What's With That Leg Band?
We band all of our quail as they are growing, so we can differentiate which pen they came from. This helps us to track their bloodline, which can tell us what genes they carry, who they are related to, and sometimes a max age they can be. We also (usually) band for the year the bird was hatched, but in 2025, we banded only for parent cages. Once our big wild type celadon project is complete, we will go back to banding the year of hatch as well.
We may or may not have all lines at once. If you are interested in something specific, please contact me in advance.
We may or may not have all lines at once. If you are interested in something specific, please contact me in advance.
2026 Banding
Red Bands - EVX Line. Wild type het celadon rooster x WT/SLB celadon hens. Hen offspring will be wild type het or homo celadon, roosters will be wild type and possibly het SLB, and het or homo celadon (no way to know which). Hens who lay normal eggs from this line are banded with a second PURPLE band, hens from this line that lay blue are banded with a second BLUE band.
Orange Bands - FA line. Het fawn male over SLB and SLB het fawn hens. Homozygous celadons.
Yellow Bands - RF line. Roux (possibly het/homo celadon) male x roux fee/het fee and SLB het fee hens. Hen offspring will be roux and may be het fee, roosters will be roux or SLB het roux and possibly het fee. Offspring may be het or homo celadon. This line became available in November 2025, and had limited availability; hatches may be arranged in advance.
Lime/Neon Green Bands - Sex-linked (SL) Line. Roux pharaoh male x WT hens. Hen offspring will hatch out roux pharaoh, roosters will hatch out WT pharaoh, meaning they can be told apart at hatch. GREAT for if you want to hatch eggs but only want to raise hens. Only HENS will be available as live birds.
Green Bands - RE line. Celadons. SLB het Roux male over Roux hens.
Dark Green Bands - N/A
Light Blue Bands - N/A
Blue Bands - CE Line. 100% homozygous "true blue" celadons. EB and pharaoh patterns. May also have roux, fee, fawn, and/or white wing pied. Will throw some jumbo sized birds.
Purple Bands - TOF Line. Full wild type birds, no feather mutations, including no SLB. Offspring will be full wild types and may carry the Celadon gene. NOT jumbos.
Pink Bands - TOW line. (Clean) Wild type male x (clean) wild type hens. Babies will all be full wild types, no feather mutations, but may carry the Celadon gene. Jumbo line.
Silver Bands - N/A
White/Clear Bands - Not a line marker. Used to mark holdbacks.
Black Bands - Not a line marker. Used to mark sale birds.
Orange Bands - FA line. Het fawn male over SLB and SLB het fawn hens. Homozygous celadons.
Yellow Bands - RF line. Roux (possibly het/homo celadon) male x roux fee/het fee and SLB het fee hens. Hen offspring will be roux and may be het fee, roosters will be roux or SLB het roux and possibly het fee. Offspring may be het or homo celadon. This line became available in November 2025, and had limited availability; hatches may be arranged in advance.
Lime/Neon Green Bands - Sex-linked (SL) Line. Roux pharaoh male x WT hens. Hen offspring will hatch out roux pharaoh, roosters will hatch out WT pharaoh, meaning they can be told apart at hatch. GREAT for if you want to hatch eggs but only want to raise hens. Only HENS will be available as live birds.
Green Bands - RE line. Celadons. SLB het Roux male over Roux hens.
Dark Green Bands - N/A
Light Blue Bands - N/A
Blue Bands - CE Line. 100% homozygous "true blue" celadons. EB and pharaoh patterns. May also have roux, fee, fawn, and/or white wing pied. Will throw some jumbo sized birds.
Purple Bands - TOF Line. Full wild type birds, no feather mutations, including no SLB. Offspring will be full wild types and may carry the Celadon gene. NOT jumbos.
Pink Bands - TOW line. (Clean) Wild type male x (clean) wild type hens. Babies will all be full wild types, no feather mutations, but may carry the Celadon gene. Jumbo line.
Silver Bands - N/A
White/Clear Bands - Not a line marker. Used to mark holdbacks.
Black Bands - Not a line marker. Used to mark sale birds.
2025 Banding
Red Bands - EVX Line. Wild type het celadon rooster x WT/SLB celadon hens. Hen offspring will be wild type het or homo celadon, roosters will be wild type and possibly het SLB, and het or homo celadon (but no way to know which). Hens who lay normal eggs from this line were banded with a second PURPLE band.
Orange Bands - EVB line in early 2025, which was combined into the CE line in August, 2025 and no longer exists here. These are het EB and pharaoh and 100% celadon. First generation has orange + blue.
