Many times it is difficult to determine whether your bird is greywing, dilute, clearflight, or clearwing (whitewing).

 

In the dilute, dilution of color can be anywhere from 5%-95%. All the feathers on the bird will have the same level of dilution. The bird will look 'washed out' all over. It can be difficult to tell a dilute from a greywing for this reason, as the more dilution that occurs, the "greyer" the flights get. Since greywings are of 50% intensity to normal, if the bird has very light grey wings as well as a very light body color, most likely the bird is dilute and not greywing.

 

The clearwing/whitewing is a bird of normal intensity except the wing feathers (all of them, not just the flights) are white. Light grey is permissible, as the pure white is difficult to achieve. Hence, the opportunity for confusion with greywing unless you know the characteristics. The body color is sometimes slightly diluted, but not more than 10% of normal. The spots and stripes are very light grey. The tail is not white, but rather is somewhat neutral suffused with the body color. Clearwing and whitewing can be interchangeable terms.

 

With the greywing, the flight feathers are diluted at about 50% intensity from normal, and the body of the bird is diluted at the same percentage. The flight feathers will have a light edging of the face color. The tail is grey with a bluish tinge. A full-bodied greywing will have the 50% dilution of the wings, flights, spots, and barring but will have as close to normal intensity of body color as possible. I think Blossom here is a good example of a full-bodied greywing. Notice the strip of blue on her flights is also diluted from the normal, and you can make out the light edging around her flights. Her tail is greyish-blue, with the grey being more at the center of the feather and the blue suffusion extends out and down. Her spots are also diluted at the same percentage as her wings. However her body color is close to normal. You can compare the color of the wings and tail with Skittles in the second picture to get an idea of what 50% looks like.

 

 

 

***She also has a few other mutations besides being full-bodied greywing. Does anyone want to guess what they are?***

 

 

When breeding for a specific trait, you need to know that there are 4 factors that could reside that the same place on the chromosome that are responsible for these mutations. Greywing, Clearwing and Dilute factors are all recessive to the normal gene. Meaning if mated with a normal, the resulting babies will be split. The Greywing factor is semi-dominant over the Clearwing factor and is dominant over the Dilute factor. The Clearwing factor is dominant over the Dilute factor. Dilutes cannot be split for Clearwing or Greywing.

 

Sometimes people get the terms clearflight and clearwing confused. The clearflight (also known as continental clearflight or Dutch Dominant Pied) is a pied, and the flights and tail will be white. If the tail is not white, the bird is not a clearflight. Body color everywhere else will be of normal intensity, unless there is a dilute gene present also. As the gene for piedness resides in a different place than the gene for dilute, you can have a dilute pied. Blossom the greywing was the product of two pieds - Skittles the variegated pied (above in the second picture) and an opaline clearflight dilute pied. What does that tell you about Blossom's parents? Or about Blossom?

Edited January 12, 200718 yr by Rainbow

Wow, thankyou for that. I have one ditute baby and I was wondering what I needed to pair him to, to get more dilutes. Genetics was just about my favourite science way back when I was in high school.

 

Skittles is obviously split for greywing. Blossom is a very pretty opaline greywing.

excellent and I just asked you that question in another post I am saying this for future reference.

Thanks!

 

No other takers on what mutations produced this one? Or what mutations Blossom is carrying? C'mon - I know there are plenty of you that can figure it out!

Edited January 15, 200718 yr by Rainbow

I can't see her very well (Laughing out loud) below is all I can see in her with the picture provided So here is my guess.

 

Greywing

Yellowface 2

Opaline

Dominant pied too? but not a clearflight

Blossom could be split to dilute.

 

Her parents where both carrying the greywing gene as it is recessive and you need 2 to have the gene.

 

Her dad as an opaline as well as he gave the gene to his daughter.

 

One of the parents was a clearflight pied since the sister of Blossom is a clearflight dominant pied and one was a dominant pied.

 

Both of her parents carried the blue gene (I don't remember what color her parents were but she reminds me of her dad's coloring and he I think was a YF2).

 

Both the parents carried the dilute gene also since Skittles is a dilute.

 

okay how did I do Ann if I need to add more don't tell me the answer give me a hint I love this stuff as you know. If I got something wrong please tell me why.

 

 

Just to add Ann, I think this would be an excellent post to add to FAQ's or even to pin in this section.

We've been trying to decide what Baby actually is. Greywing, or dilute? I think at one point we read about lacewings and thought it might describe her too. What do you think?

 

 

I was trying to find some good tail shots because it sounds like the tail might be the determining factor in some cases. Her poor little tail is so wonky and ratty right now you can't help but laugh at it. *L* She lost her long tail feathers and I can't help but wonder if the crooked one was the one that was giving her problems cuz shortly after her anitibiotics, it came out, all funky. *L* Her long tail feathers are gray, but the shorter ones are colored. Would this mean she's dilute and not a greywing afterall?

Well she is not a fallow they have red eyes. A closer shot would really help She is so pretty.

