pied genetics

[6finchfriends]

I've been worried about something that I'm hoping someone can help me with. Most of you know I have a very handsome saddleback pied cock Zebra- Frosty. (he was given to me with 2 other Zebras) I have never gotten him a mate because I'm worried about the pied gene taking over like it seems to of done with Societies. Personally I've never seen a Society without white feathers. It seems like the 'Self's' are quite rare. I know the pied gene is dominant in Societies. But Is anyone out there concerned that Zebras will eventually end up 90% pied? Since I don't know that much about genetics, I might be making much ado about nothing. then again, what if I pair him with a hen and the chicks are split for pied and nobody knows it. So would I be muddying the genetic waters? I'm quite concerned about this issue so your opinion would be greatly appreciated.

[cindy]

Trish...I tend to refer back to Roy Beckman/efinch a lot!

This might be helpful to read up on in regards to pied

http://www.efinch.com/species/piedzeb.htm

[6finchfriends]

Thank you Cindy, i'll do that now.

[6finchfriends]

That's what I was afraid of. Maybe some of the zebra breeders that have pieds can put their view in for me. I definitely would have to keep very good breeding records. I'm still undecided. This seems like a very big decision to make.
To breed him or not.

[Justin-2-finches]

Pied gene is recessive, so as long as you pair him with a hen that doen't carry that gene then the chicks won't be pied.

But they will all be splits.
So, if you pair a split baby to a not split baby, then only half the young will be split.
So it may take a bit of breeding to determine which are splits and which aren't, but it should be quite easy enough to achieve Normals that produce only Normals, but it will take time.
But the challenge will definately be worth the effort

[Ameza]

As said above, the pied gene is recessive. So to get the pied colour you need two pied birds or splits. The hard thing is the fact that you cannot see if a bird is split for pied or not.
Many, like myself, find the pied colours cute and fun to have, but if you want to keep your birds in their "true colours" I would advice you not to breed the pied birds with the other ones.

The pied gene is also quite random, you might have a bird that is only 5% pied and get offspring that are 50% or even 100% pied, also called pied white. But then again you can also get just birds with one or two white feathers.

So yeah, if you want to breed your saddleback, you should not use his offspring with your "true colours" birds if you want to keep that line going without the pied gene.

[Vargur]

@ Ameza:

The hard thing is the fact that you cannot see if a bird is split for pied or not

Yes you can

Like Roy Beckham says on http://www.efinch.com
Birds that are split for Pied can show varying amounts of white. It will usually show on the primary wing feathers and the chin.

But he also says: Some birds show no white feathers at all.
And thats the tricky part


Vargs - Fawn/pied fugl undan Agna og Agötu by Elma_Ben, on Flickr
Split for pied


Vargs - undan Sibru Agna og Agötu by Elma_Ben, on Flickr
Normal grey pied

You can clearly see the differents

[Ameza]

Oh sorry, my bad.

I though the pied didn't show because my bird Bíbí, a normal grey male shows no signs at all and he is split I though if you had just a feather it was very little pied not spli. That means Funi is split, not pied.
Good to know.

I bow to your wisdome Vargur

[Vargur]

because my bird Bíbí, a normal grey male shows no signs at all and he is split

Sometimes the birds show no signs at all that they are split for pied

[6finchfriends]

Thanks all.. much food for thought....