Hourglass tail

Includes Species Profile.
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Flight Feathers
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Joined: 09 Feb 2018, 09:49
Location: New Zealand

Hi there!

I don't know how to post pics but I'm pretty sure my zebra finch has an hour glass tail!

Just had a few questions...

Firstly does anyone have any photos/links to photos of a zebra finch with an hour glass tail?

Secondly which of the parents would have to carry the gene for my fawn female to have the hourglass tail? The parents are: The mother is fawn and the father is pied with smudge on back which is a pied of some mutation that has speckled wings.

And lastly how do I get a full bb using this split?

Thanks!
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finchbreeder
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Location: Midwest of West.Aust.Coast

Never heard of an hourglass tail, hopefully someone more knowledgable can help. What do you mean by bb? Is the father gray or fawn pied? There is a lot that people need to know to answer with any hope of acuracy. Enjoy the mutations.
LML
LML
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Tiaris
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Black-bodied? If so I think its dominant so no splits are possible.
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Tass
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Location: bexley nsw

The hourglass tail gets a mention in the Black Breast mutation for Zebra Finch . This mutation is not in Australia as we have Black Fronted and Black Bodied

There are pictures on the net , try the "efinch" site , had a lot of pictures of different mutations within the topics

Cheers
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finchbreeder
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Googled after reading and replying. This is what I found. Never looked that closely at the tail pattern before. Now I will be curious enough to look.
""The Black Breasted mutation is recessive. Birds which are carriers of a single copy of the black breasted gene ("splits") can sometimes be identified by the hour glass shape of the white spots on their tail coverts (photo at zebrafinch.com:""
LML
LML
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Tass
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black breast and black fronted are both recessive as finchbreeder said. Not sure what NZ has.

To get a full BB you would need 2 splits at minimum as the mutation must be in both parents. Example if you have 2 Grey/Bb (grey split to BB) , then you will produce Greys , Greys/BB , and BB . The only issue you will have is that in most cases you cant tell the difference between Greys and Greys split to BB .

going by the internet Black BREASTED splits do show signs , I don't know if the Australian Black FRONTED does. Which does NZ have ?

Always better to breed from one split and one full bird as you will always know that it is split with a recessive gene
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Tiaris
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My understanding is that black-bodied is a selectively enhanced form of the black-faced mutation which is dominant in its mode of inheritance.
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Tass
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Tiaris you are correct on Black Bodied Zebs , they are dominant and is a aust mutation. There are also black fronted birds in Aust, which are white on the belly and they are recessive,

Flight feathers mentions "hour glass" and "BB" and is from NZ so BB could be the Aust black body or the overseas Black Breasted which is known to have an hourglass tail.

When I first got Zebs i was aiming for the Phaeo , which is orange breast/ black breast / and florida fancy . but we dont have 2 of the mutation.

thinking of red body to isabel as an option later on down the track
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Flight Feathers
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Location: New Zealand

Hi All!
Sorry for the confusion. When I said bb I meant black breasted which I think you guys picked up. And yes black breasted is recessive. You can get black breasted and black face in NZ. I have a full black face myself and I've seen at the pet shop that they apparently sell black breasted (only discovered this a couple days ago actually) I've been on the efinch site a lot but haven't found much on hourglass tails.
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Flight Feathers
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Tiaris wrote: 13 Feb 2018, 15:34 Black-bodied? If so I think its dominant so no splits are possible.
Black breasted. Which is recessive. Am pretty sure the fawn mother carries this recessive gene!
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