Distinguising Dilute Blue

[rudolph.est]

Hi all,

I was wondering what the distinguishing characteristics are for dilute blues.

I saw a few dilutes for sale on the web, but the pictures look plain blue to me. Except maybe that the flights are lighter.

Anyone care to comment... As Becky said, the genetics forum needs some more posts

Regards,
Rudolph

[rudolph.est]

Sorry for the spelling error in the thread name (I'm mortified!)

[george simon]

Originally Posted by rudolph.est

Hi all,

I was wondering what the distinguishing characteristics are for dilute blues.

I saw a few dilutes for sale on the web, but the pictures look plain blue to me. Except maybe that the flights are lighter.

Regards,
Rudolph

Hi RUDOLPH, You have answered the question your self the flights are lighter. I currently have two dilute (blues) silver ITALIAN OWLS most people that do not know genetics would call blue checks GEORGE

[MaryOfExeter]

Yep, the best way to tell is by the flights. They are lighter and sometimes the dark neck feathers are lighter as well. And the overall body color may be a more light, silvery color, contrasting much more with the dark wing pattern. I've seen some dilutes that are really hard to tell, and others that were very easy to tell.

[jbangelfish]

Originally Posted by MaryOfExeter

Yep, the best way to tell is by the flights. They are lighter and sometimes the dark neck feathers are lighter as well. And the overall body color may be a more light, silvery color, contrasting much more with the dark wing pattern. I've seen some dilutes that are really hard to tell, and others that were very easy to tell.

Funny thing is, their bars, checks and tail bars stay quite dark, even flights can, especially with darkening genes. Side by side with a pure blue bar is sometimes the best way to recognize them as even with darkeners, they are slightly different, a shade or two lighter.

I always used to have trouble telling brown from silver, same reason mainly in that darkening genes can make them look very similar. I have some with dirty that I still go back and forth on, as to whether they are dilute blue or just brown, especially in higher patterns, checks etc.

Bill