Coturnix egg color questions

[ChristineR]

I have a hen who lays a variety of colors. She's the only hen in the pen, so I know it's just her. Can anyone explain how/why this happens? I know the color saturation can depend on how long the egg was held internally, but these egg colors are all over the place. I'll post photos from my phone in the next comment.

 

[Little Red Birds]

What do you mean by different colors? A different base color, different spotting color?

 

[ChristineR]

 

[Little Red Birds]

Oh my.

 

[ChristineR]

What do you mean by different colors? A different base color, different spotting color?

Different base colors. There's gray, green, and brown. I tried to take photos with different backgrounds. It's hard to capture the true colors.

 

[Little Red Birds]

I’ve read about quail that have a highly recessive gene called the celadon gene... your female may have a mutation of that gene or even a mutation not connected to the celadon gene.

 

[ChristineR]

I’ve read about quail that have a highly recessive gene called the celadon gene... your female may have a mutation of that gene or even a mutation not connected to the celadon gene.

It's crazy. These are my first quail, but I've never seen anything like this in my other birds.

 

[ChristineR]

If there was more than one hen, I would think different birds were laying them.

 

[Little Red Birds]

I mostly do rabbit genetics but I’m working on chicken right now so I guess quail will be my next genetic project.

 

[Little Red Birds]

If they were just darker and lighter I would say something like feed or stress but DARN