Bird colour & mutation calculator
Pick the species, then the male and female colours, and see the expected chicks: males and females apart, and which ones carry a hidden colour (split).
Expected result
How it works
Every colour (mutation) is inherited one of four ways: recessive (both parents must pass it on for it to show), dominant (one copy is enough), incomplete dominant (single and double factor look different) and sex-linked. In birds the male has two copies of the sex chromosome (ZZ) and the female one (ZW), so a hen is never split for a sex-linked colour: she either shows it or does not have it.
Examples
- Opaline budgie cock × normal hen: all hens opaline, all cocks normal split opaline.
- Two birds split blue: 25% blue, 50% split, 25% normal.
- Crested × crested canary: 25% die in the egg, so crests are paired with plainheads.
Percentages are theoretical over many chicks; one clutch can differ. Linked genes (such as brown and agate in canaries) are treated as independent.
Let Zajel work it out from your nests
In the Zajel app every pair is recorded with its colours, and Zajel shows the expected colours of each nest and builds the chicks' pedigrees by itself.