Italian quail? Who has them and how do they compare?

[backyardcovey]

Have an Italian gold roo that looks just like the ones in Quaillady's pictures. Wonder how that happen..

He was likely one of those extra eggs. His body is pure straw color with no markings.

Put him with my A&M girls add a little bator magic and pop 50% speckled gold and 40% fawn with lite colored wild marking but sadly no red/dark head like him.

So for my genetic primer lesson how do I get other dark headed straw bodied Italian? Breed him to my jumbo brown girls and let the genetic dice roll?

 

[thekid]

I like my italians, actually one of the italians is my favorite bird out of all of them

 

[Frankallen]

Who named them "Italians" and why?? Just wondering...

Frank

 

[DNAatWork]

If i'm not wrong, I think a breeder from Minnesota? I'm not sure how accurate this statement is.

 

[Stellar]

Italians were named starting abroad and then Albert Marsh brought them in the states.

 

[Ray C]

How many Italian hens should be placed in a breeding pen with a male? I have heard 3:1 but I have heard of breeders keeping a ratio as high as 8:1.

 

[Quail Jailer]

I have a pen of Goldens (was told Italian) that I did not even want.
Oddly enough they are FAR calmer less fighting and much more docile than
the browns and A&M's that they hatched with.
they are very good layers too.

I had not heard of any lethal genes until this thread, So I have 15 hens and 2 roos in their pen.

I have not spent as much time with them and when I open the pen they just stand and let me pet them, some even coming closer for some attention. the browns and whites
scamper away.

So if anyone wants any Golden/Golden eggs I've got 'em.

 

[DoLittleMD]

Quail Jailer I have a fawn colored and a white (long story) and 12 browns. My browns I've had since they were about a week old and when I go to open their cage they act like Godzilla is attacking! But the white & fawn colored ones are super calm and don't mind me opening their cage, and I got them at 4 weeks! They are soooo docile was wondering if it is the coloration or individual personality

 

[Quail Jailer]

I wish I could answer that but I just don't know. Maybe DC will answer , he knows these quail as well as anyone I've come across.

 

[dc3085]

Quail Jailer I have a fawn colored and a white (long story) and 12 browns. My browns I've had since they were about a week old and when I go to open their cage they act like Godzilla is attacking! But the white & fawn colored ones are super calm and don't mind me opening their cage, and I got them at 4 weeks! They are soooo docile

was wondering if it is the coloration or individual personality

There could be a few different reasons. One is environmental the other is genetic. If all of the birds are housed together and the white and fawn colored bird are still calm, I would lean toward genetics.

If they brown quail aren't with the others, it is possible that one of your pharaohs is causing trouble. If you see a lot of feathers around and hear them flying and being rowdy when nothing else is bothering them, it's possible that you just have one or two birds in there causing the others problems. Picked on birds are really skittish and never get better until you solve their problem. Sometimes I'll set up a new group and they are all miserable to try to manage, but often by removing the one problem bird everything calms down.

Certain personality factors can be genetic, such as aggression. Although there is not much research on the subject, it follows that other personality traits such as a calm demeanor are also genetic. I "deleted" a whole line of birds I started from an aggressive roo, when I noticed that appx half of his offspring were intolerable little swear words.

The way they were brooded can also play a role. If you brood them where they can't see people moving around it will take a long time for them to get used to it. If the white and fawn birds were brooded and handled differently this could also be the reason.

I wish I could answer that but I just don't know. Maybe DC will answer , he knows these quail as well as anyone I've come across.

I appreciate the praise. Learning is one of my favorite pursuits, and quail are one of my favorite things to eat. Combining the two was bound to happen. Besides knowledge you don't share is half wasted.

I learned a lot from the "heavy weights" of BYC. People that don't grace us with their presence much anymore, if at all. I'm hardly qualified to compare notes with many of them. One of the members here even wrote a book called The Coturnix Revolution, by Alexandra Douglas, her posts can be found on BYC under the name Stellar or Quail lady of fort myers. Others whose posts are high value are TwoCrows, JJMR794, Monarc23, and MobyQuail