LORIKEET GENETICS 101
A guide for newcomers, a helpful reminder for others.
Once you understand how the basics work you will be able to pair birds to create multi mutation colours.
When I say ‘normal’ I am referring to a green bird without any colour genetics.
Basic colour genes consist of :-
1. DOMINANT
Dominant colours are -
- Greygreen
- Jade
- Aqua
When pairing a dominant bird with a normal the offspring can only be the dominant colour or normal.
The dominant colour genes cannot produce a ‘split’
2. RECESSIVE
Recessive colours are –
- Dilute
- Melanistic
- Pied ( can also be placed in dominant – will explain later)
- Fallow
When pairing a recessive bird with a normal all the offspring will appear to be normal however they will carry ‘half’ the recessive gene and are referred to as a ‘split’.
Think of it like this – two halves make a whole.
Because there is no visual way of identifying a split, you are reliant on the sellers honesty when purchasing split birds.
Two splits of the same recessive colour paired together will produce offspring consisting of –
- Normal – offspring did not receive recessive gene from either parent.
- Split – offspring only received recessive gene from one parent.
- Recessive colour – offspring received recessive gene from both parents.
Hens and cocks can be split with the recessive colour genes.
PIED
Pied is recognised in two forms 1. Single factor ( visual split ) and 2. Double factor.
The old school thinking was to produce the more colourful bird being a double factor. To produce a double factor both parents need to be single factor, however – true to the recessive gene not all offspring will be double factor, single factors or visual splits will also be produced.
Single factor pieds are also referred to as ‘streaky heads’ or ‘streakies’ and are a beautiful genetic colour in their own right.
GREY GREEN SINGLE FACTOR PIED AKA “STREAKY”
3. SEX LINKED
The sex linked gene works a little bit differently. Only the males or cocks can be split to this gene. The females or hens are either coloured or not.
Using Lutino as the colour example, a lutino hen paired to a normal cock will produce all normal hen offspring and all split lutino cock offspring.
A split lutino cock paired to a lutino hen will produce normal hens, normal split lutino cocks, lutino hens and lutino cocks.
DOUBLE FACTOR VERSUS DARK FACTOR
When pairing a dominant colour gene with a partner of the same dominant colour gene the offspring produced can receive a double dose from both parents. These offspring are referred to as Dark Factor or Double Factor, Dack Factor preferred so as not to be confused with Double Factor Pied.
In the case of Grey green the double factor offspring are considerably darker.
In the case of Aqua the offspring are considerably brighter and more intense with colour.
In the case of Jade the offspring are generally darker with head and chest colour intensified.
- Double Factor Jade is Olive or True Olive. An olive mutation will produce jade offspring paired to a normal bird.
JADE
Typical of the aqua gene in rainbows a birds that have little or no neck ring, green and or aqua colour through the head, considerable yellow on the chest and aqua bellies diffused with red see Image below
