GROWTH AND REPRODUCTION OF QUAIL 469

1961. Evaluation of Coturnix (Japanese quail) Yamashina, Y., 1961. Quail breeding in Japan. J.
as a pilot animal for poultry. Poultry Sci. 40: Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc, 58: 216-222 (Abstract
651-657. No. 732, A.B.A., 3 1 : 124, 1963).

Identification of Sex of Day-Old Quail {Coturnix

coturnix japonica) by Cloacal Examination1
KAZUTAKA HOMMA,2 THOMAS D. SIOPES, WILBOR O. WILSON
AND LARRY Z. MCFARLAND
Department of Poultry Husbandry and Anatomy, University of California, Davis

(Received for publication September 16, 1965)

E ARLY determination of the sex of

Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix
time and expense may be achieved by sex-
ing day-old birds.
Two methods of sexing day-old chickens
japonica) is desirable when these birds are
raised for experimental purposes. Sexual have been used. One is the use of color
dimorphism does not become obvious until marker genes for autosexing. The other
the contour feathers emerge when the quail method involves examination of the cloaca
are 2 to 3 weeks of age. The birds usually or vent. A preliminary trial of this latter
are sexed by the difference in color of the method for sexing day-old quail has been
breast feathers, the male having brownish- reported in Japan as part of a general text-
red feathers and the female character- book of chick sexing (Maeta, 19S0).
istically having tan (gray) feathers with The present paper describes a practical
black speckles. method of sexing day-old quail by cloacal
In some mutant stocks, color of the examination and gives data relative to vari-
feathers remains identical in both sexes ations in their genital structures and sex
even after sexual maturity, e.g., the "ghost ratio. Although day-old coturnix quail
bar mutant" and other types of albinos. In weigh less than 8 g. and the diameter of the
these stocks, identification of the sex is pos- cloacal opening is less than 3 mm., the ac-
sible by observing the development of the curacy of sexing quail by cloacal examina-
cloacal gland after the birds were 4 weeks tion is comparable to or better than that
of age. This gland is located in the dorsal reported for day-old chickens.
wall of the cloaca and becomes hypertro-
MATERIALS AND METHODS
phic in sexually active males.
The above two methods are not satisfac- 1. Equipment—Initially we used for ex-
tory for experiments where one sex is pre- amination either a binocular dissecting mi-
ferred, and a very early initiation of experi- croscope (American Optical to 20 X) or a
mental procedure is desired. A saving in Luxolamp with 2 X magnification and uti-
lizing a 22 watt ring-shaped fluorescent
Supported in part by USPHS research grant light. After a little practice we no longer
NB 04171 from the National Institute of Neuro- needed magnification for sexing "typical"
logical Diseases and Blindness.
2
Present address: Department of Animal
males or females. By adjusting the direc-
Physiology, Faculty of Agriculture, Nagoya Uni- tion of illumination, the reflection of light
versity, Nagoya, Japan. from the mucosal surface or from the sur-
470 K. HOMMA, T. D. SIOPES, W. O. WILSON AND L. Z. MCFARLAND

Male Davis for a number of generations. Day-

old quail were transferred from the hatch-
ery to the laboratory of the poultry farm
and subjected to sexing as soon as possible.
Each quail was examined independently by
two members of the staff; the sex later was
verified by direct postmortem examination
of the gonads.
3. Handling of the day-old quail—To
facilitate examination, the head or neck of
each quail was held between the index and
middle fingers of the left hand, with the
head of the bird down. The abdominal wall
was pressed gently with the thumb of the
Female left hand to evert the cloaca and to cause
defecation. The surface of the vent was
cleaned of urine and feces with a piece of
soft tissue paper. The regions to be ob-
served then were manipulated with the
index finger and the thumb of the right
hand to obtain the optimum view.
t' fe^c',^— FO * ^ ^ 5 5 f r " i
RESULTS
1. Morphological basis of sexing—Fig-
*; * „K • '-
ure 1 illustrates the slightly everted cloacae
of typical male and female day-old quail.
In the male, a heart-shaped fold or protu-
c d berance is evident in the midventral area of
the cloaca; it is characterized by a deep
median fissure on its dorsal surface. In the

'-da-por04 female, the fold usually is flat and does not

protrude as in the male. In most females
the fold has a slight median fissure on its
dorsal margin (Fig. 1, c and d).
In addition, both sexes usually have a
e f small genital process located medially on
FIG. 1. Everted cloacae of typical and atypical the ventral cloacal margin (Fig. 1, a). This
day-old quail. Illustrations are oriented with ven-
tral side down. (P) Protuberance, (G) Genital
structure is equivalent to the genital pro-
process, (FO) Genital fold. cess of the chicken, in which it serves as an
important criterion for sexing (Masui and
face of the magnifying glass was mini- Hashimoto, 1933; Canfield, 1940, 1941).
mized. 2. Sexing by protuberance and by geni-
2. Materials—The birds used were from tal process—In the first series of experi-
several lines of coturnix that had been ments we compared the relative merits of
maintained in the Poultry Husbandry De- using either the genital process or the pro-
partment of the University of California at tuberance as a criterion for sexing the
 SEXING DAY-OLD QUAIL 471

