Red-billed quelea in colour, sometimes with some dark spots. Some clutches contain six eggs, but large clutches may be the result of other females dumping an egg in a stranger's nest. Both sexes share the incubation of the eggs during the day, but the female alone does so during the cool night, and feeds during the day when air temperatures are high enough to sustain the development of the embryo. The breeding cycle of the red-billed quelea is one of the shortest known in any bird. Incubation takes nine or ten days. After the chicks hatch, they are fed for some days
Red-billed quelea Three subspecies are recognised. In the field, these are distinguished by differences in male breeding plumage. Formerly, two other subspecies have been described. "Q. quelea spoliator" was described by Phillip Clancey in 1960 on the basis of more greyish nonbreeding plumage of populations of wetter habitats of northeastern South Africa, Swaziland and southern Mozambique. However, further analysis indicated no clear distinction in plumage between it and "Q. quelea lathamii", with no evidence of genetic isolation. Hence it is not recognised as distinct. "Q. quelea intermedia", described by Anton Reichenow in 1886 from east Africa, is regarded a synonym of subspecies