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Celadon × Pharaoh: What Color Chicks Do You Get?

Every chick from this pairing is a Pharaoh (wild-type brown).

None of these chicks will lay blue eggs — but every single one carries the celadon gene and will pass it on. This is exactly how blue skips a generation and reappears.

The hatch, chick by chick

Chick looks likeCarries, but does not showEgg shell (hens)Share of hatch
Pharaoh (wild-type brown)celadonNormal100%

What each parent brings

Celadon (Blue Egg Layers)

Celadon is an egg-shell trait, not a plumage variety. A celadon bird is modelled here as wild-type Pharaoh plumage carrying two copies of ce — if your celadon line is also colored, run the plumage cross separately.

The ce gene is recessive: a hen needs two copies to lay blue, and roosters carry it invisibly. Celadon × celadon breeds true for blue eggs. A celadon hen's daughters by a non-carrier male all carry one copy and lay normal eggs — which is how blue 'disappears' for a generation and returns.

Full Celadon (Blue Egg Layers) guide →

Pharaoh (Wild Type)

The wild type — no color mutations at all. Every other variety is described by how it changes Pharaoh.

This is the reference genome — no color mutations at all, which is exactly why serious breeders keep a Pharaoh line running. Every dilute and pattern gene is described by how it changes Pharaoh. Crossing anything back to Pharaoh is the standard way to stabilize a wobbly line.

Full Pharaoh (Wild Type) guide →

What this assumes

  • Both parents are exactly what they are sold as. A bird carrying a hidden recessive — roux, celadon, white spotting — changes these numbers. Recessive carriers are invisible, which is the whole reason surprises happen.
  • These are per-chick probabilities, not a quota. A 50/50 split does not mean half your hatch of ten will be each. Small hatches swing hard; the ratios show up over dozens of chicks, not eight.
  • Coturnix inheritance is debated and varies by line. The modes used here are the ones consistently reported by breeders, and they match what our own variety guide says — but verify against your own stock before you plan a season around it.
  • Color only. Size, lay rate and temperament come from line selection, not from these genes.

Try a different pairing

Need a trait that is not a named variety? Use the full genetics calculator to set alleles directly for recessive, dominant, incomplete-dominant and sex-linked traits.

Other pairings keepers ask about

Celadon × CeladonCeladon × English WhiteCeladon × Manchurian GoldCeladon × ItalianCeladon × RosettaCeladon × RouxCeladon × TibetanCeladon × Tuxedo
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Stop guessing which bird carries what

Quail Keeper Max stores every bird's variety and celadon status, builds 4-generation pedigrees, and predicts the hatch from your actual pairings — so the invisible carriers in your covey stop being invisible.

See Breeding & Genetics →