I’ve recently acquired some new Bengalese finches and among
them are some crested and some Pearls.
This made me curious to know a little more about the genetics of the
Bengalese and what pairings might produce what type of young. Of course, this
is not a hard and fast rule because you don’t know what is in the background of
a bird – a friend recently bred two fawn and whites and they produced a fawn and white but with a crest when neither
of the parents were.
There are lots of great sources of information out there and
this is just a snapshot of some of the facts I have put together. Long term, my aim is to breed a Greyino that
is done using a black grey and a cremino – everyone’s got to have ambitions
right?
Chocolate Bengalese
My first breeding pair of Bengies were a chocolate and white
and a fawn and white. They produced two
chicks, both chocolate and white males.
I know understand though that my two boys may appear to be chocolates
but will actually be split for fawn, so therefore the fawn could resurface
later in the line. A table of chocolate
pairings would look a little like this:
|
Cock
|
Hen
|
Offspring
|
|
Chocolate
|
Chocolate
|
100% Chocolate
|
|
Chocolate
|
Chestnut
|
100% Chocolate Split Chestnut
|
|
Chocolate
|
Fawn
|
100% Chocolate Split Fawn
|
So this bottom line are my two boys from the first breeding
pair. Now I have mated one of the
chocolates and whites to a red grey hen.
They produced two chicks, one chocolate and white male bird and one
chestnut female! Now if my understanding
is correct, these birds are now split for grey and the fawn from their
grandmother may still surface. Time will
tell.
Chestnut Bengalese
Chestnut Bengalese are the lighter brown colour between
chocolate and fawn. When breeding with a
chocolate bird, the chicks will be visually chocolate but split for chestnut,
while when breeding with fawn, they will be chestnut split for fawn. So in a way, chestnut is the second strongest
of the Bengalese common colours.
Fawn Bengalese
 |
| My original dilute fawn and white hen |
The fawn Bengalese is also sometimes known as the cinnamon
and is common in a dilute colour that is a more delicate shade again. When breeding with chestnut or chocolate, the
birds will normally favour the darker colours but will be split for fawn so
this colour may come out again in their chicks depending on matches.
Pearl Bengalese
 |
| Pearl Bengalese |
The Pearl Bengalese is a newer colour mutation and is said
to have two background colours: chocolate pearls or chestnut pearls. The breeding of a normal bird as above and a
pearl are shown below:
|
Cock
|
Hen
|
Chicks
|
|
Normal
|
Pearl
|
Split cocks / normal hens
|
|
Pearl
|
Normal
|
Split cocks / pearl hens
|
|
Split
|
Pearl
|
Pearl & Split cocks / pearl & normal hens
|
|
Pearl
|
Pearl
|
Pearl
|
The results are due to the pearl gene being a recessive
sex-linked mutation. What this means is
that the male birds carry the pearl gene while females can be pearl or normal
but cannot be a split pear bird.
Grey Bengalese
 |
| Chocolate on the left, Black Grey on the right |
Grey Bengalese come in three main colour types: Black Grey,
Chestnut Grey and Red Grey. This is
another recessive mutation so when they are paired to a normal bird, all
offspring will be split for the grey colour.
For example:
|
Cock
|
Hen
|
Chicks
|
|
Grey
|
Grey
|
Grey
|
|
Normal
|
Grey
|
100% Split Grey
|
|
Normal
|
Split Grey
|
Split Grey
|
|
Chocolate
|
Black Grey
|
Chocolate Split Black Grey
|
|
Fawn
|
Red Grey
|
Fawn Split Red Grey
|
Light Bengalese
There are two types of white Bengalese: black eyes whites
and albinos that have pink eyes. There
are also two other ‘inos’ the Cremino and the Greyino. The Cremino is the coloration that is known
as a cinnamon ino in other types of birds and results from the brown melanin in
the feathers being almost erased and is a sex-linked colouration. The Greyino is bred from the combination of a
Cremino and a grey factor bird such as a Black Grey.
|
Cock
|
Hen
|
Chicks
|
|
White
|
White
|
White
|
|
White
|
Chocolate & White
|
100% chocolate split white
|
|
Chocolate & white split white
|
Chocolate & White split white
|
25% white
50% chocolate & white split white
25% chocolate & white
|
|
White
|
Chocolate & White split white
|
50% chocolate & white split white
50% white
|
|
Normal
|
Cremino
|
Split cock / normal hen
|
|
Cremino
|
Normal
|
Split cock / cremino hen
|
|
Cremino
|
Split
|
Cremino & split cocks / cremino hens / normal hens
|
|
Cremino
|
Cremino
|
Cremino
|
|
Normal
|
Albino
|
100% split albino
|
|
Cremino
|
Black Grey
|
Cremino hens split Grey / Chocolate Cocks split grey & Ino
|
|
Black Grey
|
Cremino
|
Chocolate cocks split grey & ino / Chocolate hens split grey
|
|
Black Grey
|
Cremino split grey
|
Black Grey cocks split Ino
|
|
Chocolate split grey & ino
|
Black Grey
|
Greyino hens
|
|
Black grey split ino
|
Black Grey
|
Greyino hens
|
|
Black grey split ino
|
Greyino
|
Greyino cocks & hens
|
What are Clearwing Bengalese?
The clearwing mutation arrived in the UK from the Continent
and seems to have originated from Holland Belgium. The variation from Belgium has lacing on the
underside of the belly while the one from Holland has an almost white belly.
Clearwings are available in chestnut, fawn and grey with
varying shades in these colours from very dark right down to dilutes. The ideal clearwing should have a normal head
colour as well as chin, throat, upper breast, rump and tail. The wings and mantel should be either white
or as light as possible.
This information is based on information from the National Bengalese Fanciers Association and other sources. See their website at: http://www.nbfa.co.uk/index.htm
