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Pharaoh × Rosetta: What Color Chicks Do You Get?

This pairing gives you 50% Pharaoh (wild-type brown) and 50% Rosetta.

The hatch, chick by chick

Chick looks likeCarries, but does not showEgg shell (hens)Share of hatch
Pharaoh (wild-type brown)—Normal50%
Rosetta—Normal50%

The Punnett square

Extended Brown

Ee+
e+E/e+e+/e+
e+E/e+e+/e+

Extended Brown: Incompletely dominant. Two copies make a Tibetan, one copy makes a Rosetta, and no copies leaves the wild Pharaoh base — which is why a Rosetta pen can never breed true.

What each parent brings

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 →

Rosetta

Extended Brown heterozygote (E/e+). One dark gene, one wild-type — which is why no Rosetta pen breeds true.

Rosetta is Extended Brown heterozygous (E/e+). Because they carry one dark gene and one wild-type, Rosetta × Rosetta splits roughly 25% Tibetan / 50% Rosetta / 25% Pharaoh — you can never have a pure-breeding Rosetta pen, and every hatch is a surprise assortment. Tibetan × Pharaoh makes 100% Rosettas if you want a whole covey of them.

Full Rosetta 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 × PharaohCeladon × RosettaEnglish White × PharaohEnglish White × RosettaManchurian Gold × PharaohManchurian Gold × RosettaItalian × PharaohItalian × Rosetta
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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 →