Genetics by species

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Genetics in Mis Plumas adapts to each group of birds. Not every species uses the same fields or the same rules: some work with lipochrome and melanin, others with zone-based mutations, sex-linked carriers or single-factor and double-factor traits.

This page summarises what you can record and calculate depending on the species.

Canaries

In colour canaries you can record:

  • lipochrome;
  • category;
  • melanin series;
  • visible mutations;
  • traits such as red eyes, crest, pied or white wings when relevant;
  • compatible carriers.

The calculator takes recessive, dominant, co-dominant and sex-linked mutations into account. It can also warn about pairings that are not recommended or risky, such as intense × intense, dominant white × dominant white, crest × crest or known complex combinations.

Cockatiels

Cockatiels use their own catalogue. You can record several visible mutations and carriers when they make genetic sense.

Examples:

  • Whiteface, Yellowcheek, Fallow, Emerald and Pied can be treated as autosomal recessive.
  • Pearl, Cinnamon and Ino follow sex-linked rules.
  • Edged, Cream Face and Pastelface are treated as co-dominant.
  • Lutino and Albino (whiteface + lutino) are interpreted as visual combinations: Lutino is Ino without Whiteface, and the albino is Ino + Whiteface.

The catalogue distinguishes Ashen Fallow and Bronze Fallow and lets you record them separately. Fallow (unspecified) keeps incomplete records without assigning them to either one; correct the record when you know which it is.

The interface, help and mutation names from the genetics catalogues appear in the selected language. Stable identifiers are kept internally, so changing language does not alter saved genetics; search also recognises Spanish names and common synonyms.

Gouldian finch

The Gouldian finch is recorded by zones:

  • Head;
  • Breast;
  • Back.

In each zone you can choose the visible phenotype and, when applicable, compatible carriers. The profile, lists and calculator show the real phenotypes by zone so a complex Gouldian is not reduced to Classic.

The calculator crosses the zones separately and shows results for head, breast and back.

Spinus and Carduelis

All siskins in the catalogue —the Eurasian siskin included— except the red, hooded and black siskins have their own profile, Siskins. In them Brown and Pastel are not sex-linked: a female can carry either of the two, and a bird showing both is Brown pastel. The profile also includes:

  • Topaz;
  • Rubino;
  • Phaeo;
  • Aminet;
  • Dilute S.F. and Dilute D.F.;
  • Jaspe and Ivory;
  • Italian yellow, dominant;
  • Sílice, dominant: the bird either shows it or doesn't have it, so it is not recorded as carried.

The siskins you already had move to this profile on their own: the Brown series becomes the Brown mutation, Pastel (ex Agate) becomes Pastel and Pastel-Brown (ex Isabel) becomes Brown and Pastel, also if you had them recorded as carried. If you use Mis Plumas on another device, update it to 6.4.4: earlier versions don't know this Brown or this Pastel and would remove them when the bird is edited.

The red, hooded and black siskins keep the Spinus genus profile: there Brown is a series and Pastel (ex Agate) and Pastel-Brown (ex Isabel) are sex-linked, so only a male can be a carrier. Their other mutations are those of the other siskins, with Sílice dominant too.

For Carduelis and other compatible wild species, the app keeps species-specific profiles and naming so canary rules are not mixed with wild-bird rules.

Spinus psaltria can be recorded as the nominate form psaltria or as the subspecies jouyi, colombianus and hesperophilus. The picker also understands common names such as “Mexican”, “hesperophila” or “columbia”. Crossing them keeps F1/R1 tracking and blood percentage, while offspring are considered fertile because they are subspecies of the same species.

Zebra finch

The Zebra finch and its exhibition form, the Show zebra finch, share their own profile. The usual grey, the wild type, is the Ancestral series, and each mutation is marked separately:

  • sex-linked: Brown, Lightback and Chestnut-flanked white (CFW);
  • dominant: Pastel (Dominant silver), Black-faced and Crested;
  • recessive: Penguin, Black-breasted, Orange-breasted, Black-cheeked, White, Pied, Recessive silver, Isabel and Yellow beak.

The zebra finch Phaeo is not a mutation of its own: it is the combination of Isabel and Black-breasted, and the calculator crosses each one separately. A "pastel brown" is marked as Pastel (Dominant silver) and Brown. The zebra finch and the show zebra finch are the same species: they can be crossed in the calculator and their offspring do not count as hybrids.

Agapornis

The Agapornis catalogue separates:

  • roseicollis;
  • eye-ring species;
  • taranta;
  • rare or historical cases.

It includes base mutations and factors such as Aqua, Blue, Turquoise, Blue1Blue2, Ino, Opaline, Violet, Grey, Edged, Marbled, Quartz, Fallow, Pied, Ewing, Slaty, Mottle, Crested, Lemon, Onyx, Rubino and other documented factors.

For roseicollis and the eye-ring species, Pied is listed as a mutation of its own, alongside Dominant pied and Recessive pied. A blue pied is recorded by selecting Blue and Pied.

For roseicollis, the record and calculator represent the Aqua/Turquoise alleles, the sex-linked Ino/Pallid locus and the dark factor as 0, S.F. or D.F. in a structured way. The interface filters incompatible selections so impossible genotypes cannot be recorded.

