whether a Coturnix is “jumbo” or what size eggs it lays. “Jumbo” body weight comes from selection process and line management, not feather genes. Egg size is a production trait shaped by nutrition and breeding goals. Any color can be developed into a heavier carcass or larger (or smaller) egg line—it varies by breeder and by line, not by the paint job.
How Many Colors Are There? (Why Lists Keep Changing)
You’ll see wildly different counts because people mix three buckets when they talk about “colors”:
Base colors (e.g., Pharaoh/wild-type).
Patterns layered on base (e.g., fawn/sparkly).
Dilutions/modifiers that lighten or shift a base (e.g., Fee, Blue/Silver spectrum).Breeders stabilize new combinations every season, so the menu evolves. Think of Coturnix color as a toolbox—you combine base + pattern + dilution to build a look.
Top 15 Widely Seen Coturnix Color/Pattern Varieties
(Names can vary by region; these are broadly recognized in current programs.)Pharaoh/Wild-type (Brown); Italian/Manchurian (Golden); Tibetan; Rosetta; Tuxedo; English White; Egyptian (Dark Pharaoh); Red Range; Cinnamon/Fawn/Ginger; Silver/Blue/Andalusian; Slate (light silver); Falb Fee; Pearl Fee; Grau Fee; Pied or Progessive Pied (this is a new gene that we encourage everyone to take a look at).
Side note: Celadon (blue eggshell) is not a feather color and can ride with any plumage. It’s a separate, recessive eggshell trait.
All photos courtesy of Guidroz Family Farm
What Color Actually Means for Your Farm
Color is great for branding, customer appeal, and pen identification. But if your business goals are meat yield or egg throughput, you’ll get farther by selecting for conformation, growth curve, lay rate, shell quality, and temperament—then laying color on top once the engine is strong. Keep pen IDs and mating records clear so you can reproduce the looks you sell, not just admire them once.
Quick Genetics Primer (Base → Pattern → Dilution)
Most named “colors” are just layers: start with a base (Pharaoh), add a pattern (pansy/faw), then stack dilutions (Fee, Blue/Silver, pied). Dominant or incomplete-dominant modifiers tend to show as soon as you add one copy; recessives (like celadon eggshell) can hide unless you plan test pairings.
Tie-Back to Our Breeding-Program Playbook
In “Starting a Breeding Program: The Zero G Way,” (Education PT.15) we set the order of operations: health and body composition first, production second, color third. That sequence prevents gorgeous-but-useless birds. If you use linebreeding to lock a look, make sure you’re linebreeding excellent birds, or you’ll lock faults just as efficiently as you lock color. Keep two parallel families, document every pairing, and be ready for a deliberate outcross if vigor wobbles.
Practical Tips to Work With Color—Without Derailing Production
Pick one or two color goals per season. Too many projects dilute selection pressure on size and eggs.
Tag by mating group. Track which pairings make the cleanest expressions and which leak or drift.
Cull on type first, color second. Pretty but structurally weak birds don’t enter the breeder pen.
Test-breed recessives. Plan structured crosses for celadon and similar—guessing wastes seasons.
Write your standard. Define your must-haves (keel, width, leg set, temperament), nice-to-haves, and disqualifiers. Don’t edit mid-season; evaluate after the final hatch. Stick with YOUR standards do not compromise and cull to meet those standards.
Class Preview: What We’ll Cover
A color map built from base → pattern → dilution (with live examples).
Sex-link strategies you can actually use, and how to plan celadon recessives.
How to read breeder listings and translate them into repeatable mating plans.
The record set that moves lines forward (weights, egg averages, trait flags)—sustainable to collect and powerful to analyze.
Q&A segment on organizing gene families for easier customer communication and cleaner results in the brooder, and the best way to track your work.
Bottom Line
Color is the visible layer of genetics; size and egg output are the selected layers. Set your farm goals first, build structure and production with discipline, and then use color to delight your market and train your genetic eye. We’ll show you how to do all three—cleanly, repeatably, and with a plan you can hand to a helper on a cold Tuesday morning. "If removing color would break your program, the program was never strong.(Aaron Guidroz)"
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