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Rosetta × Roux: What Color Chicks Do You Get?

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

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.

The hatch, chick by chick

Chick looks likeCarries, but does not showEgg shell (hens)Share of hatch
Pharaoh (wild-type brown)rouxNormal50%
RosettarouxNormal50%

The Punnett square

Extended Brown

e+e+
EE/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

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 →

Roux Dilute

Simple recessive, homozygous. Two visibly roux parents breed 100% roux.

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.

Full Roux Dilute 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 × RosettaCeladon × RouxEnglish White × RosettaEnglish White × RouxManchurian Gold × RosettaManchurian Gold × RouxItalian × RosettaItalian × Roux
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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 →