Tibetan Coturnix Quail
The dark-chocolate Coturnix — rich brown all over from the Extended Brown gene, doubled up. Striking birds, not feather-sexable, and the parent of several other favorite varieties.
What they look like
Tibetans are deep chocolate-brown over the whole body — no barred breast, no wild-type patterning, just rich dark color with a slight sheen in good light. Chicks hatch dark brown. Adults look almost black in shade and warmly brown in sun.
How the genetics work
Extended Brown (E) is incompletely dominant. Two copies (E/E) make a Tibetan; one copy (E/e+) makes the lighter, rusty-chested Rosetta. That means Tibetan × Tibetan breeds true, while Tibetan × Pharaoh gives you all Rosettas — a tidy, predictable system that makes this family great for learning genetics.
Sexing Tibetans
Not feather-sexable — both sexes wear the same chocolate. Sex at 5–7 weeks by vent: males develop the foam gland (a bubble of foam when gently pressed above the vent); hens are wider-vented and, of course, lay.
Eggs, size & production
Production matches the line behind the color; the E gene itself doesn't change size or lay rate. Jumbo Tibetan lines exist and are gorgeous.
Who this variety is for
Keepers who want a dramatic, uniform dark covey, and breeders who want the Tibetan/Rosetta system as a genetics playground.
Before you buy
True Tibetans should throw no light chicks when bred together — scattered rusty offspring means the pen had Rosettas (E/e+) mixed in. Not a defect, just mislabeled.
Keep or breed Tibetan?
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 Tibetan 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.