Celadon × Roux: What Color Chicks Do You Get?

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

Every chick from this pairing carries one copy of roux and none of them show it. Bred back to each other, or to any other carrier, roux reappears in about a quarter of the next hatch — which is why red-eyed chicks seem to come from nowhere. Band them now or you will lose track of which birds carry it.

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.

• 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.