So Jacky and I were having a conversation via text regarding silver pied and white eyes. I moved the conversation hear as it is easier to record for posterity.
Jacky's question is does dark silver pied males have white eyes? The answer is yes.
The second question is what is the difference between white eye (We/We) and silver pied white eye (Wesp/Wesp). The answer is that one will produce silver pied birds and one will not. Other wise there is little difference visually.
I also had someone asking some general silver pied questions and where that specific mutation resided. The simple answer is that I don't know for absolute sure and apparently no one else does for sure either. If they do they aren't talking. I do have an opinion. Lets review what we know:
There are four possibilities for the location of the silver pied mutation:
1. The white gene.
2. The pied gene.
3. The white eye gene.
4. Or a totally separate location that either mimics one of the above or replaces it as an allele.
The first three possibilities make much more sense than number four.
So lets start with a pair of silver pied birds. If we breed them together we get white birds, silver pied birds and dark silver pied birds in the standard 25%, 50%. 25% ratio.
By experience I know that if I breed the silver pied birds back to each other they breed true and produce the same ratio.
By experience if I breed a silver pied child to a dark pied child I get dark silver pied and silver pied chicks. What does this tell us? It means the silver pied mutation must be on the pied or white eye genes if we assume number 4 above is not at play. It cannot exist on the white gene or the dark silver pied parent would not have produced silver pied chicks right? Sounds good so far.
By experience if we breed the white birds from a silver pied pairing to a silver pied sibling we get more white birds and silver pied birds. This tells us that the silver pied mutation must be on the white or white eye gene if we assume number 4 is not in play. But we already decided it cannot be on the white gene so that eliminates the pied gene and the white gene as the location of the mutation.
This leaves only the white eye gene or number 4 above as the possible culprits right?
Based upon this information my opinion is that the silver pied mutation is a mutation to the white eye genes. Unfortunately, it might not be this easy as there are reports of silver pieds being created from birds that don't necessarily originate from silver pied pairings. More experiments are needed and we just all have to provide our experience as we gain it.
