Any blue series bird (Dutch Blue, Seagreen, or Whiteface) that has 2 dark factors will produce a Slate/Gray bird, not just whitefaced birds. This is also why it's very important for breeders to keep accurate records so that other breeders no for the most part what they are getting. Slate birds are good for breeding in that if they are paired to a bird with no dark factors then 100% of all of their offspring will inherit 1 dark factor making the bird a Medium.
- No Dark Factors
- 1 Dark Factor (aka Medium, Cobalt(blue series), Jade(green series))
-2 Dark Factors (aka Dark, Double Dark, Olive(green series), Mauve(blue series))
This baby was also produced from the dad on the Whitefaced Violet Pied 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 Medium Double Violet. 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 in most cases you can't tell if the bird carries violet until you breed it to a bird that has no dark factors or only 1 dark factor.
Everything that's been said about the Whiteface Slate pertains to this bird also. The one difference now is that this bird also inherited the father's Pied genes. If this bird was paired w/ another Whiteface bird that has 0 or 1 dark factor, then they could produce Whiteface Medium Violet Pied babies
