Picture 1 -- Whiteface Slate Baby --> This baby was also produced from the dad on the Whiteface Violet Page. One of the reasons I find lovebirds so intriguing is due to the infinite combination of genetics that they seem to be able to offer to their young. This baby is a Whiteface Slate Violet. Looking at the picture though, there is no way you can tell that this bird carries the violet gene. Here is how I know. 1) The mother bird is a Whiteface double violet factor. Every baby bird that she throws will carry at least 1 single factor violet and then if they're lucky, they may inherit dad's single factor violet and then be double violet. 2) What I've noticed is that when Slate babies are still very young and not fully feathered, you can see the violet on there wings, then when the grey feathers come in, the violet is masked. The rump will also be grey in slate birds even if they are violet. Sometimes you might be able to see a violet cast to the underside of the wings, but normally there is no way to tell if the bird carries violet until you breed it to a bird that
has no dark factors or only 1 dark factor.
*** Any blue series bird (Dutch Blue, Seagreen, or Whiteface) that has 2 dark factors will produce a Slate/Gray bird, not just whiteface birds. This is also why it's very important for breeders to keep accurate records so that other breeders no for the most important what they are getting.
