There are mainly two types of mutations in cockatiels, straight recessive and sex-linked recessive. Straight mutations must be in both parents to appear in the offspring, while sex-linked mutations will appear in female offspring if present in the male but must also be present in the female to appear visually in male offspring. I've always liked to mate, say a pearl male to a normal female, resulting in pearl females and gray males that are split to pearl, which allows sexing the babies as soon as they feather. You can do this with any sex-linked mutation.
Here's the chart:
Straight mutations: Pied and Whiteface
Sex-linked mutations: Albino, Lutino, Cinnamon, Pearl
Production Chart: (straight mutation; N = normal, m= visual mutation)
N x N = N
m x m = 100% m
N x m = 100% N/m
N/m x m = 50% m, 50% N/m
N/m x N/m = 25% m, 50% N/m, 25% N
N/m x N = 25% N/m, 75% N
Production Chart: (sex-linked mutation; Male is first listed of parents)
N x N = 100% N males and females
m x m = 100% m males and females
m x N = 100% N/m males, 100% m females
N x m = 100% N/m males, 100% N females
N/m x N = 50% N/m males, 50% N males, 50% m females, 50% N
females
N/m x m = 50% m males, 50% N/m males, 50% m females, 50% N
females
Note that a female cockatiel can not be split to a sex-linked mutation; she either is or isn't, since she only has one chromosome for that mutation.
Examples:
Pearl Pied x Pied = 100% Pied/pearl males, 100% Pearl
Pied females
WF Pied x WF/pied = 50% WF Pied, 50% WF/pied
Cinnamon Pied/Pearl x Cinnamon Pearl/Pied =
(Separate out)
100% Cinnamon
50% Pied, 50% N/Pied
50% pearl males, 50% N/pearl males,
50% pearl females, 50% N females
(Now figure, 50% of the 50% Pied males will be pearl = 25%, 50% of the 50% Pied males will be N/pied = 25%, and so on...)
So, you'll get:
25% Cinnamon Pearl Pied males, 25% Cinnamon Pearl/Pied males,
25% Cinnamon Pied/Pearl males, and 25% Cinnamon/Pearl Pied males
25% Cinnamon Pearl Pied females, 25% Cinnamon Pearl/Pied females,
25% Cinnamon Pied females, and 25% Cinnamon/Pied females
-- Heike H. Ewing -- heike@ionet.net
--
-- Bear's
Den Aviary --
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Please contact the webmaster: tielbreeders@yahoo.com
Revised: October 11, 1999
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