Roux Dilute Coturnix Quail
A recessive dilute that turns browns into warm cinnamon-red and gives the birds distinctive dark-red eyes. Lovely on any base color — and invisible in carriers, so it loves to surprise you.
What they look like
Roux washes out black and dark-brown pigment, leaving warm cinnamon, apricot, and red-brown tones. The tell is the eyes: roux birds have dark ruby-red eyes instead of near-black (easiest to see in bright light or camera flash). On a wild-type base you get a cinnamon bird with the normal pattern; on Tibetan-family bases you get richer red variations, including the birds often sold as Scarlett.
How the genetics work
Roux is a simple recessive on its own locus — a bird needs two copies to show it. Two visibly roux parents breed 100% roux. A roux bird bred to a non-carrier gives normal-looking chicks that ALL carry roux, and carrier × carrier throws about a quarter roux — which is why red-eyed chicks 'appear from nowhere' in coveys that quietly carry it.
Sexing Roux Dilutes
Depends on the base pattern: roux on a wild-type pattern can still feather-sex (the pattern survives, just recolored); roux on solid bases cannot. Eyes don't sex birds — both sexes have the red eye.
Eggs, size & production
No production or vigor penalty in healthy lines. The red eye is pigment, not a defect, and their eyesight is normal.
Who this variety is for
Color breeders and anyone charmed by the ruby eye. Roux over Tibetan-family bases produces some of the most beautiful Coturnix there are.
Before you buy
Check eyes on 'roux' birds in good light — dark-eyed birds sold as roux are carriers at best. And ask what base the roux sits on; 'roux' alone tells you the dilute, not the bird.
Keep or breed Roux Dilute?
Show off your birds and compare notes in the free Quail Keeper Community — keepers post their coveys, hatch results, and honest line reviews. Joining also unlocks the Quail Keeper Max app free.
Planning a Roux Dilute breeding project?
Quail Keeper Max has a built-in color genetics calculator — pick two parents and see what the hatch should throw — plus pedigree tracking, breeding pair records, and hatch-rate stats so you can actually see which pairings work. It's the tool this guide's genetics notes come from.
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Related varieties
A note from one keeper to another: variety names in Coturnix are not tightly standardized — different breeders' lines under the same name can differ in shade, size, and how crosses behave, and several newer varieties are still being mapped by the breeding community. Treat this guide as a working keeper's reference, buy from breeders who know their lines' genetics, and trust real hatch results over any label.