Baby Mask

[AussieBirds]

My "supposed" normal mask hen has been sitting on eggs and this morning she has hatched one, 5 to go, I say "supposed" normal mask because when i got her she was sold to me as a normal Hen with a normal Cockbird as a breeding pairwell im here to tell you she has changed colour, she has yellow splashes all over her body now and her head mask has changed colour also to a grey. When she finishes raising thes clutch i will get a picture of her and post it.

I am now thinking she is a pied, when i got her she was definate normal mask colour and her offspring are normal in colour also and this is understable as her mate is the normal mask colour. I am hoping that at least one of her offspring is a male and carries this colour gene so i can breed it with another colour just to see the result.

John

[fischer]

Hi John, Post a pic of her as soon as you are able, I will be very interested to see just what she looks like, I hope she turns out to be pied, a bonus for you ;D.
Cheers Tony

[AussieBirds]

The second egg hatched last night so everything is going well. I know all the birds will be normal mask colour but I hope that I will be able to take one of the males and breed him with another colour as the males will be split to the colour of the hen.

John

[AussieBirds]

Here is a picture of my supposed masked hen



She is the one by her self in the centre of the picture, in the group on the left of her you will notice some normal mask birds well when i got her she was the same colouring as them she has even lost her balck mask. Any one got any suggestions as to her species, I'm thinking pied.

John

[Smiley]

Here is a good site.

www.mresource.com/LBInternational/Masked4.html


I could not find any pieds there


Natalie

[fischer]

Hi John, I think you do have a Pied bird there, Iv'e blown the pic up to full size and I think the hen shows a definate feather colour variation rather than the yellow suffusion that sometimes occurs in green masks.

You are lucky, the original breeder of that hen would be kicking
himself if he knew, one thing I have noticed with masks, is that they can change colours, even as late as the third or fourth moult, it never pays to sell young bird's too early unless you are absolutly sure of thier genetic makeup.

Natalie, That's a great site you listed, good reference pictures, and it's a site I hadn't seen before.

Cheers Tony

[AussieBirds]

Thanks for the comments Tony some of the babies are starting to show the same colour change ;D

John

[Karen]

Did you end up breeding any of this one's offspring John?

[crdj81]

Hi guys,
She is what they refer to as a progressive pied. They start out normal but as they moult they get more and more yellow or white feathers depending on what series they come from. I have some my self. Mostly in the blue series including a single violet that I breed from 2 birds that show no sign of pieing. The lasted two are olive and have just a couple of feathers that have changed. It will be interesting to see if they end up looking like their mum.

[robert]

Great to see that you have joined this forum,crdj. Looks like you have Maked Lovebirds.
from Robert and Precious

[crdj81]

Yeah got a few probably a few too many but whos counting.
I've been breeding since I was a kid. Right into the colours and genetics. They are a great hobby.

[robert]

crdj81,you might like to introduce yourself and your birds,in the introduction section.
Best, Robert and Precious

[sypher]

Nice looking Birds John. Out of curiosity, what is a pied worth?

Thanks Shaun

[AussieBirds]

Feb 22, 2009 19:27:38 GMT 10 sypher said:

Nice looking Birds John. Out of curiosity, what is a pied worth?

Thanks Shaun

That post was made a long time ago Shaun and I no longer have mask lovebirds, I think at the time I was selling them for $15 each, I have now started to breed peach face love birds and I hope to have as much success as I did with the masks.

John

[sypher]

Thanks for the reply John.

Shaun