I'm not sure why this would be, possibly hidden within the genetics of breeding these lovable creatures but along with the golden quail, discussed here in Part 2, the English White, Pandas, Tibetan and Rosetta Tuxedo, seem to be the most friendly of all the quail I have bred. Together with this characteristic, in fact instrumental in its process, is the ability of these quail to bond to each other in monogamous pairs and thus to revert to their natural instincts to nest and hatch. Thus, if your ambition is to breed quail for companionship, gardening and free-ranging ability and the penchant for raising their own chicks then in my opinion, mixing these colours into your flock is the way to achieve your goals.
It has been interesting when researching the colours of coturnix to come up against such a paucity of information. Creating a Tibetan or Rosetta quail, with their beautiful and complex feathering is surely something to crow about but the origins at present seem lost, or maybe they will be found at some time. It certainly took me some digging in my recent Cochin article to find the name of the owner of the mourning Pekinese, who were unceremoniously snatched from their mistresses' dead body and carried off as trophies to furnish the first breeds of these dogs in the West.
Trying to find the history of the English White quail or in fact any of the above is a rather tortuous process and getting more so unfortunately, as for most of my origins of specific poultry breeds, I have to dig into older texts and articles. For, what presents itself on the internet tends to involve a greater proportion of cut-and-paste and a mix of confusion. For example the name English White is often used as synonymous with the Texas A&M quail. The latter is actually very easy to trace, the clue is in the name and was a large or 'Jumbo' hybrid a cross with the 'Texas Gourmet' a quail first raised by the Texas A&M's Poultry Department in 1995 by Dr. Fred Thornberry and trialed at the Diamond H Ranch. When
Dr Lee Cartwright joined the Faculty he began a program of breeding the Gourmet quail with the English White this too was/is mainly for commercial use but many 'backyard' breeders do raise them and I have also found organically raised Texas A&M in the UK.
Left top: English White female and Rosetta Tuxedo male.
Below left: English White chick
There is a sort of subset of the English White called 'Panda' where the head shows patches of 'Pharaoh' or wild quail feathering. These actually are very pretty and the markings can be in interesting shapes, I have had several with heart shapes. Sometimes the patches of colour turn up on the back and wings too. It is actually quite hard to breed a totally white quail and some breeders report that over-breeding of whites has the potential to produce albino quail. In the juveniles at the drinking fountain (left) you can see the Panda patterning beginning to appear within the distribution of the emerging feathers.
My simple understanding of the genetics for how the different combinations of colours for feather show up and in what proportions is, that with the pied birds, known as Tuxedos, the genes for recessive white make the 'waistcoat, 'shirtfront' and sometimes also 'sleeves'. The dominant chocolate or chestnut colour from the Tibetan or Rosetta will then make the 'tail coat' and 'trousers'. These are the two sorts of Tuxedo I have had to date but I believe you can make Tuxedos out of any combination(s) of dominant colours with recessive white.
Dark British Range aka Tibetan is a beautiful bird, in which like the white the female is larger than the male. In French this colour in quail and pheasants is called 'Obscure' which is a more poetic way of saying dark.
A close up of the plumage shows some incredible patterning and the birds themselves I have always found to be friendly albeit the females can become very dominant.
Similarly with the Rosetta, there are some amazing nuances of shades and markings when you look at the feathers in detail. At this magnification you can see the subtle influence of Pharaoh patterning but there is a lot more to it than that.
Sir John Sebright, although ultimately taking his secret to his grave viz., the genetics of the beautiful bird that bears his name, freely admitted that he would produce any given feather in three years.
Thus it would seem fitting that the person who created these should make themselves known!
The Rosetta (above) aka British Range, is a beautiful bird which was created from a combination of English White and Dark British Range.
Left is a Golden Italian mother with her Rosetta Tuxedo chick
With the Rosetta, the females are larger than the males and in the ones I have, the females are more friendly, although they can get very assertive and vocal around other younger males, in the nesting season. In particular they use a very unusual sort of 'yammering' or guttural chattering, which is a vocalisation I haven't heard from other quail in relation to territory and hierarchy disputes with juveniles.
The males of both the Rosetta Tuxedo above and the Tibetan Tuxedo below are not unfriendly but just seem to be more wary of humans than the female Tuxedos.
Now here's the film of our beautiful English White and Pandas:
Looking at my quail in their Winter sleeping quarters, I can't help thinking of an exotic box of chocolates, whatever the name and whoever came up with these spectacular feather colours, they are truly beautiful.
