Weird Female CPQ

Why is it that the female in question (in the middle, on the left) has darker markings than my other two females (on the right and at the front)? Thanks in advance for any help.

Button quail/painted quail have a number if different color mutations. The two hens on the right are cinnamons (red breasted probably), and the one on the left looks closer to wild type. I'm not sure exactly of her color mutation, it is different than why be seen.

Button quail are improperly bred in colonies too often (I know that offends people but in the whole wild world they only breed in pairs and specifically avoid contact with other buttons...) and that has led to the deterioration of nearly every color phase of button quail. Finding a wild type pair of buttons that don't throw different color phases in their offspring is nearly impossible anymore. The only "positive" coming from this (if you could call it positive) is new color phases show up pretty much by the day.

I agree that it is best to keep only pairs. I've never heard of button quail breeding true to their mutation, but it's natural for them to be in pairs anyway, so that's how I keep mine.

I have been told that it is okay to keep males with multiple females, so that is what I am doing. I am aware of the risks of keeping more than one male with a female, so I do not intend to do so.

ThetaSigma said:

I agree that it is best to keep only pairs. I've never heard of button quail breeding true to their mutation, but it's natural for them to be in pairs anyway, so that's how I keep mine.

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A mutated color phase should pass from parent to offspring in at least a percentage of the offspring. White buttons usually put off a lot of white buttons, silvers usually a lot of silvers, etc. Mutations aside though, just try to find a wild type pair that breeds true to color. It's nearly impossible.

Kneedles said:

I have been told that it is okay to keep males with multiple females, so that is what I am doing. I am aware of the risks of keeping more than one male with a female, so I do not intend to do so.

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Sure they sometimes don't kill each other with one male to multiple females. That doesn't mean that's the way the species instincts are designed to work. Buttons are monogamous and mate for life just like doves do. I'm not picking on you and honestly splitting those birds up now would probably be more trouble than it's worth, but that's pretty much the answer to your question. Colony breeding, lack of a standard/pedigree for people to breed to, and people breeding for wilder colors are why you get various odd color phases even out of the same hatch. Most commercial button quail producers colony breed and their cages look like a color swatch index from the paint store. They do that despite there being tons of evidence of the monogamous habits of buttons quail, because it's much easier to be profitable colony breeding than battery breeding.

Coturnix are a good example of human damage to an animals instinct. Coturnix in the wild only breed in pairs. Because of human interference a domestic coturnix rooster will easily breed one or two hens to death. Literally, he will breed them so aggressively that they will very often die from stress or wounds. Because of that you cannot leave a coturnix rooster with less than three hens. Button quail will be that way in not too many years. They are already rapidly losing the instinct to brood eggs.