Not realy a mutation

[snap_point]

Colouring of a male id say, but looking at the size of its head im goiong to say its a hen.

[finchbreeder]

All my observations indicate that Spanna is correct. Have not gone to the bother of haveing it DNA confirmed but. When kept with a pair it's feathering fluctuates. When kept with a hen it feathers into a cock but does not mate. When kept with a cock it feathers into a hen and allows mating but does not lay eggs.
LML

[spanna]

thats very very strange. i've heard of "halfsiders" (one side of the body visually male, one side visually female) but never both all over, or fluctuating. very strange indeed. glad you've done what i would and tried to breed with it just to see what happens

[Diane]

A DNA report on that bird would make for VERY interesting reading.

Edited to include.....
Just been letting my mind wander about this topic......
Maybe this is natures contraception?
In the wild birds would move away and find their own area and if there were too many in one area a lack of food/water would mean Nature would take care of the weaker and they would die off. Maybe in an artificial setting where the food and water are constant this is a way Nature can still get control.
Nature is a great adapter.

[crazy cuban]

A DNA report on that bird would make for VERY interesting reading.

certainly would

[arthur]

Way back in the depths of my subconscious, I seem to remember something written about quail having the ability to change sex . . . which I probably dismissed completely

Hermaphrodite quail may well be a common enough thing, kept with the same partner plumage would(?) remain constant, with the non production of youngsters being put down to a number of reasons

It would be interesting to follow up the theme with avian scioentists a bit further up the academic ladder than most of us are

[desertbirds]

well said arthur,i wanst game to say it but i also remember hearing that many moons ago.I recall hearing if you ran a few together and the cock died,one of the hens could change into a cock.Not saying its true but it would be interesting to get that bird DNA`d.

[Diane]

Just been reading about a chicken that changed into a rooster. According to other sources this can happen when the ovaries are not functioning correctly. Still doesn't explain the to and fro-ing between the sexes of finchbreeders quail though. Unless the bird is as finchbreeder and spanna think, a hermaphrodite with functioning sex organs of both sexes. That would account for the feather changes when visually stimulated by its current aviary partner.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/ ... kerel.html

[Redwing]

My oldest chook has recently started crowing but is still laying eggs and noticed the same thing happened with our bantam when she got old. No obvious change in appearance, but would still be interesting to have hormone studies done. Just figured ovaries/oestrogen/ FSH having similar changes to menopausal women. But Finchbreeder's quail sounds fascinating.

[flap]

That's got to be worth an article in the next issue surely???? ;)