Other psittacines

The catalogue also includes closed profiles for Budgerigar and Monk Parakeet (Quaker). In these species the app works with dominant, autosomal recessive, sex-linked and single/double-factor traits where applicable.

Carriers follow the rules of each profile: for example, a male can carry sex-linked recessive mutations, while a female is not marked as a carrier of those same mutations. This lets you record birds and simulate crosses without mixing their rules with canary genetics.

Estrildid finches

Several estrildid finches have closed profiles with ready-to-use options:

  • Tricolored Parrotfinch (Forbes's);
  • Blue-faced Parrotfinch (Kittlitz's, the “tricolour” of Spanish breeders);
  • Red-throated Parrotfinch;
  • Pin-tailed Parrotfinch;
  • Painted Finch.

These profiles make it easier to record common mutations without building them manually.

Society finch

The Society finch (Bengalese finch) has its own genetic profile, with the species' usual mutations:

  • Mocha, Red, Pastel, Pale wing, Grey and Albino, inherited as autosomal recessive and also recordable as carriers.
  • Ino (Cream), sex-linked recessive, with different rules for males and females.
  • White, which exists in two forms: one dominant and one recessive.

You can also indicate whether the bird has a crest. As with canaries, the app warns about the risk of crest × crest pairings.

The calculator also supports the Society finch: it crosses the mutations of both parents and shows the probable offspring with their mutations and carriers.

Carriers

The Carrier of block only shows compatible options:

  • in autosomal recessive mutations, males and females can be carriers;
  • in sex-linked recessive mutations, the app limits carriers to the sex that can carry them;
  • dominant, co-dominant or already visible mutations are not offered as hidden carriers.

If you change species, sex or visible mutations, the app removes incompatible carriers to keep the record coherent.

Possible carriers

If you have a suspicion, select the mutation and turn on Possible in its row of the general Carrier of selector. It stays separate from the confirmed carriers. To confirm it later, turn Possible off.

The calculator does not include suspicions in its probabilities and warns you about the possible carriers it has left out. The Gouldian finch by-zone editor also offers Possible on each carrier. For roseicollis, the genotype editor offers it under each locus when you choose a carrier: that locus stays “Green (+/+)” in the saved genotype and the allele moves to the possible carriers (details in Possible carriers).

A hybrid's catalogue

When the cross is defined, the record combines the genetics catalogues of its two parent species. That way you can record mutations from either of them without changing the bird to a pure species. If an option is missing, first check the species in the lineage and then use the mutation proposal in the form.

Calculator

The genetic calculator uses the information recorded in the parents when available: sex, species, visible mutations, factors and carriers. It also lets you simulate manual crosses without creating the birds first.

For useful results:

  • check that sex, species and visible mutations are correct;
  • record carriers only when you know them;
  • use the family tree and inbreeding check before deciding a pairing;
  • treat percentages as probabilities, not as a guarantee for every clutch.

In species with independent factors, the calculator can combine several results into a composite summary. In Gouldian finches it works by zones; in cockatiels and wild species it lets you review visible mutations and carriers; and in Spinus/Red Siskin it recognises variants such as Topaz or Dilute when they are recorded in the bird profile.

Names in your language

Since version 5.6.0, the names of mutations, series, lipochromes, categories and species appear in the app's language. With the app in Portuguese, “Rojo (bruno)” reads “Vermelho (castanho)”; in German, “Ágata” is “Achat”.

Switching language does not alter your records. What is stored for each bird is not the name but an internal identifier for the mutation. You can move between languages as often as you like: no mutation is lost and no data changes. Only the text you see changes.

Search with the name you use

Every mutation and species knows its synonyms, and the search takes them all into account. It does not matter what you call it:

  • “vermelho castanho”, “rojo bruno” and “red brown” all lead to the same mutation;
  • “colorín” and “cardelino” find the goldfinch;
  • the scientific name works too: type “Carduelis” or “Myiopsitta” and the species appears.

You do not need to type accents either: searching “cabeca” finds “Cabeça”, and “weisskopf” finds “Weißkopf”.

What is not translated, and why

Much of the breeder terminology is international and reads the same in every language. In parrots, terms such as Pastel, Ino, Opal, Misty, Fallow, Edged or Spangle are the federations' standard: they are deliberately left untranslated, because inventing a translation would confuse more than it helps.

Scientific names and the Latin epithets in hybrids are not translated either: “Híbrido Jilguero ♂ carduelis × ♀ balcanica” becomes “Hybrid Goldfinch ♂ carduelis × ♀ balcanica”, keeping carduelis and balcanica.

And translating is not always word-for-word. “Nevado” is Frosted in English and Schimmel in Dutch and German, because that is the term the federations in those countries use.

If a name is not the one you use

In the genetics panel, whenever the app is set to a language other than Spanish, you will see “Is this not the name you use in your language?”. From there you can propose the right term: it reaches us precisely identified, so we know exactly which one to fix.

The translations are pending confirmation by native-speaking breeders in each language. Your suggestion is the fastest way to get them right.