Tag: Chinese painted quail

As has often been the case in the past, I once again attended the large bird market organized by the ornithological association “La Volière” in Hannut, located in the province of Liège, Belgium. The event took place on the morning of Sunday, October 4th, in the usual covered market hall.
There were very few gallinaceous birds for sale—which came as no surprise to me, especially since the authorities had detected an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza in the neighboring Belgian province of Limburg just a few days earlier.

However, it was a pleasure to meet a very young enthusiast who was offering for sale a few Chinese painted quails.
Business had evidently gone well for him; all that remained in his two-compartment transport cage were three males of the “blue-face” mutation.
They were young birds—hatched this year—of good size, already showing adult coloration, and in excellent overall condition.

Since the birds were beautiful—and, most importantly, free of any spots or unwanted white feathers on their masks or wings—I decided to purchase two of them.
The breeder explained that those birds came from the same breeding pair:

• Father: blue-faced
• Mother: pearl (pearl)

It is quite clear that one of the two males I acquired is a “pearl” specimen, which confirms the breeder’s account.
Taking advantage of a beautiful, sunny day, I seized the opportunity to snap a few photos of this bird, which I am sharing with you in this post.

It has long been known and accepted that the “blue-face” and “pearl” mutations—both of which follow a dominant inheritance pattern—can be combined within a single phenotype.
In fact, I have occasionally produced such birds myself.
That said, it brought to mind the still-unexplained mystery surrounding the so-called “Darth Vader” males—a variation of the red-breasted mutation characterized by an entirely black head, lacking any throat stripe.
It has long been believed—though never proven—that these males are “pearl”.

In his research, Spanish biologist Oriol Vidal, from the University of Girona, demonstrated that the blue-faced and red-breasted mutations both involve the same gene, MC1R; consequently, they cannot be combined with one another.
Since the blue-face mutation and the pearl mutation can be combined—as evidenced by the bird shown in the photos below—it follows that the pearl mutation is not linked to the same gene as the blue-face and red-breasted mutations.
Therefore, a combination of red-breasted and pearl is indeed possible.
To solve the mystery of these “Darth Vader” red-breasted males, I have decided to conduct an experimental cross trial using a female with a pure genotype.
If the “Darth Vader” phenotype is an expression of the pearl mutation, the offspring from this pairing should be:

• 50% wild-type pearl, carrying the red-breasted mutation.
• 50% wild-type, carrying the red-breasted mutation.
  Note: Half of the offspring could potentially also carry other recessive mutations, depending on the father’s unknown genotype (possibilities include white, silver, brown, and fallow).

Single-factor blueface pearl male:

Evolution of a US-redbreasted Fallow male born in my aviaries during the breeding season of 2026.
Father : Silver pearl carrier of both redbreasted and fallow mutations
Mother: US-Redbreasted carrier of Fallow

September 22th, 2026:

August 28th, 2026:

August 15th, 2026:

July 27th, 2026:

Ten years after having discovered the first three specimens of Black-breasted males, I am proud to announce that after all those years, I still have the bloodline and, exactly ten years after that finding, I am still producing birds showing this unusual phenotype.
The male you may see in the pictures above was born in my aviaries during the breeding season of 2024, and I photographed it in January 2025.
I still have no idea of the exact transmission of this abnormality and I am still investigating.
Enjoy!

For more information about the black-breasted phenotype, see the first post: HERE

Another very strange bird born in my aviaries during the breeding season of 2021.
We can see those unusual blue feathers on the back and the red feathers near the tail.
I am very anxious to see if this female bird will lay eggs in the near future and if I will be able to reproduce with her.
She stay from now in a single cage.

Another picture of a young female of Chinese painted quail (Coturnix chinensis) born in my aviaries in 2021 and slightly getting typical “blue” male feathers. on the back.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Another very interesting young female bird, born in my aviaries in 2021.
Firstly grown with normal coloration until adulthood this female has progressively changed to a male coloration.
Those pictures clearly show us the apparition of the typical “blue” male feathers and the bib drawing on remaining female background colors.

Because this rare phenomenon tends to be repeated on a very regular basis in my breeding for at least three years, I am busy looking for an explanation for it.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Double factor blue face brown, male. From my aviaries.
A nice dark “chocolate-brown” bird without white patches.
This bird was pictured on April 9th, 2014

• 

• 

• 

• 

•