I have a rainbow cock and a hen what color budgies do each need to be paired with to get more rainbows? Besides eachother tried that none of the eggs hatched
If they are true rainbows you would do best pairing them with blue opaline dilutes or opaline clearwings. An opaline greywing would be a decent back-up plan. Normal clearwings, greywings and dilutes would work as well but you wouldn't get true rainbows that generation, you could then pair the offspring of the two separate lines back together to get more rainbows.
You need to post some photos of them taken at daylight.
If we can't identify the mutations of the ones you have we won't be able to give you proper advices.
In general a "proper" standard of a Rainbow is a "Goldenface Opaline Clearwing" and if possible to have some Violet factor.
The best Rainbows are the ones that come from 2 Goldenface parents because they produce Double Factor Goldenface which display the yellow only on the head and on the end of the wings.
Please note everyone and in different countries, have their own standards for the label "Rainbow". It is just a word to describe a blue budgie that has yellow head and does not display black colour at all.
Where I live, yellowface II seems to be the preferred type to rainbows (from what I've seen). I think maybe because a single factor goldenface could very likely turn the bird green which would ruin the effect. I think df goldenface would look fantastic though!
Where I live, yellowface II seems to be the preferred type to rainbows (from what I've seen). I think maybe because a single factor goldenface could very likely turn the bird green which would ruin the effect. I think df goldenface would look fantastic though!
Personally i prefer the Goldenface as they produce brighter yellow on the head and Double Factor Yellowface is not that nice as the Double factor Goldenface.
The main issue is not to allow Yellowface type 2 and Goldenface to breed. The reason is because they might be SPLIT to BLUE (no yellow head) so they will produce non-yellowface babies, Yellowface(sf) and Goldenface(sf).
I had a Yellowface type 2 (Split to blue) and a Goldenface (Split to Blue) and i got half the babies without a yellow head
That cock would work well, you'll get some rainbows out of those 2. Do you have an opaline normal hen? That would be better than nothing because then you'll at least get GF opaline chicks that are both male and female, split for clearwing which you can go on to pair up with the chicks of the first pair.
That cock would work well, you'll get some rainbows out of those 2. Do you have an opaline normal hen? That would be better than nothing because then you'll at least get GF opaline chicks that are both male and female, split for clearwing which you can go on to pair up with the chicks of the first pair.
This sounds like a good idea. Use the GF hen with the Clearwing male.
Maybe later on breed the hen with another male and later on you can use the the halfbrothers and halfsisters.
I would not use a normal Opaline hen. It would take too long to produce Clearwing grandchildren from SPLIT genes. What you need to do is find a GF Dilute hen or GF Clearwing hen to breed that male with, that will or will not have the Opaline gene.