Genetics of Bengalese Finch Breeding

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