can bobwhites and California quail breed

[quailsaurus]

I am just curious because i saw images online and i was curious if i could recreate the pictures. bobwhite x California

 

[007Sean]

Yes, they can interbreed but it is rare and only in confined conditions or through AI.
I would advise against it.....there are already too many birds being "hybridized" for the sensationalism of a new "color" or "look".
Also, in this case, they will be sterile so the experiment ends at the point of hatching, if they do hatch....everything has to lineup perfectly to get any viable egg to hatch.

 

[quailsaurus]

ok thanks

 

[007Sean]

ETA--or update to what I said in the above post.

I raise Bobwhites and Blues together, they sometimes interbreed. I have hatched a few of the crosses/hybrids of those eggs that were viable but they didn't survive more than a few days, or died after pipping, most were DIS.

Alot of time is wasted in trying to create a new breed or a cross or hybrid. Most of the time the results is a sterile offspring. This time could have been better used in trying to improve the genetics of the pure lines.

Most of the time it's done for the money, others do it for the notoriety....either way it's a loss for the original species.
Examples of this is highly visible in Peafowl and Pheasants. It has become nearly impossible to find a pure India Blue peafowl or a pure Lady Amherst pheasant, muchless, any other of the pheasants.

There may be a time when we "backyard aviarist" have to help with reintroducing or repopulating a species we keep, because they have become extinct or are a highly endangered species in their original region. If no one keeps them pure how is that going to happen?

Another example is the Masked Bobwhite of the Sonoran Desert of Mexico and Arizona. It is on the verge of extinction, efforts are being made to introduce/repopulate with birds that have been raised from privately owned confined birds and one conservancy organization. Another example is the Attwater Prairie chicken of the coastal plains of Texas. It is nearly on the verge of extinction, at one time there were less than 80 birds in the wild, it's still critically low at 200+ birds at present but if it wasn't for people who raised pure birds they would be extinct now!

I'm off my "soap box"