It has been interesting when researching the colours of coturnix to come up against such a paucity of information. Creating a Tibetan or Rosetta quail, with their beautiful and complex feathering is surely something to crow about but the origins at present seem lost, or maybe they will be found at some time. It certainly took me some digging in my recent Cochin article to find the name of the owner of the mourning Pekinese, who were unceremoniously snatched from their mistresses' dead body and carried off as trophies to furnish the first breeds of these dogs in the West.
Trying to find the history of the English White quail or in fact any of the above is a rather tortuous process and getting more so unfortunately, as for most of my origins of specific poultry breeds, I have to dig into older texts and articles. For, what presents itself on the internet tends to involve a greater proportion of cut-and-paste and a mix of confusion. For example the name English White is often used as synonymous with the Texas A&M quail. The latter is actually very easy to trace, the clue is in the name and was a large or 'Jumbo' hybrid a cross with the 'Texas Gourmet' a quail first raised by the Texas A&M's Poultry Department in 1995 by Dr. Fred Thornberry and trialed at the Diamond H Ranch. When Dr Lee Cartwright joined the Faculty he began a program of breeding the Gourmet quail with the English White this too was/is mainly for commercial use but many 'backyard' breeders do raise them and I have also found organically raised Texas A&M in the UK.
Left top: English White female and Rosetta Tuxedo male.
Below left: English White chick
 |
| English White 'Panda' and Tibetan Tuxedo enjoy a similarly 'pied' lettuce |
 |
| Rosetta Tuxedo dining alone |
Dark British Range aka Tibetan is a beautiful bird, in which like the white the female is larger than the male. In French this colour in quail and pheasants is called 'Obscure' which is a more poetic way of saying dark.
A close up of the plumage shows some incredible patterning and the birds themselves I have always found to be friendly albeit the females can become very dominant.
Sir John Sebright, although ultimately taking his secret to his grave viz., the genetics of the beautiful bird that bears his name, freely admitted that he would produce any given feather in three years.
Thus it would seem fitting that the person who created these should make themselves known!
Left is a Golden Italian mother with her Rosetta Tuxedo chick
With the Rosetta, the females are larger than the males and in the ones I have, the females are more friendly, although they can get very assertive and vocal around other younger males, in the nesting season. In particular they use a very unusual sort of 'yammering' or guttural chattering, which is a vocalisation I haven't heard from other quail in relation to territory and hierarchy disputes with juveniles.
The males of both the Rosetta Tuxedo above and the Tibetan Tuxedo below are not unfriendly but just seem to be more wary of humans than the female Tuxedos.
Now here's the film of our beautiful English White and Pandas:
Thanks for dropping by and do feel free to share experiences or ask for further information in the comment section. If you have enjoyed this piece and found it useful think about sharing it with your family and friends, on social media and also maybe about joining this blog and/or subscribing to my Youtube channel or even supporting us on Patreon or
Until next time, all the very best from Normandie! Sue
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© 2020 Sue Cross
© 2020 Sue Cross
I have a little grouping of six Coturnix quail of varying colours. I received them when they were 10 days and are now 4 weeks. They like me enough that we garden together with quite a bit of happiness on both sides. Kenny my Rosetta Tuxedo is so friendly and silly. I don't know the sex yet but from what you have said is probably a boy since he is on the small side. Thank-you so much for teaching how to care for these birds in a way that is so delightful for the birds and for us.
ReplyDeleteI have a question though. I have one beautiful spotted Italian female. She has been quite shy from the beginning, and over time has become even more shy and skittish. She LOVES being in the garden. She is such a proper little thing but when she gets to her favorite spot she is just a little child covering herself in dirt. She is amazing with ants. But when she first gets out she flys. The others sometimes do too but run straight back to me. She unfortunately first hides and then is sometimes to nervous to come back to the group by herself although she wants to. I have been able just to slowly walk behind her and direct her towards her friends. My question is if I shouldn't have her go out except in the pen that I have set up for the quail, (we are in the city so it is not as nice as her having more space when I garden with them), or if there are any suggestions at taming a very skittish bird. The others all eat out of my hand and are pretty good with me touching them (some more than others. Kenny wants me to hold him a lot). But for this little bird, even if I put a treat in their pen and stick around she won't come to eat because she is nervous of me. Do any of your birds do this? What have you found the most helpful? She loves the garden so much and you can see her de-stress and really be a joyful bird once she has settled in it. It is just the initial beginning. Thank-you!
