Breeding Alexandrine Mutations: Blue & Grey
In order to achieve a visual blue or grey, both parents must carry the blue gene as blue is a recessive mutation. Breeding a blue/grey is therefore more complicated than breeding a lutino. I don't have first hand experience of doing this but from my knowledge of genetics and extending what I have discussed in my article on the lutino, I would suggest the following. STEP 1 Start with 2 pairs, all birds should be unrelated. Pair One: Normal Alexandrine cock X Blue IRN hen Pair Two: Normal Alexandrine cock X Grey IRN hen Pair one will give you offsprings all of which are split to Blue. The good news is that you can use both males and females from here in step two. Pair two will also give you offsprings all of which are split to blue. If your grey IRN was single factor grey then half of the offsprings will appear grey-green. If the Grey IRN was double factor grey all the offsprings will be grey green. You should use a grey-green from this pairing in Step 2.