Quote:
all coturnix are technically hybrids. Coturnix are subspecies from allll over the world (where they can be found) bred together. The color from A&M is a mutation....mutations show up in animals all the time..."merle" in dogs for example. It is not a hybrid in itself no way. All colors in coturnix are mutations, except ofcourse the wild color, that was well the base color that people had to start out with when they first started domesticating the coturnix.
I do not agree with that guy though... A & Ms are not hybrids, and all tuxedos are is the result of breeding a tibetan (british range) to an A & M so i find that funny that he says that A& MS and tuxedos are hybrids because 1. Tuxedos are half A & Ms lol.
Having coturnix on the side wouldnt make him an expert, sounds like he'd be more an expert in his pheasants or chukars IMO.
I will do some research on this but no i do not believe there is any hybridization between the A & M and tuxedo.
Now, a Bobbird is a hybrid that's a coturnix bred with a bobwhite.
kay that was easy....lol heres proof that A & ms are nothing more than selectively bred coturnix quail (aka Japanese quail).
"Fifteen years ago Experiment Station research-ers and Extension poultry science specialists sought to improve the quail industry by genetically enhancing the blood lines of selected heavier meat birds. The resulting Texas A&M Gourmet Quail were developed by Extension specialists, includ-ing Fred Thornberry, who received several eggs from a Japanese quail producer. For 2 years and six generations, Thornberrys birds were crossbred to eliminate carcass abnormalities and make them more uniform in size. These quail were genetically selected for large body size, conformation and increased meat yield at 6 to 7 weeks of age. With the goal of enhancing the quail for the gourmet industry, Thornberry was able to improve the birds breast musculature while maintaining their optimum egg production. More recently, Extension specialist Lee Cartwright crossed the recessive white gene into the improved line to yield a large-bodied Japanese quail without the unappealing pigmentation in the skin and internal membranes. These genetic improvements are the basis of the most sought-after Japanese quail products on the market, and today the Texas A&M Gourmet Quail are raised in about a dozen countries."
Ergo, not hybrids, just time taken to make the birds ideal for meat production. Which breeders can do on their own property as long as they selectively breed.
By the way if you get hung up on the word "crossbred" it means "produced by the interbreeding of different varieties or breeds" but in coturnix quail there is no other breeds theres only other varieties (tibetan, tuxedo--which wouldnt be here if it wasnt for A & Ms, golden, cinnamon). I plan to breed two varieties together (a & ms to my white shouldered browns *they have white feathers on their shoulders i am hoping to make more bold* over time the mixing of varieties of A &M and the white shouldered browns SHOULD *i hope* give me coturnix quails with dramatic white feathering on the wing shoulder more so than im seeing now with my browns----this would be selective breeding by crossbreeding the colors together.
In genetics theres dominant and recessive, dominant colors show up without another of the same color there....but many dominant colors in many animals where not there to begin with, but showed up as a mutation. Mutations are normally uninentional, but when they show up if a breeder likes the color, they work with it to keep it around and if they are lucky it's dominant....but a &ms are recessive, so to get them again you have to already have atleast 2 a & ms. All other colors to the wild type color are mutations of the original color.
I got the above info from (i had to view it in HTML because it's a pdf file):
http://64.233.169.104/search?q=cach...df+Texas+A+&+M+quail&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=4&gl=us
