Pied Tri-colours

[Matt]

Has anyone seen or heard of them being around?

[Tiaris]

Some of the recessive dilutes have a very pied look about them. I know a bloke who is breeding dilutes & he swears that some of them are pied.

[Matt]

I have heard of dilutes but haven't seen them in the flesh. Are they well established yet?
I know that pieds aren't really established yet but I would like to hear from anyone that may be working with them or knows someone that is.

[Finchy]

Well I'll be, I was just dropping by to ask a similar question because my young male Tricolour looks to me like he's turning pied. I was about to ask how they look when they are moulting because of this new scruffy chest look. Could it just be that? This is my first pair of these beauties so I don't know what to expect. More suspicious, though, are a couple of yellow feathers that have appeared along his wing edges.

I did not really want them pied as I love their intense colours, and the male certainly did not look pied when I got him, but this could prove interesting. They are murder to photograph but I will give it a go.

[Finchy]

OK, here's my one time stunner, now a scruff. Just moulting, or something else?

[Tony]

A guy I know here in the West was breeding dilutes, and reckoned the next step was a pied. He also said that the dilute didn't show until the second moult, around 9 - 12 months. I believe he sold the lot to an eastern stater, but can't be sure. IMO it does the bird an injustice.
Cheers Tony

[Craig52]

Hi Finchy,i don't think that bird is pied infact i think you may have a mite infestation in all your birds not just TCPF. In your pics all the finches are very scuffy looking and are busy preening them selves to the point of plucking themselves.
Try a couple of drops of Moxidecton to the skin area on the back of the neck or the flesh area under the wing to each bird twice in a couple of weeks or buy some mite spray and go by the directions on the label.
ps,TCPFs are white under the blue giving that grizzle pied look when they are exposed and if you spread the wing they all have that brownish edge to each flight feather,you don't see it when the wing is closed but your bird has it exposed because it has fight feathers gone. Craig

[Finchy]

Interesting. Confusing.

As it happens, I did a Moxidectin treatment last weekend, part of my regualr protocol. I very much doubt they had an infestation, but anything is possible. The flock were just fluffing and preening shortly after bathing, as birds tend to do together at certain times of day. As a group, they are certainly not scruffy looking! They are fine looking birds actually, barring one black headed Gouldlan hen whose head gets pecked by her husband and all three greedy youngsters! That's why the Tricolours stood out and I was motivated to ask this question - because of their unusual appearance.

I hope you are correct though, that it's mites and not genes. I would be very, very peeved if these birds turn out to be dilute without this being declared by the seller. The pair came from the 2011 Cessnock sale, from a seller who had a lot of Tricolour pairs there that day...but that would make them a little too old to moult into dilute?

[monotwine]

My tricolor looks the same... then gets even worse and looks like a near plucked chicken before regaining his splendor. Looks like a bird starting its moult to me. Tri coloureds seem to moult really poorly all of their feathers going at once. My Red heads on the other hand always look near decent, and even at the height of their moult, may only lose all their tails and look worse for wear.