Introduction
The Dilute, Greywing and Clearwing Mutations are all very closely linked and are all in the same group call “Dilute”. Originally there was only the Dilute mutation but some of these birds were selectively bred to create the Greywings and from them the Clearwings. Because of this they can all be bred together to create visual offspring. While all are recessive genes Clearwing and Greywing are dominant over Dilute meaning that if you Bred a Clearwing/Greywing to a Dilute all offspring would be Clearwing/Greywing rather than Dilute. Because these genes are recessive it means that it can be carried for several generations without being visual and then randomly pop out when a bird is paired to another split*.
A baby appears to be a Dilute(dil)
Dilute
The Dilute(dil) mutation should dilute the body colour and wing markings by around 10-80% so there can be lots of variation, this can make it hard to distinguish between them and the Greywings but hey should have silver cheek patches rather than navy blue.
A Dark Green Dilute
Greywing
Greywings(dil gw)have navy cheek spots and the tail feathers should be greyish blue colour. Body colour, barring and wing markings should be diluted by 50% the markings should not appear fuzzy like in some Dilutes and Clearwings but should be crisp.
Inthe case of Full Bodied Greywings the body colour should match that of a Clearwing counterpart but the markings should be like that of a Greywings.
A Full Bodied Greywing
Clearwing
Ideally Clearwings(dil cw) should have the black barring and wing markings diluted by 100%, but unfortunately due to improper breeding when the birds were originally imported from Australia, it is now very rare to be able to find a high quality bird in Europe. Fortunately with careful pairing and breeding this can be fixed in as little as three generations! They should also have bright blue cheek patches. Another thing to keep in mind is that Clearwings should have bright body colours diluted by no more than 10%.
A Light Green Clearwing(Front Right)
A Clearwing (Left) A Dilute (Right)
How these genes interact
The Clearwing and Greywing gene are dominant over dilute meaning that if you paired a Clearwing or Greywing to a Dilute you would get all Clearwings/Greywings but they would be split to dilute.
A Clearwing who is split to dilute
However when a Clearwing is paired to a Greywing something different happens. The bird inherits the darker wing markings of the Greywing and the brighter colours of the Clearwing. They are known as Full Bodied Greywings (FBG).
A Full Bodied Greywing (this bird is also opaline this causes the blue and green on the wings)
Breeding Outcomes
Index
Split* = carrying one copy of the gene
dil cw* = Clearwing
dil* = Dilute
dil gw* = Greywing
dil cw/dil* = Clearwing split to Dilute
dil gw/dil = Greywing split to Dilute
dil cw/dil gw (FBG)* = Full Bodied Greywing
Normal/dil cw* = Normal split to Clearwing
Normal/dil* = Normal split to Dilute
Normal/dil gw* = Normal split to Greywing
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