blue head

[Cando]

A black head dilute has a grey head from a light to dark shade..... the beak also is a normal color. I have noticed before on that post of skynet that the beak is mottled with blue/grey. Dye perhaps? I am not sure I buy the blue head thing.
A coulpe of my BH dilutes.... never mind...it says my files are too big

[nixity]

I just recently came across a SF Pastel Blue male that is BH with this "blue tint" coloration..Definitely not dye
Turns out Candace has a BH Dilute with similar tinting, and we'll try to propagate this by exchanging offspring from our two birds.. hopefully it works out (is something heritable), if not, it's still quite cool to look at!





It's hard to see because of the image size requirements, but he actually has blue coming in on the cheeks and bib

[finchbreeder]

Sincerely hope the two of you can establish this colour mutation. Good luck. I know the standard dilute black is more grey, but it seems that if there is no black on them then this would be a more probable source of mutation to blue head should it occur naturally. I am very interested in genetics, but there are some aspects of it that I do not fully understand. So always interested to hear from anyone who can fill in on what has happened with their mutations. And every new mutation is a surprise.
LML

[nixity]

I have a feeling it will always be a sort of "blue black" color, not necessarily a bright blue but probably more like a grey with a blue tint to it, and I would presume it likely will only occur with the BH SF males (whether they be SF Pastel Green or SF Pastel Blue).

Though maybe if it did happen with the DFs the color would come off more opal or pearl blue which would also be gorgeous

[finchbreeder]

The blue tint you have there looks good to me. But yes I suspect, that something the colour of Mick's pic is extremely unlikely.
Still I look forward to seeing and hearing more about your success with the breeding program.
LML

[Cando]

I have been having no luck getting pictures to post here. But here is a link to a another forum where Tiffany and I posted some pics and the sf green that I bred last year. He developed this blue tint as he aged. This bird had a sibling that had a dark grey head that never developed any blue. This fellow had a very light shade of grey.
http://www.finchforum.com/viewtopic.php ... 0&start=15

Tiffany, the blue head picture on the skylink http://users.skynet.be/fa398872/engoulm72.htm
What do you think accounts for the mottle color of the beak? That's wht I was skeptical.... until I had one born myself ;)

[nixity]

I don't know what causes some males to have those really scaly flaky beaks like that, I just know I really dislike it and the two birds I had that developed this did not last long in my aviary because I was afraid it was genetic.

I was told by Lainey and Laraine that it could be a type of surface fungus on the beak but I tried EVERYTHING to get it to go away and I could not for the life of me resolve the issue on either birds.

I have only ever seen it on males.

It is not uncommon for males to develop patches of calcium deposits on the tops of their beaks but usually these just look like part of the beak and you can flake it off with your nail.
It's when it's discolored and yellow that something isn't right :/

[Cando]

Thanks, I have never seen a beak with a mottled color to it before. Just in pictures. I was thinking maybe the color pignent of the beak was mutating also in the sky link picture. Sure wouldn't want a fungus

[Jayburd]

seems like a lovely mutation. good luck!

[Cando]

Thanks, I have found another slight blue tinted head in my flock. This one was purchased as a young male in January 2010. He has now grown into a beautiful male in breeding condition. He is a blue pastel or BH PB BB sf pastel.
Here is the link with his pictures.
http://www.finchforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=9803