| GENETICS QUESTION OF THE MONTH August 2007 Copyright © 2007 Linda S. Rubin ~ All Rights Reserved ~ |
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QUESTION Hi, I recently submitted a question on your web site. It was quite a lengthy question and it was not necessarily about what kind of chicks my birds will have.........but about what kind of color category my bird is. I gave a verbal description of him in the question and I will give another here but I am sending pictures with this e mail. Could you please help me figure out what color mutation category he might fit into? He (?) has a solid yellow head with bright orange cheeks, his body is a soft or pale greyish that fades to yellow on his legs, his back and wings are grey, but his flight feathers are yellow and he has a few random white feathers, his feet and beak are pinkish but his eyes look dark and not red, he has really done a number on his tail feathers recently so I'm not sure what color they will be. I don't think he is Lutino or Pearl, but after that I am lost. Is he Cinnamon or Silver or Fallow or Pied or some combination of these? Thank you very much, Deana Lovelette ANSWER Thank you for including several very good photos showing your cockatiel from various angles. This helps to identify your bird right away. Your cockatiel is a cross mutation known as the Cinnamon Pied. The Cinnamon Pied is a combination of both the Pied pattern on a Cinnamon ground color. Ideally, the cinnamon coloration should be a deep rich color with "browny" tones without any grey coloration. Your cockatiel's Cinnamon brown pigment is well-colored and most breeders will want to select for this shade or color lacking any greyish overtones when producing the Cinnamon color mutation or any Cinnamon cross mutations. The Pied pattern is a much more challenging mutation to work with as no two birds are marked exactly alike. Pieds fluctuate in the amount of white, yellow or cream wash and therefore can appear quite different, even within the same nest. In the case of the Cinnamon Pied, there can be a vast difference between Light, Medium, Heavy, Extra-heavily Marked or Clear Pieds. I would judge your bird to be a Light Pied, because the wash is limited to the head, neck, rump and flights, as described in my article on Pied varieties. I do see some yellow on the back of the tail so my guess would be the tail feathers, or at least several tail feathers, would color in yellow when regrown. All in all, you have a lovely, well-colored Cinnamon Pied male that appears to be a wonderful companion pet judging from your photos. His face is well colored, meaning it appears solid yellow with a large, round vivid orange cheek patch without evidence of the cinnamon (ground) color markings on the mask, which most cockatiel judges would penalize a bird for in a show. The solid yellow facial mask also indicates your cockatiel is a male. For a complete description of male and female markings, read the article link on the side bar at left on Gender Identification of Cinnamons. Whether or not your Cinnamon Pied male once had pearl lacings on his back is difficult to tell. As an adult (denoted by the full yellow facial mask) most Cinnamon Pearl Pied males lose the majority of their pearl lacings and appear indistinguishable from Cinnamon Pieds. The only way to know is by learning his pedigree - the father would have to be visual Pearl, or at least split to (carrying the gene for) Pearl and your Cinnamon Pied's mother would also have to be visually Pearl in order for the pair to produce a Pearl son. Otherwise, only testbreeding would reveal if he were indeed Pearl as any daughters produced would be visual pearls. You may also wish to read the article on Cinnamon Pearls in the Color Mutations Archive. Although some prefer a "heavier marked Pied" throughout the body, many show standards today do include the lighter Pieds in both the primary Pied and Pied cross mutation show classifications. I would therefore encourage you to show your Cinnamon Pied in upcoming shows, once his tail feathers grow back in. For upcoming show schedules beginning in the fall, you may want to check: www.CockatielFoundation.com (Don't forget to bookmark this page if you wish to return). Hope this helps, Linda S. Rubin Learn more about genetics and mutations, view |
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| ORIGINAL BOOK REVIEW by Dr. Rainer R. Erhardt "Well, there is help on the horizon and anyone seriously interested in color genetics should take a look at Linda Rubin's book: COCKATIEL GENETICS MADE EASY! Though this book is primarily directed to breeders of cockatiel mutations, there is enough information in this little volume to teach anyone the secrets of dealing with recessive, sex-linked, and dominant mutations..." ACBM, Vol. 65, No.12 CLICK TO READ THE REST OF THE REVIEW! 112 pages, 15 chapters, glossary & more! |
X + Y = ?
"What Color is My Cockatiel?"
| photo c. 2007 Deana Lovelette ~ Click on thumbnail to enlarge |
Copyright 2006 Linda S. Rubin
| Breeding Cinnamon Pied male to Cinnamon female |
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