Actual black Tibetan?

[Susan Skylark]

Black is sort of a weird color for coturnix, most birds referred to as black are Tibetans plus or minus the fee gene, maybe some lab birds with some funky genes or a bird out of thieving otter/SW game birds multi genetic phenotype line (not a single gene but multiple genes that produce a black bird with Tibetan base), of which I have a single bird (pretty but a mutant, was backwards in egg and has a blind eye and slightly tilted head). So I just got back from a week long absence, when I left I had some 4 week old chicks including 3 Rosetta’s and a Tibetan, nothing very exciting. Now I have 3 Rosetta’s and a very black Tibetan, like really black (I’ll get pictures tomorrow), not just dark dark brown and no fee in the mix. My first thought was maybe my mutant bird (a hen) was bred to my eb male and threw a blackish bird, but looking at the dates she was 4 weeks old when those eggs were set, not laying then, especially fertile eggs! All my then current breeders were homegrown for 2-4 generations with no cool genes in the mix. Is there a small percentage of Tibetans that are truly black black, I’ve bred a dozen or so but never anything like this? Now all I need is a navy bird so I get them mixed up like dress pants in a dim closet!

 

[Finchbreeder]

Sounds melanistic - but it is odd for one to be and not others in the clutch.
Looking forward to seeing pic/s preferably with and without the other chicks.

 

[Susan Skylark]

The black Tibetan (5 weeks old), indirect sunlight and real camera, background is black as well. Does carry white on chin and breast.

From left to right: Black Tibetan, middle is TOF Black, and then whatever Peaches is (Ginger Fee EB?) but colors are accurate to life.

For comparison I grabbed a handy rosetta and I think I just found his mom! White markings are very similar, not conclusive but curious. Left to right is Black Tibetan, Black TOF (yes, the masked butt pecker strikes again, half my birds have no tails or back feathers in the group pen and I don't know who does it!), Rosetta, Peaches in the back.

The black TOF and Black Tibetan are very similar, but the Tibetan is more black, not brown at all like the hen or other tibetans I've raised. Any ideas?

TOF is Thieving Otter Farms, they have a line of black quail, Tibetan base but other modifier genes also at work, doesn't breed true to birds outside the line. The hen doesn't carry fee and neither do my males, the white markings are crazy similar so I'm assuming this is the mother.

 

[Finchbreeder]

That is very dark. Pied markings are very random, and seldom match those of the parent bird, in any type of bird. Which is why most birds that have a pied showing class are so hard to get perfect. Like human birthmarks, parent and child will vary wildly.

 

[Susan Skylark]

I will disagree with you (just a bit) on the pied markings in quail, other species I quite agree, but from the birds I’ve personally bred and some remarks on the pipsnchicks website (best source of quail color genetics I’ve found) that isn’t quite the case. White in quail is connected to several specific genes, many with peculiar areas or looks. In chinchillas white was highly variable but pied wing white in quail affects wings and breast, there is a white chin gene, a white crescent gene on the breast, dotted white is the entire bird (homozygous) or tuxedo in heterozygous, panda and splash have their own oddities. The birds in question here both have the crescent and chin markings passed from my original eb male, not random pied patches that could be anything. It drives me crazy that you can’t extrapolate color gene expression from species or even breeds, but I guess it keeps it interesting. Black in horses is recessive, in cattle dominant, in Labrador retrievers it is at least 3 genes, and seemingly in quail too!

 

[Finchbreeder]

While my parents had these types of quail - they were for eggs - not into the genetics.
So I concede that I have noticed they are much more consistent in their markings than most other forms of birds that I deal with.
Hope that makes you right - it would certainly make working things out easier.
Aussie king quail have a constant question re cinnamon or fawn - because in the early days when genetics was very little understood - there was so much crossing of the 2 that most birds are neither one nor the other but a mix.