Red Headed Parrot finch mutation-mutation???

[monotwine]

Ok I have no idea what is going on here with these birds. I read the recombination of genetics thread. Sounded interesting.

What do you make of this:
HEN 1yr6mths old

RTPF green hen patches.jpg

HEN approx 6mnths old (offspring of above)

RTPF hen daughter head.jpg

RTPF hen daughter.jpg

The flash dilutes to contrast as it pics up too much of the green, but she has the same maybe even better patches of seagreen than her mom. Also the head mask is flecked with the seagreen orange mutation.
Daughter is the 3rd generation of my own bred stock, so I can only trace back to grandparents - a little further back from parents I got from breeders.
In the mix is seagreen, recessive and dominant pied and of course normal.

I gave up trying to breed pure normals years ago when I could get nothing but pieds. SO tried to breed pieds and get nothing by normals. Now this!

[natamambo]

Recombination of alleles is possible rare, but the problem you have is that sea green is sex-linked recessive, so the father needs to be the carrier of the seagreen for the daughter to display it. In this case the recombination as an explanation is highly unlikely for the daughter to also display it as she would get the colour gene from her father.

It could be the mother has a metabolic disorder in the processing of pigments she has passed on to her daughter.

[monotwine]

daughters father is a split seagreen and does produce full seagreen offspring.
The first hen comes from normal pieds - though I don't know the full parentage of the cock bird there.

[finchbreeder]

Could the lighter feathers in the head be caused by dads pied genes?
LML

[Tiaris]

Were these hens always coloured like this or were they normal phenotype then this just appeared/moulted into them? I ask this as I've previously had pure normals moult in similar mottled plumage only to lose it again at a later moult.

[monotwine]

Tiaris I only noticed this parent hen looking this mottled now. However the daughter has been like this since her first moult. This hen comes from dominant pied lines, but never shows any of the pied gene herself.

I was wondering if somehow the pied had interfered with the seagreen and now this strange mottling appreared. I will keep my eye on them as see if next moult the dappling stays or goes. Interesting. They are the only two amongst 15 - 20 that display this weird colouration.

[monotwine]

Quick update:
both these hens have retained their color over moult. The original pair is still producing young and more mottled young were produced. All female. Im going to out cross the young to unrelated seagreen and split males and see what happens this season.

[Finchy]

Fascinating! This is a very interesting turn of events and I look forward to hearing more about your flock as the seasons go by. We may all learn something quite new from this.

[monotwine]

yeah who knows how it will pan out. Will have fun playing around.

[Diane]

Does the colour seemed to have deepened or stayed the same? Interesting that all mottled birds are hens.