Aussie Finch Forum

If a bird is pied then there is no logic/reason as to how heavily variegated the bird will be. Ray explained it to me that a pied bird (thats one that did not have a black tipped beak upon hatching) is like a artists easel. If the bird is pied then the artist get to throw paint at it - some get lots, somes get litte and some totally missed (i.e the amount of variegation is random). The black tipped ones however have no paint thrown at them at all.[/quote]

Very good reasoning Gary,i was told the same thing but there was a lot of controversy between the two breeders at the time,JW would not sell normal looking birds to other breeders,me anyway,as some breeders were breeding fairly good pieds out of them when paired together.So these normal looking birds were culled,don't ask me how i really don't know,so Ray was selling what he thought were normal birds that were in fact non visual pieds,not splits.It only takes a small pied feather under normal feathers out of sight or a white toe nail or nothing at all but the bird is a pied.
Come on David,have your say. Craig

I like that way of explaining what pied feathering is like. But I like the ability to breed for even markings, that takes lots of effort. Random markings are easy.
LML

Sounds good to me Gary.

All of mine leave the nest heavily pied or not at all but if they are not visually pied there feet are a dark cream and not the usual black'ish colour so although they don't look pied I know genetically they are.

Below is a picture of some of my young from last year and the bird with a clean yellow beak was a heavy pied (cock). There was 4 in totally 3 pieds and 1 normal looking (black on its beak, hen). The pieds held a clean yellow beak for almost 9months then slowly they started to change only on the top beak.
Rich.