Hybridising Chinese Painted Quail and Japanese Quail

[FloorCandy]

Little update: Stitch is a week old today! They’re doing great so far, growing super fast. Their pin feathers are already sprouting feather tips, I’m excited to see how they form. Though knowing our luck Stitch will probably just resemble a pharaoh coturnix at this point haha.

I think the only potential unique thing that /could/ develop is their weird little white patch on the base of their tail, as it’s already white despite the fact that baby feather’s versions of white should come out as yellow before developing their plumage. Maybe someone else has had a similar experience with something like that:
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(And before someone says it, no it’s not poop, and it’s not yellow, it sticks out rather strongly against their yellow down)

That is the area around the preen gland. I checked a couple of my chicks and the button chicks seem to have white fluff around the gland, here’s a pic of one of the darkest ones, it’s blurry because these little spazzes hate me and this was the best I could do:

 

[MysteryChicken]

 

[pterry97]

That is the area around the preen gland. I checked a couple of my chicks and the button chicks seem to have white fluff around the gland, here’s a pic of one of the darkest ones, it’s blurry because these little spazzes hate me and this was the best I could do:

View attachment 2881460

It seems you are right! I checked tonight and there is a big ole nubby right on the top of their tail. For some reason I thought their oil nubs were one on each side of their side, not directly over the tail? Unless different bird species have them in different places? I know for sure the turkeys at work have their nubs on their sides in the space between their wings and tail

 

[pterry97]

Apologies for the blurry footage but here’s another update on Stitch! Growing so fast now

The beginnings of chest feathers are coming in, and considering she’s coloured pharaoh I think it’s safe to think that Stitch is a hen. She has a lot of stripes, I’m not sure if it just looks like a lot because she’s little or if this is a change in her genetics? I don’t believe it’s enough stripes to be sparkly but it seems like a considerable amount more than my other pharaohs have. Or maybe I’m just looking into it too much haha.

 

[DK newbie]

She looks so healthy! And remarkably much like a normal cot. I found a video on youtube to compare them:

It'll be interesting to see how she turns out.

 

[pterry97]

She looks so healthy! And remarkably much like a normal cot. I found a video on youtube to compare them:

It'll be interesting to see how she turns out.

Yes I agree, it's very bizarre. I hope something shows through, otherwise I'm going to be very upset if it turns out I put a wrong egg into the incubator somehow. The doubts are starting to rise within me ahhhhh

 

[FloorCandy]

Yes I agree, it's very bizarre. I hope something shows through, otherwise I'm going to be very upset if it turns out I put a wrong egg into the incubator somehow. The doubts are starting to rise within me ahhhhh

Even if it looks like a normal cot when grown, you should try hatching eggs from it because the hybrids should be infertile. If it lays or fathers fertile eggs, it isn’t a hybrid, if it isn’t fertile, it bodes towards it’s a hybrid.

 

[pterry97]

17 days old now, and still looking very JC-y. Prreeeeetty worried I might have ended up putting a wrong egg in the incubator at this point. Stitch is now the same size as my adult CP quails. Still tiny next to the JC though. I was trying to make just a size comparison video but then got caught off guard by a surprise behaviour: mounting. Specifically, Stitch mounting Cookie, one of my adult hens. Safe to say I was not expecting it. I've never seen chicks show dominating behaviours like this before aside from the occasional toe peck.

I'm almost certain Stitch is a hen, her chest feathers are all in and are extremely spotty, no room for mistake there. Has anyone else ever seen this behaviour with little chicks before, is this normal?

 

[FloorCandy]

17 days old now, and still looking very JC-y. Prreeeeetty worried I might have ended up putting a wrong egg in the incubator at this point. Stitch is now the same size as my adult CP quails. Still tiny next to the JC though. I was trying to make just a size comparison video but then got caught off guard by a surprise behaviour: mounting. Specifically, Stitch mounting Cookie, one of my adult hens. Safe to say I was not expecting it. I've never seen chicks show dominating behaviours like this before aside from the occasional toe peck.

I'm almost certain Stitch is a hen, her chest feathers are all in and are extremely spotty, no room for mistake there. Has anyone else ever seen this behaviour with little chicks before, is this normal?

Well, watching the video, it didn’t do the butt wiggle once it was on top, and from my experience with my broody Coturnix who hatched and raised chicks, this is right about the age where the chicks were still trying to get in moms feathers, and she was running them off (Quail weaning I guess). After the chick gets on and then gets off it stops and lowers it’s head and looks like it’s deciding to try to crawl in the feathers. I think it might be at an age where it is still driven by a natural urge to brood with the larger bird. My chicks often slept and rode on their mom, from hatch until 2 and 1/2 to 3 weeks, then she plucked them when they tried.

 

[pterry97]

Well, watching the video, it didn’t do the butt wiggle once it was on top, and from my experience with my broody Coturnix who hatched and raised chicks, this is right about the age where the chicks were still trying to get in moms feathers, and she was running them off (Quail weaning I guess). After the chick gets on and then gets off it stops and lowers it’s head and looks like it’s deciding to try to crawl in the feathers. I think it might be at an age where it is still driven by a natural urge to brood with the larger bird. My chicks often slept and rode on their mom, from hatch until 2 and 1/2 to 3 weeks, then she plucked them when they tried.

Unfortunately that wasn't the case haha, Stitch was pecking at her legs instead. She was being quite the bully to poor Cookie, it's their first interaction. Stitch hasn't been reared with the other quail (mostly because none of mine go broody) and any short exposures we've attempted got some near miss pecks towards Stitch that were only stopped by me. I tried Cookie because she's one of my more mellower birds but the tables were turned this encounter. Also, there was the butt wiggling very briefly at 0:30 on the video, which is why it surprised me. It looked near identical to when my CP rooster mounts the JC hens - (AKA with little accuracy and great difficulty).