 

To me she looks like a Yellowface 2 greywing we will see what Ann says

yeah, her face is pretty bright yellow, but the rest of her is pale green and gray. i'm not sure what I can do about the close-ups, but here's a link to bigger pictures.

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/armchairdeity...57594333776911/

 

She's rather ruffled looking in the one I have featured, but you can move through the set and find some other good ones.

Go to this link and then click on diluation comparing her pics I still say a greywing :budgiedance: and a YF2.

 

http://www.budgieplace.com/colors.html

Yeah, she does look the most like the greywing. And the yellow factor 2 means?

Thanks!

 

No other takers on what mutations produced this one? Or what mutations Blossom is carrying? C'mon - I know there are plenty of you that can figure it out!

 

She's obviously type 2 yellowface as well as opaline and greywing . And the prettiest Budgie I have seen in a long time

interest nyos I didn't pick up on that

 

Yellowface 2 means that the yellow on her face bleeds into her body and depending on the gene can sometime turn a blue budgie almost like a seafoam green or green.

 

Yellowface 1 is when the yellow is only restricted to her face and not on her body.

I can't see her very well lol below is all I can see in her with the picture provided So here is my guess.

 

Greywing

Yellowface 2

Opaline

Dominant pied too? but not a clearflight

Blossom could be split to dilute.

 

Her parents where both carrying the greywing gene as it is recessive and you need 2 to have the gene.

 

Her dad as an opaline as well as he gave the gene to his daughter.

 

One of the parents was a clearflight pied since the sister of Blossom is a clearflight dominant pied and one was a dominant pied.

 

Both of her parents carried the blue gene (I don't remember what color her parents were but she reminds me of her dad's coloring and he I think was a YF2).

 

Both the parents carried the dilute gene also since Skittles is a dilute.

 

okay how did I do Ann if I need to add more don't tell me the answer give me a hint I love this stuff as you know. If I got something wrong please tell me why.

 

 

Just to add Ann, I think this would be an excellent post to add to FAQ's or even to pin in this section.

 

Very close! She is opaline, she is greywing, she is YF 2, she is not dominant pied. She is not pied at all, she is normal. She picked up a normal gene from each parent. Dad was opaline. Both parents were blue. Skittles is not a dilute, she is normal. But dad was dilute.

 

 

We've been trying to decide what Baby actually is. Greywing, or dilute? I think at one point we read about lacewings and thought it might describe her too. What do you think?

 

 

I was trying to find some good tail shots because it sounds like the tail might be the determining factor in some cases. Her poor little tail is so wonky and ratty right now you can't help but laugh at it. *L* She lost her long tail feathers and I can't help but wonder if the crooked one was the one that was giving her problems cuz shortly after her anitibiotics, it came out, all funky. *L* Her long tail feathers are gray, but the shorter ones are colored. Would this mean she's dilute and not a greywing afterall?

 

Looking at those pictures, I am a little stumped! My understanding is that with greywings the tail is a greyish color instead of normal intensity. But the shell markings on Baby are pretty light, and a greywing will have the same shade of grey on those feathers as on the flights. The lightness of those feathers makes me think dilute, but the tail makes me think greywing. LOL, I will need to do some more research on Baby!

 

 

Thanks!

 

No other takers on what mutations produced this one? Or what mutations Blossom is carrying? C'mon - I know there are plenty of you that can figure it out!

 

She's obviously type 2 yellowface as well as opaline and greywing . And the prettiest Budgie I have seen in a long time

 

AAWWWEEEEEE........ I think she is a cutie too.

 

Hm, something seems odd here, Rainbow. You said Blossom is a full-body greywing? This means she must have both a gw gene and a cw gene. But you said her father is a dilute..he only has two dilute genes. He can only give her a dilute gene, which means Blossom must have a dilute gene and thus can't be a fullbody greywing.

 

did I miss something?

 

As greywing is recessive, it takes two greywing genes to produce a greywing. So both parents had to have been split to greywing, right? Neither parent is clearwing. Rainbow was a clearflight...and those two genes (clearflight and greywing) reside at different places on the chromosome. I believe greywing, clearwing, and dilute reside in close proximity on the chromosome, but are actually on different places. I could be wrong there, but that is my understanding. Unfortunately, I do not know definitively all the hidden genes they could be carrying as both parents were pet store birds. But your question raises more questions, doesn't it? Because I see now if Rainbow was dilute, he could not be split to greywing. But greywing is a recessive gene, so you need two of them. Blossom is almost the same intensity of skyblue as Skittles, and I know Skittles is normal in coloration for a YF type 2 skyblue. Blossom has much more of a yellow bleedthrough though. I sometimes wonder if she (Skittles) is carrying 2 dark factors, as the black on her is very dark. Give me your thoughts on the parents - I thought I had it all worked out!

 

Mom:

 

 

 

Dad:

 

 

 

Babies include 2 greywing normal 'twins', 2 DF dom pieds, 5 SF dominant pieds. 2 violets, 2 cobalts, 5 skyblues. DF dominants were clearflights, 4 SF dominants were clearflights (2 dilute), 1 SF dominant pied, normal wing and tail (a violet).

