Please ID Cordon Bleu

[lea]

new question, as i sad before, i have two CB's boys, but one looks a little bit different from another. his beak is longer, tail bigger, has a one blue feather on is head, cheeks smaller than another, but sits horizontal, like he should.
there pics:


on right


on right


on right


lower


lower


so what you think? he is not pure, or just some genetical deviation?

[Sally]

I would say both are Red-cheeked. Individual birds can vary slightly in size of cheek patch, length of tail, etc., but hybrids will have much greater differences.

[lea]

but he can be the hybrid from second generation, right? for ex. if his father was pure, and mother was hybrid of red cheeked and blue head CB's. cause this one blue feather on his head makes me think so

[bugaboo5]

I wouldn't stress too much about the one feather. If it was a whole area or circle of area on the head, I would be questioning. But one feather could simply be a glitch or abnormality -- who knows, he may molt out with no blue feathers on his head next season. Beautiful birds!

[lea]

thanks

[Sally]

Maybe this will put your mind at rest. This is a photo of one of my hybrid males. His father is a Blue-capped, his mother Red-cheeked. You can see that he has more blue on top of his head than RC, but not as much as BC. His beak is shorter, more fuschia-colored like a BC, but dark at the tip like RC. And last, his cheek patch is not only smaller than it should be, it is broken and partial-looking.

[lea]

but if you combine this boy with pure red cheeked hen, they'll produce birds with brighter cheeks, wont they?

[Sally]

I have been told that I could outcross with pure Red-cheeks, and keep outcrossing the offspring, and eventually I would have close to pure, after many generations. That is too much work and takes too much time (years) for me. I prefer to keep these four hybrids as pets and just work with pure lines to start with. I actually have them set up as two brother/sister pairs right now, hoping to train them to be fosters, and tossing any eggs they might produce. So far, after several months, they have given no indication of wanting to breed--maybe Mother Nature at work! They are happy just being pretty! And as long as they are in a cage situation, I can keep a close eye on them,

[lea]

thanks for your explanation, Sally