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

e f
FIG. 1. Everted cloacae of typical and atypical
day-old quail. Illustrations are oriented with ven-
tral side down. (P) Protuberance, (G) Genital
process, (FO) Genital fold.
face of the magnifying glass was mini-
mized.
2. Materials—The birds used were from
several lines of coturnix that had been
maintained in the Poultry Husbandry De-
partment of the University of California at
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
small genital process located medially on
the ventral cloacal margin (Fig. 1, a). This
structure is equivalent to the genital pro-
cess of the chicken, in which it serves as an
important criterion for sexing (Masui and
Hashimoto, 1933; Canfield, 1940, 1941).
2. Sexing by protuberance and by geni-
tal process—In the first series of experi-
ments we compared the relative merits of
using either the genital process or the pro-
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
shape nor color of the genital process was
important in sexing this species. Only
males with an exceptionally large cylindri-
cal genital process could be sexed accurate-
ly. Sexing based on protuberal morphology
was found to be more accurate. The accu-
racy of the two methods is compared in
Table 1.
3. Typical and atypical genital struc-
tures—In the course of sexing the quail, a
considerable percentage of atypical quail
was found. Of the first 845 birds examined,
137 (16.2%) were atypical and 83.8% typ-
ical. The main variations in this group in-
cluded small protuberances in the male,
and either a very swollen genital fold or a
flat fold with deep median fissure in the fe-
male. The accuracy of sexing the atypical
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
Sexing as few as 100 quail generally pro-
vided sufficient experience to attain an ac-
curacy of 92%. Higher levels of accuracy
required additional practice and a special
technique. (See Section 4 below). Figure 2
illustrates the improvement brought about
by experience in sexing a large number of
quail.
4. Special aids for sexing of atypical
quail—The use of Evans blue (0.25%, sa-
line solution) is helpful in sexing atypical
quail. It is applied to the back of the fold
or protuberance with a fine tipped pipette;
the excess dye then was removed by wiping
with a tissue. In males the deep median
fissure fills with the dye solution making a
fine but distinct blue line. In females, the
median fissure is limited to the dorsal mar-
gin of the genital fold, and hence the dye
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
method is especially effective in identifying
atypical males.
Phloxine B, a fluorescent dye, was used
in one trial and the birds were inspected
under ultraviolet light. However, the
fluorescent dye gave no special advantage
over Evans blue.
5. Effects of age, body size, and breed
on sexing—The growth of quail is very
rapid. Development of the genital struc-
tures is approximately proportional to the
general growth of the birds during the first
few days after hatch. When the birds were
kept for 1 week under a stimulatory light-
ing regimen and with access to ample food
and water, sexing was accomplished more
easily than with day-old quail. When quail
were kept in the dark, or on a restricted
diet for 3 days after hatch, sexing was very
difficult. An accuracy of 83.1% or 64/77
was obtained sexing fasted quail. Small or
weak quail were not easy to sex. If sexing
were done soon after hatching on selected
vigorous quail, errors due to environmental
and age factors would be less. Similar re-
sults in sexing weak day-old chickens were
reported by Gibbs (193S).
The genital structures of quail differ
markedly among various genetic lines.
Males of U.C.D. line 908 were identified
more easily than were the females of the
same line. The reverse was true with birds
of the "Ghost bar" strain obtained by
crossing the Oklahoma line, contributed by
Dr. J. C. Gilbreath, with U.C.D. line 908
and their descendents. In these quail the
male protuberance was much smaller in
size than that of males of any other line,
making the males difficult to sex. However,
all females of this line had a flat fold with
AUGUST 3-10. SEVENTH INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF NUTRITION,
HAMBURG, GERMANY
a smooth margin (Fig. 1, f), which made
sexing easy. As a result, accuracy of sexing
was 98.3% in 6 separate experiments in-
volving 235 quail.
6. Secondary sex ratio—The total num-
ber of quail chicks examined was 2,453.
Based on postmortem gonadal examination,
1,288 (52.51) were males and 1,165
(47.49) were females. Deviation from an
expected 50-50 distribution of sexes was
statistically significant at the 2.5% level.
This sex ratio was similar to that reported
by Godfrey et al. (1955) for the chicken.
SUMMARY
A method for determining sex of day-old
quail is described. The method based on
the morphology of the genital protuberance
of the male, had an accuracy of 99%.
The size and shape of the genital fold or
protuberance was different in quail of
U.C.D. line 908 than in quail of the Okla-
homa line. The accuracy of the determina-
tion was influenced by genetic and environ-
mental factors.
The secondary (post-hatch) sex ratio of
2,453 quail was 52.51 males.
REFERENCES
Canfield, T. H., 1940. Sex determination of day-
old chicks. Poultry Sci. 19: 235-238.
Canfield, T. H., 1941. Sex determination of day-
old chicks. II. Type determination. Poultry
Sci. 20:327-328.
Gibbs, C. S., 1935. A Guide to Sexing Chicks.
Orange Judd Publishing Co., New York.
Godfrey, G. F., C. C. Brunson and B. L. Good-
man, 1955. Secondary and tertiary sex ratio in
the domestic fowl. Poultry Sci. 34: 27-29.
Maeta, I., 1950. Chick Sexing Readers, 68-73.
Japanese Poultry Publishing Co., Nagoya, Ja-
pan.
Masui, K., and J. Hashimoto, 1933. Sexing Baby
Chicks, Journal Print Co., Vancouver, Canada.