Speckled Celadon Quail Eggs

Are you in love with the chocolate speckled blue and mint green eggs being laid by a rare few Coturnix quail? I am too! Here is how to breed them to produce a flock of colored egg laying backyard quail.

Breeding speckled celadon coturnix quail eggs blue mint green olive rare unique hatching eggs

Speckled Quail Egg Breeding: The Celadon (Blue Egg) Gene

First things first, you must begin with the correct genetic ‘paint palette’ to work with. You’re going to need a small covey of celadon Coturnix quail that you are certain hatched from celadon blue eggs. To do this you can purchase the hatching eggs and hatch them yourself or find a breeder who will let you view the discarded egg shells of the chicks you are purchasing. Speckled celadon quail eggs may be a bit more rare but select any chick that hatched from one, whether male or female.

speckled celadon quail eggs blue mint green olive rare unique hatching eggs rainbow quail eggs easter egger olive egger coturnix quail — A mix of eggs from my quail pens.

Two Blue Egg Genes Required

The reason you must have celadon quail is because you’ve got to ensure your birds are carrying two copies of the recessive celadon gene so that the hens will lay blue eggs. You must have hens laying blue eggs before you can breed in a speckled overlay.

Surprise bonus: A couple of your celadon hens might end up laying speckled blue or mint eggs from the celadon hatch, saving you a couple generations of breeding work!

speckled celadon quail eggs blue coturnix quail bright blue celadon eggs — These are the celadon eggs my first flock hatched from. They came from a breeder in College Station, Texas.

Breeding for Speckled Celadon Quail Eggs

This is where things get tricky. From your celadon laying hens, you are only going to hatch from the eggs with any kind of speckling. Some eggs will be laid a smooth, brilliant blue. What you want is the blue eggs with any kind of brown speckling, no matter how small. The object is to hatch a male from one of these eggs to use as a speckled celadon breeding rooster.

Once the chicks that hatched from your brown speckled celadon eggs are laying, it will help you guess what genes your roo might be carrying. If the hens are laying slightly more speckled celadon eggs, your breeding project is moving in the right direction. Continue hatching from the most speckled eggs and back-breed to the rooster (deliberately breeding father to daughter) or breed to a rooster that hatched from the most heavily speckled celadon egg you have produced. Quail can handle some inbreeding for a few generations to set certain traits.

A handful of eggs headed for the incubator!

Be On the Lookout for a Unique Roo

Ask local quail breeders if you can buy their ‘worst’ celadon quail eggs. You see, most people originally wanted celadon eggs that were perfectly smooth and as bright blue as possible. Because of this, breeders are photographing and offering their clearest blue eggs, likely not realizing that funky colored quail eggs are suddenly trending. You might be stunned by the amazing hatching eggs you can find close by.

A Rosetta Tuxedo coturnix quail hen that lays a speckled green colored egg.

Don’t Shy Away from Buying Roosters!

Sometimes the only bird you can get from unique, rare eggs is a male. That is actually perfect. He can pass on his genes much more rapidly than a single hen could. Breed him to your speckled celadon females and see what the offspring lay. You’re likely to be pleasantly surprised by a few of the hens.

The Need for Two Breeding Pens

As you breed, you may realize you could actually use two quail hutches. Building your first quail pen with a divider is wise but if it is not an option, simply add a second hutch. (We have quail coop plans in our shop and have free quail coop plans here.) Soon you’ll have the desire to start a second covey where you can mix your best or funkiest egg color genetics, separate from your speckled celadon pen.

celadon quail breeding pen — A center divider separates celadon quail from standard quail all under one roof. (Each side is to be furnished with a food dish and mounted waterer.)

Crossing for Speckles

In one pen you’ll continue breeding celadon to celadon to ensure you’ve always got hens laying some kind of blue eggs, with or without speckles. In the second pen you can begin mixing and experimenting. You’ll want to always use a rooster that hatched from a celadon egg (in a feather sexable color if possible) over any hens you find lay an interesting egg. If crossing a celadon roo with standard quail hens, select hatching eggs with a very light or whitish background and nice cocoa speckling. In theory a light background egg can allow more blue tones to show through in her daughter’s and granddaughter’s generations.

Mixing Celadon and Standard Layers

When you cross a celadon roo to a standard laying hen, the offspring will all lay standard brown speckled eggs. Back-breed these hens to the celadon roo to produce a second generation of 50% celadon laying hens. A few of these birds are likely to lay the speckled blue or mint eggs you have been hoping for. Some few may even lay unusual shades of spotted green.

Keep Genetic Diversity in Mind

Buy your initial quail hatching eggs from as many different breeders as possible, always with the goal of mixing in new bloodlines. This helps to preserve hybrid vigor in your flock. It is important to do this because you are going to be deliberately inbreeding for a couple generations to set the egg colors.

Incubator Hatching

When it comes to hatching quail eggs, I love the Nurture Right 360 incubator and this custom quail egg turner for the eggs. (Amazon affiliate link. Click HERE to see more quail egg turners on Etsy.) It may take several small hatches to build up your breeding project covey.

How Long Does This Breeding Project Take?

Quail begin laying around 8-10 weeks old, which allows for you to breed two generations in a single spring and summer time frame. It is possible to be producing unique color eggs within your first year and certainly by the end of the second year of breeding.

Celadons Take Longer to Begin Laying

Celadon cotrunix quail often require a full 10 weeks to begin laying. Many a quail keeper has noticed those hens need a bit longer than usual. It is because of this that I strongly advise that you do not hatch celadon quail in August or September. Celadon quail should be hatched February through July and no later.

Learn from my mistake and do not hatch celadon quail in August. By the time they near laying age 10 weeks later in November, the days are far too short to trigger laying. They will spend the entire winter eating and won’t lay until March, after a long six or seven month wait for quail eggs. (Standard laying quail should not be hatched after early August for the same reason.)

Have Fun!

Breeding for speckled celadon quail eggs is an interesting hobby that is useful for introducing children to genetics. Keeping backyard quail is easy and a carton full of wildly colored, speckled eggs is delightful! Plus there is no need to attempt to hide them from neighbors, as most neighborhoods and HOAs allow quail.