As far as I know, all lutinos have some sort of shade of red eyes, yeah? From bright crimson to almost black. I had to do some research on it when I got my breeding pair last month, the female being lutino. But I assume the lutino genes of the albino/white face lutino guarantee red eyes every time. I am genuinely curious about the genetics side of it too, to be honest. It's an interesting reaction to that color mutation in particular.

 

Sertiels is the best I know with this
And I hope she will forgive me for taking this from her site (Sorry Sertiels) I did post the link to her web page before.
[URL="http://www.justcockatiels.net/lutino.[/URL]

Quote Origin: Lutino is the second established mutation. Lutino first appeared in the aviaries of Mr. Cliff Barringer of Miami FL, USA in 1958. Mrs. Moon then successfully established the mutation.

In earlier reference books, dating from the late 70’s the Lutino was incorrectly referred to as Albino. The description for these birds were that they appeared to be white but retain the yellow mask, orange check patches, and have red eyes. The references to the Lutino being white are misleading because if a person looks carefully there is the presence of lipochrome (yellow pigments) in varying degrees. This can vary from a subtle pale yellow to a deep primrose yellow. The Lutino mutation lacks (suppresses) the melanin pigment, which enables the black, brown, grey colors. As a result, the birds coloration can visually range from yellow to a cream white with orange cheek-patches. Some yellow will be present in the crest and sides of the face, and tail. The beak, feet and toenails are flesh colored.

A Lutino can be identified as it hatches. The eyes will appear a pink color. Melanin is completely suppressed to the eye when the lutino is young. As the lutino matures, some melanin will darken the red eyes so that they appear dark. Shining a flashlight indirectly to the eye will reveal the pupil and iris colors, which will be a red to ruby color. Cinnamon chicks will also hatch out with a plum red eye, but the edging is a dark grey. If the bird does not reflect red in both the iris and pupil then it may be a clear Pied. A clear Pied visually looks the same as a Lutino, with the exception of eye color.

 

Great explanation! Thank you. Gotta love genetics.

 

All lutinos have red eyes, clear pieds are often confused for lutinos and do not have red eyes. Because of that I don't think it has to do with feather color also, fallow and recessive silver have this trait. If it really has to do with melanin there may be something I do not understand about how it effects feather color.

 

Yes, all lutinos have red eyes. The whiteface has nothing to do with it. Depending on what they're split to, eye colour can vary from pale jellybean pink to very dark ruby. Honey has deep crimson eyes that look a little paler in the sun.

 

ok interesting so without melanin, the eye is naturally red.

 

I believe the red is actually the colour of the blood vessels in the eye, not an actual pigment per se

 

Yeah the red is from their blood. Deeper red eyes have more melanin than brighter red eyes I believe, so the darker eyes will block the more of the red.

 

But this made me wonder, recessive silvers and fallow have red eyes and yet there is some melanin in their feathers, and clear pieds sometimes have no melanin and yet their eyes are dark. This was a good read its about wild birds but I think it still applies.

The presence of white feathers on a normally dark bird is the most frequently seen color abnormality. Every birder can expect to encounter white or partly-white birds with some regularity, and the more striking examples will stand out even to novices.

All black and brown coloration in birds comes from melanin (of two types). Birds create melanin pigments using an enzyme, and this melanin is deposited in the growing feathers by color cells. At any stage and for many different reasons this complex process can break down, leading to a variety of conditions:

an inability to produce melanin and complete absence of melanin throughout
an inability to deposit melanin in the feathers and an absence of melanin in some or all feathers
a lack of one type of melanin (many possible causes), leading to an absence of that type while retaining the other
a failure to fully oxidize the melanin leading to a change in color from blackish to brownish
a partial loss of one or both types of melanin (many possible causes), and therefore a lower concentration of melanin in the feathers
Through careful study birders can sometimes deduce the cause of the abnormality, but different conditions can produce nearly identical results. Conversely, the same condition in different species of birds can produce very different results.

So there we have it, I deduct the melanin can be selectively removed from just the eyes or even kept in just the eyes.

 

another question about eye colour for whiteface lutinos:
do split pied ones get blue eyes eventually?

cause my little girl's split pied.

 

Pretty much

 

at what age would they change?

 

If it coincides with changes in the plumage (which is also controlled by melanin) that I see in other mutations, maybe as early as five months or as late as fifteen. It tends to vary. Fifteen may be stretching it a little as most will change before a year.

 

Only visual lutino pies get the different eye color...split to pies will have jellybean pink eyes. I dont think they change.

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I think you are mistaken, unless Susanne messed up on this graphic its the other way around.