Albino Cockatiel

So I think we're going to try and breed an Albino next year. It's a bit complicated because there is no single Albino gene in cockatiels. The bird equivalent to the animal Albino, is the Lutino cockatiel shown to the left. Lutino have a sex-linked gene that prohibits the creation of melanin in feathers. Thus creating a bird that lacks all black or grey coloring.

Unfortunatly, cockatiels have to types of coloring: melanin and lipochromes (which produce the yellow and orange coloring). So, in order to produce an Albino you must combine the two genes. This is where it gets a little interesting genetics wise because while Whitefaced cockatiels ( cockatiels that lack lipochromes or yellow coloring) are recessive, Lutino's are sex-linked.

Then there's another curve ball when trying to figure it all out. Where as in high school biology we were taught that XX was the female and XY was the male, it actually is opposite in birds and its the female who is XY and thus chooses the gender of the offspring.

So the goal is to get a cockatiel with both White face and Lutino genes.