HISTORY
The original “True Blue” line started as a personal challenge. I began raising Jumbo Coturnix quail as a source of meat. Naturally curious I began to do more research on quail and discovered the Celadon egg mutation. The Celadon gene had been around for a few years and there had been some scientific research conducted which concluded that the gene inheritance is autosomal recessive (Celadon: an eggshell color mutation in Japanese quail). Interested I began to reach out to breeders in search of stock. Of the few breeders I was able to locate selling Celadon stock, all of them had disclaimers about the percentage of Celadon laying offspring that would result from breeding their stock. I was perplexed as the simple recessive genetics should indicate that there is no logical reason for there not to be stock in existence that breeds true to the Celadon gene. I personally contacted and discussed at length the genetics and breeding practices of all those breeders that would engage with me. I was left confused but determined. I set out to breed a line of Coturnix quail that bred true to the Celadon gene, and the “True Blue” line was born.
The plan was fairly simple as illustrated below; simple line breeding with multiple generations to progeny test the foundation stock. No consideration was made to any other attributes aside from blue egg shell color and health. From the initial pairing, two distinct lines were established off of both the hen and the cock side. After five sequential generations of line bred females only producing Celadon eggs, I felt the stock could be considered pure for the Celadon gene and the original “True Blue” line became real in January of 2019. At that time I was the only breeder in the world to my knowledge that was willing to put the 100% claim behind my stock. To date I have more than 12 generations from my foundation stock consistently producing 100% Celadon laying birds. I have also assisted other breeders in purifying their stock so I am no longer the only but to my knowledge I was the original breeder to have stock that breeds 100% true for the Celdaon gene.
Soon after the “True Blue” line was founded I set new goals to improve them and eliminate the need to breed a second line of quail for the purpose of meat. The second phase goal was to then breed size into the true Celadon stock so that they consistently not only laid Celadon eggs but also achieved an average size of greater than 10oz at maturity (weight class Jumbo). To achieve this goal an unrelated meat line was chosen to out-cross and bring size into the line which also added vigor and expanded the gene pool. In order to achieve the goal in a shorter time frame, two initial out-crosses were made and the resulting offspring were bred together to start to form the new and improved “True Blue” jumbo Celadon line. From that outcross, the new line was again bred selecting both for blue egg color but now also for mature bird size. During the culling process, secondary selection was made against plumage genes. More specifically the lavender, silver and roux genes. These genes all found in the foundation Celadon stock have been proven through scientific research to be associated with smaller size at maturity and increased feed consumption. For this reason they were selected against when possible after selection was made for the Celadon gene and mature bird size.
Associated effects of the roux plumage color mutation on growth, carcass traits, egg production, and reproduction of Japanese quail
The “silver” Japanese quail and the MITF gene: causal mutation, associated traits and homology with the “blue” chicken plumage
PRESENT / FUTURE
My original “True Blue” line of Celadon Coturnix quail is continuing to evolve. As I continue to breed for larger and larger jumbo true celadon quail, I will also start focusing attention on selecting for egg preference as well as bird plumage. In the early stages of developing the line I had ambitions of breeding a bird that had a wild type (Pharaoh) plumage so that offspring could be feather sexed early to avoid aggression in grow out cages. Throughout the generations I have always also culled birds for aggression which has resulted in a line that I have found no issues in raising in mixed grow out pens from hatch to maturity. Because of this I have abandoned the quest for wild type plumage in favor of majority white plumage which makes processing birds for meat a little more desirable. With respect to eggs, I will focus on breeding for the bluest and least speckled eggs.
Currently my “True Blue” line is reaching an average maturity of 10oz and they will breed 100% true for the Celadon gene. Plumage color is mostly tuxedo with more and more fully white and nearly fully white birds popping out more recently. Eggs still have some speckling but not typically very heavy. I am a small hobby breeder and do not produce 100s of eggs a week but have put great work into my line and do offer limited quantities of hatching eggs. I am in the NPIP program and can ship anywhere in the US. If you would like to obtain some eggs from my stock, please message or email me: jason@araucanaaddiction.com
