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Baby color mutations

805 Views 7 Replies 2 Participants Last post by  Misstiel
My two cockatiels Hatched some babies. The parents appeared to be two normal gray cockatiels so I was expecting three normal gray babies. When the babies hatched one had white down feathers and the other two had yellow. One of the yellow ones has red eyes the other has the normal dark eyes. The white one also has the dark eyes. I was just wondering what color mutations the parents might be mixed with and what the babies will look like when they grow up.
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Would you be willing to post some pictures of the parents? From what you said, both parents have to be split to whiteface in order for you to have a chick with white down. The father would have to be split to lutino as well if you have a yellow chick with red eyes. It could be a cinnamon as well, though so you would have to wait and see what color of feathers come in. If you'd be willing to post pics of the parents, I could help determine what mutations and splits the parents have.
Thanks! So, they both look like normal greys like you said. The one with the white down is a whiteface which means that both parents are split to whiteface. The one with the red eyes could be either a lutino or a cinnamon, and it will genetically be a female either way. If it is a cinnamon, the color of the eyes should darken in a few days but if it is a lutino, the eyes will remain red. That means that the father is either split to lutino or cinnamon depending on what the chick is. As for the chick with normal eyes, it would most likely be a normal or even possibly a pearl if the father is split for pearl. There is a chance it could be pied as well only if both parents are split for pied. You pretty much have to wait and see what kind of feathering comes in to get a good idea of what that one is. Either way, you ended up with quite the mix which is really neat.
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Yeah, no problem! 😊 It's always neat when you get surprises in the nest. I was quite surprised when you said that you have a whiteface chick. That's not very common unless you have actual whiteface parents. And yes, the chick with red eyes is a really cool surprise, too!
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