PIED LORIKEETS ARE RECESSIVE

PIED LORIKEETS ARE RECESSIVE

Pied Rainbow Lorikeets.

Anyone who understands genetics will understand that Pied Rainbow Lorikeets are Recessive in their mode of inheritance. This means there are Recessive Pieds and Split Recessive Pieds. Split Recessive Pied birds are unrecognisable from birds that are not split Recessive Pied. Any bird bred having a minimum of a Recessive Pied as one parent can be considered 100 Split Recessive Pied.

The Streaky Head mutation is a Dominant mutation that has no baring or influence on the inheritance of the Recessive Pied mutation. It can appear on any Rainbow Lorikeet mutation, split or normal. The Streaky Head being a Dominant mutation itself, means that it presents in a SF and DF form, ie, a little bit of streak to a lot of streak, which is all confined to the head of the bird. I believe that this mutation is infact, a Dominant Pied mutation, which explains it's tendency to hang around the Recessive Pied mutation in what's called a Dominant Pied trait. Please note that all SF and DF Dominant mutations can be visually identified with one exception being the Dominant Greygreen mutation. This means the Streaky Head Pied birds can also be identified within the Recessive Pied bird by visually identifying a few white flecks in the orange head of the Recessive Pied (SF Streaky) to having a lot of white flecks through the orange head of the Recessive Pied (DF Streaky). As an example, a Recessive Pied mutation with a few white flecks from the Streaky Head Pied mutation in its orange head would rightly be identified as a :
SF Dominant Streaky Head Pied Recessive Pied Rainbow Lorikeet. Mouthful I know.

These statements are reinforced when breeding outcrossed Recessive Pieds with some young showing Streaky Head Pied and some not, depending on whether the Streaky Head is a SF or DF in the Recessive Pied parent. You have probably seen this already in your own breeding.

If Pied Rainbow Lorikeets were in fact SF and DF as some people believe, and state on Petlink, ALL OFFSPRING bred from a DF Pied would be SF Pied. This is not the case as it does not happen in reality with some breeders stating that the normal looking babies will eventually show their SF markings at a later date. Genetically, that's hysterical.

So, If you purchase any Lorikeets labelled as SF or DF you are :

1. Buying something that does not exist, and
2. Wasting your time and money.

If you don't understand this yourself, ask someone who you trust that understands genetics to explain it to you in terms you will understand.

The reason I have posted this brief description of the genetics of the Pied Rainbow Lorikeet is because over the last couple of years I've been receiving plenty of calls from people unable to breed Recessive Pieds from Streaky Head Pied birds, especially in the Blue series.

Hope this helps.