Black – Adult Quail

The Southwest Gamebirds Black quail are the result of several years of work and breeding. They are being released as live birds only, and hatching eggs have only been sent to a select number of our breeding partners to help develop quality Black Coturnix in the United States.

Black quail were originally imported from Germany in 2019 by William Carl Foster, and the breeding stock eventually proved difficult to work with. Through three separate crosses to unrelated stock, we have revived the health and vigor of these beautiful birds, and bred them back to their original plumage. Genetically, these birds were a mystery. The following genes are known to contribute to the solid black plumage:

• Extended Brown
• Fawn
• Fee
• Myrle

Each gene contributes in a unique way to make the plumage darker, and figuring this out was tedious work through several generations of test breeding. Southwest Gamebirds, along with other farms in our network, is working to create pure lines of Myrle to have it studied further. While we do not fully understand the genetics of any bird, we have worked with black long enough to be comfortable with predicting that they now breed true, and we are working each generation to make them more and more solid black from head to toe.

What to expect: Plumage with deep black undertones. Some may have white barring on the chest or pink toes, but the majority of these birds will be solid black. These are not large birds, but they are solid layers.

These birds are sold straight run, meaning they are not sexed and we do not guarantee any specific ratio of males and females. The displayed price is per bird.