Hi there Tash, it sound like you have a lovely group of birds there. My answer is yes and it just happened - I bought a bargain basement group of quail recently from someone who was moving from home and giving up on raising them for a while. Among them was a Manchurian male - youngish, he is therefore already lower down the pecking order than anyone in the group as the females are quite established and the other male is older and a tame Tibetan Tuxedo. I have a Rosetta female too, who as I mentioned in the above article is very vocal and always chattering at him. I've been feeding them all as much invertebrate protein as possible in the hope that this will increase his methionine and B complex vitamins and thus support his nervous system. However, he tends to be nervous of joining the others hunting through piles of compost, particularly when I am there. All the others are in one little house to sleep in but he has his own little coop at night, I thought this might give him some status and he certainly seems to be better accepted in the group but he obviously has a problem with humans. I shall start to pick him up more and try hand feeding him mealworms and see how that goes. If you saw my more recent film on free-ranging quail, then of the bonded pair I took out together, the male was quite a lot more wary than the female, who because she was fine gardening with me, kept him with us but under a nearby bush, so maybe if your spotted Italian female bonds to Kenny for example, his confidence in you will influence her. Understanding how and why birds react the way they do is a really incredibly complicated study, I learn so many new things every day, particularly from watching chicks and juveniles, to whom everything is so new. I do believe though behaviours and hierarchies are both quite fluid, so there is room for change. Certainly diet holds the key to many behavioural changes and I am certain that lower-pecking order or more timid birds can miss out on essential nutrients purely because that is part of flock dynamics. The more you handle her though, the tamer she should become and I would try to involve her when you hold Kenny because birds pick up so much on each others behaviour and learn to trust people accordingly. It's one of the tricks I use to get an injured wild bird to trust me, bring in one of my very tame birds and show that I can be trusted. You are right though to be wary of taking her out if she could get 'spooked' but equally right not to want her to miss out on all that space and enjoyment. Many quail love to fly when they free-range, it seems an expression of freedom to me! How about game netting? This would give her the freedom but with a barrier to her getting lost. Hope this helps and thank you so much for your kind words, they are really appreciated. All the very best from Normandie, Sue
DeleteHi Sue,
DeleteI just wanted to give you an update on how my scared little Italian was doing. I took your advice with her and spent more time with her and held her twice every day speaking to her gently. She was with me as I handled the bird who trusts me completely and now I can say that she is quite tame. She no longer runs from me. She eats any treats I bring, even out of my hand quite comfortably. She will even peck my hand without fear to see if it tastes better than the treat. When I go to pick her up she has learned from her friend to just stand still. I can see her look at me and brace herself, but she snuggles into me when I pick her up. I also decided to try the netting so that I wouldn't have to think about them flying far. This has even made the birds more calm. It seemed to scare them when they suddenly found themselves far away even though they were the ones that brought themselves so far. So now my little Italian happily grabs insects and greens from the garden and I no longer fear losing her. Thank-you for your help. For some reason I thought if she didn't like me near I should give her space, but doing the opposite has really helped our relationship.
I also had an injury in my flock and reading your blog really helped then as well. I applied calendula oil to the wound and she is healing very well. She is now back mostly to her normal self after just 2 days although I am still having her be inside and keeping an eye on her. I have always found calendula oil has helped with the skin infections and wounds of myself and my children and it was good to know I could use this safely on my birds.
Tash
Hi Tash and thank you so much for getting back and letting me know how things were going and I am so pleased that your little Italian female quail has calmed down and bonded with you. Incidentally so has my little Manchurian male, he has also pair-bonded with the very same Rosetta female who was always chattering at him angrily and pecking him! I think with them that diet has really improved their flock dynamics. I have been able to give them heaps of compost to work through on a regular basis. They have also had a great deal of opportunity to sunbathe and thus obtain vitamin D₃ which they could not do easily where they lived before, so I think that has done them all a lot of good too.
DeleteWe have a position in our birds' group dynamic which is very important as we are chief provider and resolver of problems - so it is crucial that they all should feel able to bond with us which now they obviously do. I always feel we walk a fine line with our poultry in giving them as much freedom and natural space to feel almost wild and rediscover their natural behaviours but also in that they are still 'domesticated' to a certain extent. So they need to bond with us for safety and they need to be tame enough in case of emergency. If your female now bonds with your tame male Kenny then you should have some pattering of tiny claws come Spring and furthermore will get tame/bonded chicks too. What a great thing to look forward to for next year!
Calendula is wonderful, do you make your own infused oil? I am supposed to be writing a blogpost on how I make it, I just need to get around to it!
Thanks again for all the feedback and I am so happy you were able to make use of my suggestions and that they worked out for you!
All the very best from Normandie and a big hug to everyone, Sue