Some Coturnix quail are able to lay beautiful blue eggs. These birds are called “celadon quail” because they carry two copies of the recessive celadon gene that allows them to lay stunning aqua shades, either smooth or dotted with brown speckles. Here are some useful images and info about celadon blue quail eggs:
Blue Quail Eggs are Laid by Celadon Hens
If you ever see a breeder offering Celadon Quail, she’s selling quail who lay blue eggs. Hens must be carrying two copies of the recessive celadon (blue) egg gene in order to lay an egg with a blue shell. If she only carries one copy, she will lay the standard cream-and-brown colored eggs. Breeding for this recessive gene must be done carefully to ensure offspring will continue to lay blue eggs.
Egg Color Range
Celadon eggs can come in a huge range of colors, including shades of green! Powder blue, bright blue, turquoise, aqua, and pastel green can be laid by celadon hens, all with varying levels of brown speckling over the top of the shell.
What Do Celadon Quail Look Like?
Celadon quail look like regular quail! They can come in any feather color and you cannot tell by looking at them that they carry two copies of the celadon gene. While celadons can come in every feather color, you’ll find the most common feather colors are Tibetan, Rosetta, Tuxedo (usually with a Tibetan or Rosetta base), English White, or Pharaoh (wild type).
How Do Blue Quail Eggs Taste?
Standard and blue quail eggs taste the same and both taste and bake just like chicken eggs! Quail eggs are considered a super food. They are slightly creamier than chicken eggs because they have a yolk-to-whites ratio that is slightly higher than a chicken egg. The greater proportion of yolk to white is what gives them the richer taste. The truth is, it’s very difficult to tell scrambled quail eggs from scrambled chicken eggs. In baked goods, you cannot taste a difference at all. Quail eggs do not taste gamey.
Finding Celadon (Blue) Egg Laying Quail
These pretty blue egg layers must come from specialty breeders. It is most common for breeders to sell hatching eggs online and on Etsy. This requires that you use an incubator with a quail egg turner to hatch the eggs. If you don’t have an incubator and the supplies to raise quail chicks, it is best to buy celadon juveniles from a local breeder. (Afflinks)
Locating a Celeadon Breeder
Use Facebook to search for local chicken and quail keeping groups (since many chicken keepers also breed quail). Type in the name of the closest large city + “quail” or “chickens”. Once accepted to the group, you can make a post requesting the contact information for a local celadon quail breeder.
Celadons are Popular!
Don’t be surprised if you discover that local breeders have a wait list for celadon quail! They are one of the most popular types of quail and are in demand year-round. Wait lists may be shorter in July and August when summer travel is keeping other families busy. If you have an especially hard time locating celadon quail for sale, consider breeding them yourself!
Breeding Blue Egg Laying Celadon Quail
To keep the blue eggs coming, you must breed a celadon male to celadon females. The rooster (male) must have hatched from a blue egg himself. It is possible for males and females who hatch from blue eggs to have offspring who does not lay blue eggs. You can learn more about carefully breeding celadon quail to ensure you end up with the most blue egg laying offspring. If you love blue and green speckled eggs, check out our article on specifically breeding for speckled celadon eggs.
Easter Egger Quail
If you’re looking for Coturnix quail who lay the best colored eggs, you want celadons! As you keep and breed these sweet birds, you’re going to get some delightfully unusual eggs laid.
What Makes the Quail Eggs Blue?
In the wild, quail lay eggs that contain protoporphyrin (brown) and biliverdin (aqua greenish) pigments that are made by the hen’s body. This is why many standard cream-and-brown “wild type” quail eggs can appear blue on the inside. Celadon quail have a mutation, which is recessive, that causes the protoporphyrin pigments to be greatly reduced. Similarly, the biliverdin content is only 44% of what is found in the wild type. This results in the quail hen laying an egg that is beautifully blue if she carries two copies of the recessive celadon gene.
Then What Makes Green Quail Eggs?
In some celadon hens, it seems her body is producing just slightly more protoporphyrin than what quail hens who lay powder blue eggs may be producing. Since we know that blue + brown overlay pigments creates green eggs in birds like chickens, I believe the same thing is occurring in the quail. I have experienced that breeding quail who hatch from greenish colored eggs can produce increasing percents of offspring who also lay greenish eggs. If you want the bluest eggs possible, only hatch from the brightest blue eggs and only breed with males who hatched from the best blue eggs.
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