Yellow Bands - RF line. SLB Celadon male x roux fee/het fee hens. Hen offspring will be SLB and may be het fee, roosters will be SLB het roux and possibly het fee. Offspring may be het or homo celadon. This line became available in November 2025, and had limited availability.
Lime/Neon Green Bands - FWT group in early 2025, which was discontinued. As of 6/2025, light green marked SL line Roux hens. Sex-linked (SL) Line. Roux pharaoh male x WT hens. Hen offspring hatched out roux pharaoh, roosters hatched out WT pharaoh. Only HENS were available as live birds.
Green Bands - None in 2025.
Dark green bands - Sparkly/Fawn CE line. This line was never publicly available, but a few birds were sold privately in early/mid 2025.
Blue Bands - CE Line. 100% homozygous "true blue" celadons, in jumbo size and EB & pharaoh patterns. May have roux, fee, or fawn. NO additional bands.
Purple Bands - TOF Line. Full wild type birds, no feather mutations, including no SLB. Offspring will be full wild types and may carry the Celadon gene. NOT jumbos.
Pink bands - Early 2025 pink bands were from the discontinued FWT line, which was SLB jumbos. Pink from birds hatched between 6/2025 and 10/2025 are from the TOX line. Wild type male x roux pharaoh jumbo hens. Baby hens were all full wild types, roosters were wild type het roux. Pink bands as of 11/1/2025 marked the TOW line.
Silver Bands - ER Line. 100% homozygous "true blue" celadon line. SLB CE male x roux pharaoh CE hens. Hen offspring will be SLB celadon, roosters will be SLB het roux CE. Availability ended 10/2025.
White/Clear Bands - NOT a line marker. Used to mark holdbacks.
Black Bands - NOT a line marker. Used to mark sale birds.
Orange Bands - EVB line in early 2025, which was combined into the CE line in August, 2025 and no longer exists here. These are het EB and pharaoh and 100% celadon. First generation has orange + blue.
Yellow Bands - RF line. SLB Celadon male x roux fee/het fee hens. Hen offspring will be SLB and may be het fee, roosters will be SLB het roux and possibly het fee. Offspring may be het or homo celadon. This line became available in November 2025, and had limited availability.
Lime/Neon Green Bands - FWT group in early 2025, which was discontinued. As of 6/2025, light green marked SL line Roux hens. Sex-linked (SL) Line. Roux pharaoh male x WT hens. Hen offspring hatched out roux pharaoh, roosters hatched out WT pharaoh. Only HENS were available as live birds.
Green Bands - None in 2025.
Dark green bands - Sparkly/Fawn CE line. This line was never publicly available, but a few birds were sold privately in early/mid 2025.
Blue Bands - CE Line. 100% homozygous "true blue" celadons, in jumbo size and EB & pharaoh patterns. May have roux, fee, or fawn. NO additional bands.
Purple Bands - TOF Line. Full wild type birds, no feather mutations, including no SLB. Offspring will be full wild types and may carry the Celadon gene. NOT jumbos.
Pink bands - Early 2025 pink bands were from the discontinued FWT line, which was SLB jumbos. Pink from birds hatched between 6/2025 and 10/2025 are from the TOX line. Wild type male x roux pharaoh jumbo hens. Baby hens were all full wild types, roosters were wild type het roux. Pink bands as of 11/1/2025 marked the TOW line.
Silver Bands - ER Line. 100% homozygous "true blue" celadon line. SLB CE male x roux pharaoh CE hens. Hen offspring will be SLB celadon, roosters will be SLB het roux CE. Availability ended 10/2025.
White/Clear Bands - NOT a line marker. Used to mark holdbacks.
Black Bands - NOT a line marker. Used to mark sale birds.
2024 Banding
Green bands - Year marker, but will have a second band for line marker. If the green band is on the SAME leg as the second band, hen. If the green band is on the OPPOSITE leg as the second band, rooster.
Blue Bands - CE Line. 100% homozygous "true blue" celadons, in jumbo size and EB pattern. May have roux or fee. Will have second band for year marker.
Blue Bands - CE Line. 100% homozygous "true blue" celadons, in jumbo size and EB pattern. May have roux or fee. Will have second band for year marker.
2023 Banding
Yellow Bands - Year marker, but will have a second band for line marker. If the yellow band is on the SAME leg as the second band, hen. If the yellow band is on the OPPOSITE leg as the second band, rooster.
Blue Bands - CE Line. 100% homozygous "true blue" celadons, in standard size and EB pattern. May have roux or fee. Will have second band for year marker.
