Button Quail Genetics

Cinnamon (also called Fawn) is a dilution gene that causes the color of King Quail to be a light tan color. There is a large variation in shades of cinnamon quail, ranging from a very dark, grey-brown color to a lighter, reddish tan coloration.

Originally, it was thought that Fawn and Cinnamon were two separate mutations, but it is now believed that it is just one gene with a large range of color. Cinnamon is recessive, meaning you can only see it with two copies. The Cinnamon found in the United States is not sex-linked.

Bird pictured is cinnamon with tuxedo.

Extended brown in button quail is almost identical to the EB gene in coturnix quail. It creates an almost all brown bird, with the typical orange feet and slight black markings on the back. It strips the remarkable "bib" found on the wildtype and dilutes, making it impossible to feather sex in homozygous form. It is also often called the Blue Faced gene in buttons.

In homozygous form, the bird is all brown and black. In heterozygous (one copy), there will be some faint blue leakage in the back and breast feathers, and males may have some red coloration near the vent, but the majority of the bird will be a dark brown.

Fallow is an pleiotropic recessive gene in button quail, likely a form of incomplete albino. It causes the quail to be a light, pale tan across the body. It is pleiotropic, meaning it affects more aspects than just feather color-- in this case, it causes the chicks to start with a red eye that often fades into a light blue as the birds age.

It is a very new mutation in the United States, a more research needs to be done to determine the inheritance. It is suspected to be autosomal, but some breeders believe it is on the INO locus, which is responsible for sex-linked impartial albino genes like Cinnamon in Coturnix quail and a "ghost pattern" in Budgerigar. Whether this is the same gene as Cinnamon is yet to be determined.

The gene also is associated with a slow growth rate, low fertility, and vision issues. The more red the eye, the more the vision is impaired. However, there are decently stable lines in the United States and abroad, proving that Fallow buttons can be healthy.

Pearl (sometimes called Golden Pearl) is a mutation in button quail that causes the females to have a yellow, straw colored plumage with black "v" shaped markings on each feather. Males will look very similar to wildtype, though the back markings will be a slightly lighter shade of yellow throughout the back. Chicks of both sexes will be a lighty, downy color, and males will be distinguishable at about three weeks of age.

It is likely similar to, if not the same mutation, as the Lethal Yellow found in laboratory coturnix. The gene in buttons is lethal in homozygous form, and any embryo with two copies of the gene dies in the shell. It is not suspected to cause any side affects in heterozygous form, but more studies need to be done to see if Pearl impacts growth rate or other factors.

It is called Golden Pearl on wildtype, and Pearl + mutation (example, Silver Pearl) on other dilutions.

Recessive silver is a gene in button quail that dilutes the black pigment in the feathers to be a pale blue color. It is different from the silver mutations seen in both chickens and coturnix quail in that is completely recessive and believed to be non-sexlinked.

Unlike Pearl or other mutations, it doesn't affect the underlying pattern of the bird, just the color. While males will not have the the red breast or ventral plumage that normally is used to sex the bird, they will still have an unmarked breast and chinstrap to help distinguish between the heavily marked females.

Recessive Silver is often combined with other genes to create more interesting colors. When paired with red-breasted birds, the button quail will be a soft tan color with light blue and reddish markings on the back and breast in females and a bright red breast coming through the grey coloration in males. More work needs to be done to study the effects of silver overall.

Silver, Slate, Ivory,

The Red Breasted gene causes button quail to have much darker plumage in the males, and much lighter plumage in the females. It is one of the few button genes to be studied in the lab, and the gene, locus, and allele of the recessive mutation has been confirmed.

In males, the red breasted gene causes the bird to be a dark blue across the body and back, covering up the patterning. It turns the breast into a deep russet color, and a messier, dark face. In some lines of Red Breasted, the face will be entirely black, a look dubbed "Darth Vader".

In the females, the bird turns a much lighter, pale cream through the neck, breast, and back. The deep wildtype markings turn into black "v" shaped marks across a majority of the feathers. The face also turns lighter, and females will have a bit of a black chinstrap, though not the striking bib that males develop.

White in button quail is a mutation that creates an all-white colored quail, similar to Dotted/English White in coturnix. It was originally classified as a recessive gene, however test breeding proves that there is a heterozygous phenotype.

With one copy of white, the bird can have white across the breast, face, and wingtips. The amount of white can vary depending on the line, and it is possible to breed for more or less white. "Tuxedo" and "Splash" are the nicknames given to differing amounts of white.

With two copies of the gene, the bird will be white from head to tail, with black eyes. It is not possible to feather sex an all-white bird, sexing must be done by behavior or vent sexing. It is also likely that you can breed for a bird to have colored patches with two copies of the gene.

More research needs to be done on this mutation to determine if it the same gene as the Dotted White in coturnix quail, and to see how many white mutations there are in button quail.

Wildtype is the natural color of button quail, also called Chinese Painted Quail or Coturnix Chinesis. It is what you get if you strip away any other genes or mutations, and thus will always breed true.

Males will have a brown and black patterned back with yellow shafting. They will have blue starting at the face and extending through the front, stomach, and vent of the bird. The breast will be a reddish orange color, and the face on the males is a striking black and white "bib" of stripes through and under the beak.

Females will be mostly brown, with a lighter tan undercolor and black barring through the breast. Their face will be a light cream color with black markings, and a possible faint bib, but no white or blue that is found in the males.