Star Finch-dominant color gene?

cntrymeadow · Post by **cntrymeadow** » Thu Dec 18, 2008 9:34 am

Just a curious question:

I prefer the star finch with a yellow face vs. red.

Is red the most dominant color?

If you take a yellow male w/ yellow female will you most likely get yellow babies?

If you take a red male w/ yellow female (or vice versa) will the red face prevail or do you have a chance of getting yellow?

L in Ontario · Post by **L in Ontario** » Thu Dec 18, 2008 9:52 am

Hi, I'm not sure which I colour prefer but I am supposed to have a yellow-faced hen and I do have a red-faced male for sure. The hen looks more orange than yellow and I have seen 'yellower' hens than this one however the breeder said she was yellow for sure and had thrown a few yellow babies when paired with a red male (which I presume meant she was capable of having yellow babies not actually tossing them).

Anyway I let them lay eggs but they would not sit, so I fostered the eggs and only one hatched. After weaning, I put the baby back with it's real parents and they get along great. Right now the baby is about 10 weeks old and has a yellow beak! I'm hoping that means this is a yellow Star baby but it hasn't fully moulted yet so I'm not sure.

I don't know about your other questions but would be interested in them as well. Good luck!

Post by **Sally** » Thu Dec 18, 2008 10:06 am

Liz, that is exciting news! If the beak is yellow, that should be a yellow-faced Star. That is the first thing I noticed when I had a clutch of 5 back in 2006--one of them developed a yellow beak, while the others were turning red. That contradicts what I have been told--that a yellow hen and red cock will only produce red, with cock babies being split. Another source told me that all babies would be red, but 25%-50% would be split, with sex not being a factor. Or, your red cock may be split, which would produce yellow when paired with yellow. Oh, genetics drive me crazy!

L in Ontario · Post by **L in Ontario** » Thu Dec 18, 2008 10:15 am

Sally, I'm glad I could excite your day

I'll post pics of the Star baby (named Wishupona) from my home computer tonight and you can tell me if I'm wrong about the beak colour or not. You'd be a better judge as you have experience with baby Stars.

L in Ontario · Post by **L in Ontario** » Thu Dec 18, 2008 1:39 pm

I did manage to located pics of my Star Finch baby and have posted him under a http://www.finchforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=4274 so I don't side-track this one too badly.

cntrymeadow · Post by **cntrymeadow** » Thu Dec 18, 2008 11:56 pm

There is a local person on craigslist wanting to rehome 4 stars...
two red males and two yellow females...
one pair is related and the other pair is not (and is the one Im interested in)
There are two people ahead of me so Im going to assume they will be going to one of them.

Suprisingly hubby did not say no when I showed him the ad/picture!

I asked him what the probablity of having yellows with mixed parents and this is what he said:

Yellow face is recessive, but the males are split for yellow so the probability of having yellow-faced babies is 50%.

That would be good enough odds for me to give it a try..
but now Im wondering if stars are difficult to breed and have the babies survive.

L in Ontario · Post by **L in Ontario** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 8:55 am

Cool! Good luck in getting a pair!!