Albino and Leucistic in the same hatch?!

[shrimpsilkies]

My last Coturnix hatch from MyShire had two all-white chicks. One turned out to be albino, and he was definitely fully blind and couldn’t eat or stand at all, so I had to cull the poor little guy.

The other one was definitely not albino, and it has grown into a pure white bird at 4wks. It does have some leg issues, although the legs aren’t splayed or toes curled, the legs and toes seem very thin and flimsy and it stumbles a lot but can eat drink and steal treats just fine.

The eyes are very dark, definitely not the normal grayish quail eyes, and sometimes I think that they look quite bluish! While holding it I noticed that the eyes are sort of see-though when light shines though them, a bit like the albino although not red and this guy can see very well. Reminds me of a Siamese or color point cat’s eyes. Is this leucistic?

 

[casportpony]

Sorry no one replied. I'm gonna ask some quail people to help.

 

[shrimpsilkies]

Some more pictures of the leucy eyes.

 

[Wild-Turkey]

I don’t currently raise quail but that looks leucistic to me, unless there’s a mutation specific to quail. Both leucistic and albino animals usually have issues in the neurological system, maybe explaining the stumbling. Since leucism is the loss or partial loss of pigment the irises usually look light blue due to how light reflects. Albinism usually causes the irises to look red or purplish. Sorry to see nobody with more experience dealing with quail replied, are they doing alright?

 

[JacinLarkwell]

@Nabiki might know

 

[Nabiki]

I have never had good luck with leucistic of albino birds. I've had to cull all of the ones that I've gotten.

 

[shrimpsilkies]

The leucistic is still doing fine for me! She is still clumsy and has brittle legs, but holds her own at treat time and hasn’t had any health issues. Her eggs are awfully small, almost buttonquail sized, and have an unpleasant watery texture so I feed them back to the flock. Her eyes are still blue-red.

 

[Nabiki]

Those little, brittle legs are a problem. I hope she continues to do well for you.