Mutation and sex

[charlierio]

So my budgie had 1 baby and I’m wondering what the mutation and sex are of parents and baby.
I’ve been told mom is normal (green) and dad is opaline (blue)
Baby is said to be opaline female but personally I’m thinking male.

babys back


babys cere


moms back


dad

[yellowfacedviolet]

Whoever said the chick is a hen is correct. No need to study cere color here. It would be impossible to have an opaline male from this mating, and your chick is opaline.

Opaline inheritance is sex-linked. Opaline male x normal female (your pair) can produce normal males and opaline hens only. The normal males would be split to opaline, that is, they appear normal but will carry and can pass on the opaline gene.

[charlierio]

Thanks for the quick reply

[Hezz]

I'm no expert on genetics but agree with what you were told - opaline male and chick, normal green hen.

yellowfacedviolet's explanation is clear and concise. I tend to forget that the opaline gene is sex-linked, maybe this will help it stick in my head.

[Marianne Marlow]

I'll never get the hang of budgie genetics!

So, if you had an opaline hen and normal male and any chicks were opaline, what sex would they be? or does that not apply?

So confusing - or I'm dumb!!

Jul 20, 2020 3:33:07 GMT yellowfacedviolet said:

Whoever said the chick is a hen is correct. No need to study cere color here. It would be impossible to have an opaline male from this mating, and your chick is opaline.

Opaline inheritance is sex-linked. Opaline male x normal female (your pair) can produce normal males and opaline hens only. The normal males would be split to opaline, that is, they appear normal but will carry and can pass on the opaline gene.

[yellowfacedviolet]

Jul 20, 2020 21:16:59 GMT Marianne Marlow said:

So, if you had an opaline hen and normal male and any chicks were opaline, what sex would they be? or does that not apply?

So confusing - or I'm dumb!!

It *is* confusing and you are certainly not dumb.

Normal male x opaline hen produces normal/split opaline males and normal hens. So to answer your question--there would be no visual opalines in the clutch from that pairing.

Now, if that normal male was split to opaline (and you wouldn't know that 'til you bred him) and mated to that same opaline hen you could then get the whole gamut: opaline males, normal/split opaline males, opaline hens and normal hens.

Hens cannot be split to opaline. They're either visual opalines or not. So for  two different matings, the one that started this thread and also a normal/split opaline male bred to a normal hen, the opalines in the clutch will all be girls.

This pattern is identical for all the sex-linked mutations--cinnamon, ino, texas clearbody and some rarely seen mutations, i.e. slate etc.

[Marianne Marlow]

yellowfacedviolet Thank you for the explanation