Aussie Finch Forum

Hi all, I bred a star hen that was blotchy (from 2 normal RH stars) - I thought she was unwell/deficient in something so put her in a different aviary. She has since bred with a normal RH star cock (in picture), and has had some normal young and some with pied/blotchiness (still young, not sure what they will be like when moulted). Is she pied?

I've seen lesser 'qualified' birds given the title

And if she has passed it on to her young it is obviously transferable

Just 'keep your head' and you may have a little extra 'fun' with these birds

And . .

The 'green' in the hen appears to be something of a 'grey-green' . . Also no yellow in the belly

Is the colour of the young 'pieds' different from that of their normal siblings?

yep, the blotchy young seem to be paler in the green too

That star is a blue,hence the white pied. If it were a green backed bird the pied would be yellow so you have two mutations there to play with. Don't tell amca (Mark) Craig

Thanks Craig. PM sent Masterfincher.

If the young are 'blue' then the cockbird has to be split for 'blue', because 'blue' is recessive

Bit harder with the 'pied' . .

If pied is dominant in Stars, then young could be pied from the hen alone

Craig seems to know a bit about these birds, so he may be able to complete the picture

If AMCA is also working on the mutation / combination, there is a great chance that it can be established . . .

If is not already established




Baby steps first, but 'blue' . . I'm not so fussed on pieds . . 'put into' the existing Star mutations is an exciting prospect

A Blue Yellowbody RH could be a Pink Headed White . . or something a bit less exciting, like a White Headed White

I'm excited . . Don't you anti-mutation people spoil things for us

The lady is definatly different. Can you search through your records and see if the pair could possibly have an ancestor in common? As for them both to be split blue would be unusal otherwise. And if they only have 1 Grandparent in common or something of the sort would explain the situation without being an inbreeding problem.
LML

You summed it up very well Arthur, I have already mentioned to Mark that i once had the the blue star. It was very hard to sell due to its colour, dull grey looking thing. But,with the pied thrown in it will or should throw more interest in them to put through the mutations you mentioned.
Yes the blue is recessive so that cock must be split and the parents of that blue must have been both splits so i would say that they are all related somewhere down the line or just a fluke of nature.
The pied part of it could be a fluke as well as the hen blue has produced pied young it means it is dominate or the cock bird is a possible split for pied being a relative.
The main thing is that the mutations are visual and can be worked on from them which would be quite easy to establish. Arrrrrh Craig

Craig52 wrote:. It was very hard to sell due to its colour, dull grey looking thing. :

A lot of people don't consider the effect that the 'grey looking thing' will have in combination with other established mutations

In fact that 'ugly duckling' mutation, in the right hands . . (Go M-F & AMCA) . . will give rise to the complete "Blue Series" in Star Finches




And Craig I feel your pain at losing a mutation . .

I once bred (and this was before pied R-F's) a couple of Pied B-F Parroties . . AND, they were at least 50% yellow

Now we all know how tough B-F's are . . and how easy they are to breed . .

Where are they now??