TABLE 1.—Comparison of accuracy of sexing day-old cottirnix based on examination

of the genital process or the protuberance

Exp. No. No. of quail Accuray (%) Area Examined Source of Quail
1 45 66.6 Genital Process U.C.D. 908
2 59 64.4 Genital Process U.C.D. 908
3 52 51.9 Genital Process U.C.D. 908
4 26 73.2 Genital Process U.C.D. 908XOklahoma
Total 182 Av. 62.2
5 36 91.7 Protuberance U.C.D. 908XOkIahoma
6 59 94.9 Protuberance U.C.D. 908XOklahoma
7 62 93.5 Protuberance U.C.D. 908 and 903
Total 157 Av. 93.0

quail. We usually found that neither the Sexing as few as 100 quail generally pro-
shape nor color of the genital process was vided sufficient experience to attain an ac-
important in sexing this species. Only curacy of 92%. Higher levels of accuracy
males with an exceptionally large cylindri- required additional practice and a special
cal genital process could be sexed accurate- technique. (See Section 4 below). Figure 2
ly. Sexing based on protuberal morphology illustrates the improvement brought about
was found to be more accurate. The accu- by experience in sexing a large number of
racy of the two methods is compared in quail.
Table 1. 4. Special aids for sexing of atypical
3. Typical and atypical genital struc- quail—The use of Evans blue (0.25%, sa-
tures—In the course of sexing the quail, a line solution) is helpful in sexing atypical
considerable percentage of atypical quail quail. It is applied to the back of the fold
was found. Of the first 845 birds examined, or protuberance with a fine tipped pipette;
137 (16.2%) were atypical and 83.8% typ- the excess dye then was removed by wiping
ical. The main variations in this group in- with a tissue. In males the deep median
cluded small protuberances in the male, fissure fills with the dye solution making a
and either a very swollen genital fold or a fine but distinct blue line. In females, the
flat fold with deep median fissure in the fe- median fissure is limited to the dorsal mar-
male. The accuracy of sexing the atypical gin of the genital fold, and hence the dye
quail was 78.1%; this contrasted with 99%
for the typical quail. If atypical quail were
sexed by guess only, the expected accuracy
should be 50%. Therefore, the combined
accuracy of sexing quail expected of begin-
ners should approach 92%. (If one assumes
84% typical with 100% accuracy and 16
atypical with 50% accuracy.)
The most difficult atypical cases we ex-
perienced were females with male-like geni-
tal structures. Fortunately, birds of this
type seldom occurred. Only nine out of 845 400 800 1200 I60O 2000 2400

quail examined (1.07%) were of this type. Number of birds Inspected

Therefore, the standard of accuracy should FIG. 2. Improvement of accuracy in sexing of

be set at 99% rather than 100%. quail with experience.
472 K. HOMMA, T. D. SIOPES, W. 0. WILSON AND L. Z. MCFAELAND

solution does not form a blue line. This a smooth margin (Fig. 1, f), which made
method is especially effective in identifying sexing easy. As a result, accuracy of sexing
atypical males. was 98.3% in 6 separate experiments in-
Phloxine B, a fluorescent dye, was used volving 235 quail.
in one trial and the birds were inspected 6. Secondary sex ratio—The total num-
under ultraviolet light. However, the ber of quail chicks examined was 2,453.
fluorescent dye gave no special advantage Based on postmortem gonadal examination,
over Evans blue. 1,288 (52.51) were males and 1,165
5. Effects of age, body size, and breed (47.49) were females. Deviation from an
on sexing—The growth of quail is very expected 50-50 distribution of sexes was
rapid. Development of the genital struc- statistically significant at the 2.5% level.
tures is approximately proportional to the This sex ratio was similar to that reported
general growth of the birds during the first by Godfrey et al. (1955) for the chicken.
few days after hatch. When the birds were
SUMMARY
kept for 1 week under a stimulatory light-
ing regimen and with access to ample food A method for determining sex of day-old
and water, sexing was accomplished more quail is described. The method based on
easily than with day-old quail. When quail the morphology of the genital protuberance
were kept in the dark, or on a restricted of the male, had an accuracy of 99%.
diet for 3 days after hatch, sexing was very The size and shape of the genital fold or
difficult. An accuracy of 83.1% or 64/77 protuberance was different in quail of
was obtained sexing fasted quail. Small or U.C.D. line 908 than in quail of the Okla-
weak quail were not easy to sex. If sexing homa line. The accuracy of the determina-
were done soon after hatching on selected tion was influenced by genetic and environ-
vigorous quail, errors due to environmental mental factors.
and age factors would be less. Similar re- The secondary (post-hatch) sex ratio of
sults in sexing weak day-old chickens were 2,453 quail was 52.51 males.
reported by Gibbs (193S).
REFERENCES
The genital structures of quail differ Canfield, T. H., 1940. Sex determination of day-
markedly among various genetic lines. old chicks. Poultry Sci. 19: 235-238.
Males of U.C.D. line 908 were identified Canfield, T. H., 1941. Sex determination of day-
more easily than were the females of the old chicks. II. Type determination. Poultry
same line. The reverse was true with birds Sci. 20:327-328.
Gibbs, C. S., 1935. A Guide to Sexing Chicks.
of the "Ghost bar" strain obtained by Orange Judd Publishing Co., New York.
crossing the Oklahoma line, contributed by Godfrey, G. F., C. C. Brunson and B. L. Good-
Dr. J. C. Gilbreath, with U.C.D. line 908 man, 1955. Secondary and tertiary sex ratio in
and their descendents. In these quail the the domestic fowl. Poultry Sci. 34: 27-29.
male protuberance was much smaller in Maeta, I., 1950. Chick Sexing Readers, 68-73.
Japanese Poultry Publishing Co., Nagoya, Ja-
size than that of males of any other line, pan.
making the males difficult to sex. However, Masui, K., and J. Hashimoto, 1933. Sexing Baby
all females of this line had a flat fold with Chicks, Journal Print Co., Vancouver, Canada.

AUGUST 3-10. SEVENTH INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF NUTRITION,

HAMBURG, GERMANY