Lovebird Mutations

[Boegie]

Oct 29, 2015, 11:09 AM

I am concentrating on breeding lovebirds at the moment and find mutations very complicated to understand. I am sure it's the same for many other birdkeepers.

I want to compile a sticky and call it Lovebird Mutations for Dummies. Can you help me with this?

[Boegie]

Lets first look at the body structure:

The tarsometatarsus is a bone that is only found in the lower leg of birds and certain non-avian dinosaurs. (Course: Wikipedia)

[Boegie]

Terminology we need to understand when it comes to mutations. I have done a brief summary. Now we need to explain these terms in lay man's terms.
 
MEANS OF INHERITANCE (Dominant and Recessive)
DOMINANT - If we breed bird A with bird B and all the chicks look like bird A, then A is dominant over B.
There are 4 DOMINANT GRADES:
Co-dominance
Incomplete dominance
Semi-dominant
Dominant

RECESSIVE - have the inheritance from both parents.
MODES OF INHERITANCE IN LOVEBIRDS
Two main groups of inheritance:
AUTOSOMAL
SEX-LINKED

In lovebirds we get:
AUTOSOMAL RECESSIVE
AUTOSOMAL DOMINANT
SEX-LINKED RECESSIVE

This is not at all complete. We still need to talk about Single Factor, Double Factor, etc.

[Boegie]

SEX LINKED - Females can only be visual, they cannot be split to it. Males can be visual or split to it.
With this group of inheritance, it is an easy way to sex babies. So, there is no need to do any form of surgical or DNA sexing.
 
RECESSIVE - means both parents have to have this gene to get any visuals. The parent either needs to be visual or split. With these genes, both females and males can be split to it.

DOMINANT - means they cannot be split to the mutation either they have it or they don't.