Had the same thing with a cock cuban I saw in a pet shop- no yellow collar, just green & black.
I brought it home & sure enough it moulted out normally.
He can call them olive OBs, but I suspect that they will moult out normally, especially given the unevenness of the colouration.
I hope I'm wrong, but I suspect it's not an inherited trait.
Black Obs and Strawberries
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Tiaris
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- Posts: 3517
- Joined: 23 Apr 2011, 08:48
- Location: Coffs Harbour
Have seen it in a few Cubans too. A couple of young males I bred from aggressive parents a few years ago showed it until the 2nd moult since they had to be weaned very early for their own safety from dad who would have killed them. Also seen "black Cubans" sold by a dealer only to bring them home into far better conditions to see normal colour restored withing a month.
The OB photo is definitely induced melanism. Any buyer of the "new mutation" will be sorely disappointed when it moults out later.
The OB photo is definitely induced melanism. Any buyer of the "new mutation" will be sorely disappointed when it moults out later.
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arthur
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- Posts: 1995
- Joined: 13 Mar 2009, 10:22
Hard to dismiss 'mutation' entirely, even though temporary melanism (for whatever reason, and sometimes due to old age??) is common in Red Strawbs & OB's
Has the breeder put 'black to black' and produced like-coloured young
Melanism in parrots is a recessive mutation . . while 'grey-green' and olive (and they are different mutations) are dominant with single and double factor
I suspect that this would also be the case with finches
If the breeder is charging the same for the dark birds as for his normals, it may well be worth a gamble
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And on the subject of temporary melanism . .
Double Bars with a complete black area between the 'bars' appeared some years ago. They certainly seemed to be mutations as there was no other unusual areas of black
But . . alas the black moulted out
And on an aviary visit to the Hunter region many moons ago, I saw Cubans as black as Jacarinis, but still with some yellow . . striking birds. . .
After a few months I decided to purchase some and was delighted to be told that they were the same price as 'normals', so I purchased 3 pair . . when they arrived they were no where near as black as the originals, and were indeed 'normal' to my eye, and I was a bit disappointed but had no real gripe as I had only paid for 'normals' in the first place, as it were
Have heard no more of these 'black cubans" . . so maybe this was another example of temporary melanism
Has the breeder put 'black to black' and produced like-coloured young
Melanism in parrots is a recessive mutation . . while 'grey-green' and olive (and they are different mutations) are dominant with single and double factor
I suspect that this would also be the case with finches
If the breeder is charging the same for the dark birds as for his normals, it may well be worth a gamble
88888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888
And on the subject of temporary melanism . .
Double Bars with a complete black area between the 'bars' appeared some years ago. They certainly seemed to be mutations as there was no other unusual areas of black
But . . alas the black moulted out
And on an aviary visit to the Hunter region many moons ago, I saw Cubans as black as Jacarinis, but still with some yellow . . striking birds. . .
After a few months I decided to purchase some and was delighted to be told that they were the same price as 'normals', so I purchased 3 pair . . when they arrived they were no where near as black as the originals, and were indeed 'normal' to my eye, and I was a bit disappointed but had no real gripe as I had only paid for 'normals' in the first place, as it were
Have heard no more of these 'black cubans" . . so maybe this was another example of temporary melanism