Quail

Coturnix (Japanese) Quail

The true production quail, coturnix begin laying at about 8 weeks and are full grown at 10 weeks.  The line we breed is James Marie Farm's meatmaker line, the largest of the coturnix.  They lay a jumbo egg, and mature to 14-16 ounces.  Our breeders are selected from the largest birds we raise to keep the line producing the jumbo size. 

Northern Bobwhite Quail

The typical gamebird, bobwhites are seasonal breeders that begin to lay the year after they hatch.  They have a distinctive "bob-bob-white" call, and the males and females can be told apart by the different facial colors.

Snowflake Bobwhite Quail

A rare mutation of the Mexican Speckled Bobwhite, these birds are black and white, and can be sexed by facial markings.  Otherwise they are similar in care and behavior to northern bobwhites.

White Bobwhites

Another rare mutation, these birds are completely white with only an occasional colored feather.  They sometimes have some black on their beaks.  These birds cannot be sexed by color, rather they must be sexed by behavior or vent sexing.  Otherwise they are similar to northern bobwhites.

Button Quail

The smallest gamebird, full grown buttons will fit in the palm of your hand.  They lay the largest egg compared to the body size of any gamebird, and they lay a lot of them!  They mature around 8 weeks, and are often kept as pets or cleaners in the bottom of the cages of other birds.  They come in a variety of colors.  Because of their small size they usually do not winter outside very well, but they are not a noisy bird so they make excellent indoor pets.

A desert quail native to the western US, this ground dwelling bird is flightier than bobwhites and is the state bird of California.  Males and females are easily told apart as adults.  They mature into full color in their first year but do not lay eggs until the next year.  They breed in the late spring through summer.  Because they are flighty care needs to be taken that they have a padded top to their cage so they do not injure or kill themselves if they startle.

Another desert quail, these are also called blue quail or blue scale quail.  They are native to the southwestern US and down into central Mexico.  Males and females are difficult to tell apart.  These are ground dwelling birds that breed in their second year, during the late spring and summer.  They are a flighty bird.  

This isn't a breed (these are regular coturnix), rather, these have been selected for the ability to lay celadon (light blue) eggs.  Celadon layers come in many colors, and are generally large but not jumbo in size.  The celadon gene, however, is tricky.  This is not a directly inherited trait, rather there is a number of other genes that must be activated to produce a celadon layer.  That means that even breeding a celadon layer to a male that hatched from a celadon egg does not guarantee the offspring will lay this color.  However, it greatly increases the chanced of having a celadon layer.  Breeding over several generations will increase the number of offspring that lay the correct color egg.