Posted: Wed Apr 26, 2006 5:03 pm Post subject: Strange feather colouring on Kakariki
I had a visit recently from a breeder who has produced several young birds with similar feather markings to the one in the picture. All of these young birds have been bred from a pair of normal cinnamons. I was wondering if the European breeders have ever seen this colour produced before. The tail feathers are very dark and almost the same as that of a normal bird whilst the rest of the body is cinnamon. The colouring on the wings is much lighter than that of a pied mutation.
No, never seen this before. Usually the melanin in the feathers of a pied is completely reduced. I can see some residu on the edge of the feathers. Maybe this is an equivalent of the Edged Fischer's lovebird. This mutation inherits incomplete dominant. This can explain why it appears suddenly and that all siblings have the same colouring.
Peter,
Thank you very much for the link you provided. It is an interesting article and based on what it suggests in the case of Lovebirds I believe the breeder would be best served by outcrossing these birds back to normals. This should enhance the mutation and also prove its inheritance.
greg,
the birds in your pictures arevery interesting. not sure but some of the body feathers also look normal green, am i right or is it just the light. the indian ringneck has a muation incorrectly called fallow which is really a dominant dilute or edged. i have bred a number of these birds over the years and found when put with cinnamon you can get resulting young that look very close to the birds in the pics ie odd normal feathers on body or tail, incomplete dilution of some feathers and not others. the thing i find baffling is that they came from two normal coloured cinnamons, maybe you have found another form of rececive pied. i would put one of the coloured birds to a normal and one to a normal coloured cinnamon to start with. regards brett
Hi Brett,
Yes you are correct. The tail feathers are almost normal in colour whilst the body is a cinnamon colour apart from the wings. Terry Martin has suggested that it could be due to a diet imbalance similar to the "pied" scarlets but I have my doubts on that theory. The birds are fed a diet of fresh foods along with soaked seed and small parrot mix. The breeder has produced 8 birds of similar colour but has had problems with survival rates. However, the birds that I saw are around 5 months of age and appear very healthy. I agree with your suggestions regarding the pairings and will pass the information on to him. The original cinnamon birds were purchased from a dealer and my only other concern is whether in fact the original birds have been bred by your friend and mine. Inbreeding may be a factor if that is the case.
greg,
did you get a good look at eye colour in these birds. i just had another thought going back to the dominant dilute indians. when dilute and cinnamon are put together the young in the nest dont have the plum eye as the normal cinnamons doand as kaks do. would be interesting to know what colour eye these birds had at hatching and has it changed since.
Brett,
I am not sure about when the birds were born but they defianately have dark eyes at 5 months of age. The interesting thing is that the hen I saw also has the very light skin colour around the eye, similar to the black eyed clears and mottled pieds. I have been offered a couple of these birds and might take the breeder up on his offer to see if we can produce a few more numbers.
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