Blue Bands - CE Line. 100% homozygous "true blue" celadons, in standard size and EB pattern. May have roux or fee. Will have second band for year marker.
2022 Banding
Red bands - Year marker, but will have a second band for line marker. If the red band is on the SAME leg as the second band, hen. If the red band is on the OPPOSITE leg as the second band, rooster.
Blue Bands - CE Line. 100% homozygous "true blue" celadons, in standard size and EB pattern. May have roux or fee. Will have second band for year marker.
Blue Bands - CE Line. 100% homozygous "true blue" celadons, in standard size and EB pattern. May have roux or fee. Will have second band for year marker.
Additional Band Info
What are the bands made of?
A: The bands are 4" nylon zip ties.
When should I remove the band?
The band may be removed at any time with a pair of scissors, nail clippers, wire snips, or similar tool. If you have purchased a chick younger than 12 weeks, please check the band for fit every 3-5 days, and remove it when you can no longer freely rotate the band. Birds older than 12 weeks should not outgrow their current band, so unless it bothers you or tightens incidentally, you do not need to remove it.
Is the band important to keep?
Not necessarily. If you want to reference the genetics of your bird by looking at this page, you will need to know what band color went to which bird, but you don't necessarily have to leave the band on the bird to do that. You can also come to me at any time with a band color and date of purchase, and I should be able to tell you anything you want to know about the bird. Without a band color, it would be difficult if not impossible to give you accurate information.
Why does my bird have two bands?
Birds with two bands usually have one year marker band, and one bloodline marker band. Males will have one band on each leg, and females will have both bands on the same leg. When it comes to patterns that cannot be feather sexed, this helps to determine males from females at a glance. If the second band is WHITE/CLEAR or BLACK, then those were sorting bands I missed taking off- black for sale birds, white for holdbacks. You can remove black or white bands.
Should I band my own birds?
It really just depends on what you want to do with them. I started banding originally so I would be able to tell older birds from younger birds at a glance, as well as males from females in my non-feather-sexable birds. I band bloodlines now, so I can tell what genetics a chick or bird is carrying. If you don't need any of that information, then you don't necessarily need to band them.
Does the band tell anyone else information?
No, the band is purely for my own filing system.
There are permanent ID bands, like those made for pigeons, that can impart ownership info to folks who catch a lost bird, but they are considerably more expensive than leg bands, and you have to catch the bird to read them still. Permanent bands make it easier to track records on a very fine level (per individual bird), but can't be applied until the bird is at an age where their foot is still small enough to fit through the band, but big enough it won't slide back off, so it's not very useful if you need to band small babies in a large group.
A: The bands are 4" nylon zip ties.
When should I remove the band?
The band may be removed at any time with a pair of scissors, nail clippers, wire snips, or similar tool. If you have purchased a chick younger than 12 weeks, please check the band for fit every 3-5 days, and remove it when you can no longer freely rotate the band. Birds older than 12 weeks should not outgrow their current band, so unless it bothers you or tightens incidentally, you do not need to remove it.
Is the band important to keep?
Not necessarily. If you want to reference the genetics of your bird by looking at this page, you will need to know what band color went to which bird, but you don't necessarily have to leave the band on the bird to do that. You can also come to me at any time with a band color and date of purchase, and I should be able to tell you anything you want to know about the bird. Without a band color, it would be difficult if not impossible to give you accurate information.
Why does my bird have two bands?
Birds with two bands usually have one year marker band, and one bloodline marker band. Males will have one band on each leg, and females will have both bands on the same leg. When it comes to patterns that cannot be feather sexed, this helps to determine males from females at a glance. If the second band is WHITE/CLEAR or BLACK, then those were sorting bands I missed taking off- black for sale birds, white for holdbacks. You can remove black or white bands.
Should I band my own birds?
It really just depends on what you want to do with them. I started banding originally so I would be able to tell older birds from younger birds at a glance, as well as males from females in my non-feather-sexable birds. I band bloodlines now, so I can tell what genetics a chick or bird is carrying. If you don't need any of that information, then you don't necessarily need to band them.
Does the band tell anyone else information?
No, the band is purely for my own filing system.
There are permanent ID bands, like those made for pigeons, that can impart ownership info to folks who catch a lost bird, but they are considerably more expensive than leg bands, and you have to catch the bird to read them still. Permanent bands make it easier to track records on a very fine level (per individual bird), but can't be applied until the bird is at an age where their foot is still small enough to fit through the band, but big enough it won't slide back off, so it's not very useful if you need to band small babies in a large group.