White coturnix quail

[Everlast]

Is it out of the ordinary to get white coturnix quails?. So far i have hatched 4 from 2 batches. The 1st 2 had a streak of brown on their heads. The next 2 did not. The person who gave me the eggs said that never happened to him before. He had been breeding coturnix for 5 years. Has this happend to anyone else?

 

[dc3085]

Is it out of the ordinary to get white coturnix quails?. So far i have hatched 4 from 2 batches. The 1st 2 had a streak of brown on their heads. The next 2 did not. The person who gave me the eggs said that never happened to him before. He had been breeding coturnix for 5 years. Has this happend to anyone else?

White is a recessive color so the gentlemen had never seen this because he hadn't previously had two birds with recessive white breeding. It is quite common for this to happen in flocks consisting of all pharaoh (wild type/brown) coturnix.

White birds with spots on their backs or heads are commonly referred to as Texas A&Ms (there is a separate white color mutation called the english white, but those are much less common to find). A&M isn't really the proper term for them (Only one place I can think of sells true A&Ms on a large scale) but it's what most keepers are calling them. The A&M line originated from a project done by Texas A&Ms poultry department. A proper A&M should be capable of reaching 14-16 ounces, but most you encounter of this name will be closer to 10 ounces due to genetics. They are an all dark meat bird despite what you may read around the net. There is a well spread myth that they have white meat, but that is entirely untrue. They are dark meat birds just like all other coturnix.

 

[Everlast]

Thank you so much for your reply. You seemed very well informed.