Aussie Finch Forum

hi, having not had painteds before,just wondering what age is best to let them breed ? all mine have recently attained full colour so should I wait a few months or longer ? also is it wiser to breed reds to reds and yellows to yellows or does it not matter ?
thankyou

If they are 'big enough' they are 'old enough' . . IMHO . . exception being if the cock is much older than the hen


As for the colour . .

If you are certain that you have pure reds . . not carrying a hidden yellow gene (and it is very hard to be certain of this) . . then you should stick to Red x Red

If you have a pair of yellows . . then they are certainly not carrying any hidden red genes . . but again Yellow x Yellow is the way to go unless your breeding program is heading in a planned, different direction

What you should 'stick to' is pairings which will produce offspring for which you can absolutely guarantee the genetic make-up

Start trying to come to grips with inheritance patterns . . it truly is not all that difficult

thanks Arthur,that answers all my questions perfectly,i'll take all that on board !!