full fronted painteds

Includes Species Profile.
User avatar
Tiaris
...............................
...............................
Posts: 3517
Joined: 23 Apr 2011, 08:48
Location: Coffs Harbour

MadHatter wrote:Perhaps I'm in the minority, but I personally prefer them with a neat break between the red face mask and chest/belly stripe.
For myself, I'd still select for bigger red face masks and for a nice bold belly stripe, as well as good spotting, but without the red markings joining up.
I suppose that's part of the appeal with Painteds - the variability of markings allows for each of us to select according to our own personal preference.
That's great that you (and hopefully others) do prefer & breed towards other features than red-frontedness.
I personally like the extra red on the front of cocks & hens but if everyone heads in the same direction we risk losing their natural variability in our captive stocks.
In my own attempts to increase redness I've found that outcrossing using birds not particularly strong in redness but strong in other features is important in maintaining body size, breeding vigour as well as some degree of natural balance in other desirable plumage features (especially spotting). If the majority of breeders pursue the same direction, these outcross candidates which excell in other features become very difficult to source & the captive species becomes weaker for their absence.
Selective breeding is a very powerful tool to achieve a desired standard of finch within just a handful of years, even when starting with birds which may be only of average quality in your most desired feature(s). It need not be all about inbreeding though, as targetted outcrossing to strengthen your stock or to experiment with combinations of different features may lead to very encouraging results as well.
Post Reply

Return to “Painted”