Edited January 18, 200718 yr by Rainbow

Baby I would mark as a yellowface type 2 Grey. the body colour now looks like a grey-green and the cheek patches are a silver blue (although they change becuase of the greywing gene too)

But the patchiness in her colour show spots of grey to my screen

 

I would also think greywing in the bigger sized pictures the flights and tail looked to be the same shade of colour.

I don't believe you are greywing and dilute it is one or the other

A full body grey wing has a bright body and a greywing does has a wash out diluted look to it but is not a dilute.

 

Interesting post here and a good learning one.

I am wondering if Rainbow was in fact a greywing and not a dilute. Because that would be the only way I see how it's possible to get a full bodied greywings.... If that rainbow is a greywings, and Skittles (that is the mum right?) carrying the clearwing genes which combines with the greywing genes to produce a full bodied greywing.

 

'normal' greywings (not the full bodied typed) can be hard to distinguish against dilutes. some greywings might just as well have very 'diluted' grey, pass 50% dilution.

Interesting, Cheeta. A better picture of the dad's wings might help. Rainbow, so let me see if I got this straight. Out of all the babies, you say 5 were normal, 2 were dilute, 2 were greywing, and then theres blossom, am i right?

 

No. The babies were 2 normals and 7 pieds. Blossom and her twin Mystery, were YF2 skyblue greywings. They were almost identical, but I could tell them apart by the patterning of the shell feathers on their wings, and by how far the grey went down the shaft of their tails. I guess they could be well-marked dilutes, but it is really weird that two identical dilutes would come out of the same clutch, don't you think? The 2 normals were 2 days apart, hatchwise. Out of the 7 pieds, 2 were DF dominant pieds, 5 were SF dominant pieds. Here's a picture of the bubs:

 

 

 

Blossom is third from the right on the top row, Mystery is right below her. Out of the pairings there were 2 violets, 2 cobalts, and 5 skyblues.

 

Rainbow's flights were as white as white could be, there was no trace of any color on them anywhere. His tail was the same way. I can hunt down a picture of his backside if need be. As far as breeding Blossom, she will be 3 in February, and she is a little overweight so she will never be bred. I have no male birds now.

Edited January 22, 200718 yr by Rainbow

Blossom and her twin Mystery, were YF2 skyblue greywings. They were almost identical, but I could tell them apart by the patterning of the shell feathers on their wings, and by how far the grey went down the shaft of their tails. I guess they could be well-marked dilutes,

 

By looking at the body colour on Blossom, I would say that she isn't a well marked dilute. I don't see any dilution on the body colors. I would says that she's a full bodied greywing, which is what you first mentioned.. However I'm wondering if Rainbow was more of a badly marked greywings giving the dilute feel to his colors.

Yeah, Cheeta, I always thought Blossom and Mystery were greywing normals. I mean, you just don't get two identical dilutes like that in the same clutch. They were the only normals, and they are almost identical. It is weird the two normals would be greywings - that gene only showed up in the normal birds, not the pieds. But you know something, I flipped back and was looking at all the birds, and am now really wondering about Rainbow. I am positive he was dilute, his colors were so pastel he could be nothing but. Plus his wings, barring, and spots were such a light grey sometimes you had to look hard to see them. He had the clearflight gene, pied with the white flights and white tail. But then genetically some of his offspring don't make sense, do they? I wish I knew what his parents looked like. I have never heard of a greywing that had no grey in the flights at all.

 

More pics of his backside, LOL (forgive the bad lighting, please, these are really old):

 

Just when you thought you had it down, there is a flaw in the logic.....can any of the other geneticists (**grin**) on here help me figure this one out? Is there something in my first post that is not correct maybe?

Edited January 23, 200718 yr by Rainbow

I would think that greywings coupled together with the dom pied or the clearflight genes would give the clearflight feathers in the greywings. they are possible to occur together in the same bird. May be he doesn't look as grey on the wings due to the opaline gene, you know it's like the body colour from the opaline is 'masking' the grey. I think the pastely colour may have come from the 'normal' greywing genes (not the full bodied greywing). I don't know, that's the only sense I can of it all. may be someone else can figure it out!! (Laughing out loud)

Nyos, do you mean this one as the other greywing?

 

 

I believe he is dilute. His flights are all white, with the exception of one light grey one. It is much lighter than Blossom's though.

 

The closest I could come to a picture with Rainbow and Blossom in close proximity is this one. Blossom is in the cage on the perch (right), Rainbow is on the left.

 

 

 

There is a lot of difference in their coloring.

Here is photos of dilute, greywing and clearwing

 

Skyblue Spangle Greywing

 

Violet Spangle Dilute

 

Cobalt Spangle Clearwing

can we pin this topic, very interesting!

This topic is in the PINNED topic Members Budgies - Variety in the Mutation Section

 

Though I am not sure if I agree (Laughing out loud) the 2nd one looks like the clearwing because there are no marking on the head or wings. A dilute where there are still marking on the wings and the body is 80% washed out.

Edited May 17, 200717 yr by Elly