Opaline 101

There are a lot of confusion among new lovebird breeders and hobbyist. First and foremost, Opaline lovebirds are the newest peachface mutation. And therefore, they are from the peachface family. It's the same as lutino peachface or the violet whiteface when they mutated from the original peachface. What that means is that the opaline can be breed with any peachface family and produce fertile babies. If you have not read about the history of the opaline yet, please do so.

There are plenty of information out there explaining abou the opaline and how to breed them. I will try to show you the basic about how to breed them. 

First of all, since the opaline is just another peachface mutation, we need to find out how they act in terms of genetic. Opaline is a sex-linked genes. If you read about the sex-linked #1 and sex-linked #2, you will understand on how they work. In the opaline section, I will explore them in a different ways.

First of all you need to remember the dominate chart on color mutation.

Green red-headed opaline (GRHO)

Green orange-headed opaline(GOHO)

Lutino red-headed opaline, Cinnamon red-headed opaline (LRO)

Lutino orange-headed opailne, Cinnamon orange-headed opaline(LOO)

Seagreen white-hooded opaline(SWO)

Single factor seagreen white-hooded opaline(SFSWO)

Single factor violet white-hooded opaline(SFVW)

Double factor violet white-hooded opaline, Blue olive double factor white-hooded Opaline.(DFVWO)

Creamino white-hooded opaline, Cinnamon white-hooded opaline(CWO)

I do not include the pieds, because pieds are dominate genes. Which are the same as the normal peachface family pieds. I will explore them some more in the mutiple genetic breeding section. But these are the basic dominate hierarchy chart. If you understand it, it will help you to become a more efficiency lovebird breeder.

This section is of course to explore the basic understanding on how to breed the opaline properly. There are charts that you can follow. However, I have still have many emails about how the charts work. There are also genetic calculator on how to predict what offspring you will get by pairing them certain ways. As I have, it's very confusing to most breeders. If you don't understand the genetics on how they work, using the calculator helps just a bit. This section, I will use examples to show how opaline works.

You can read up on the opaline breeding chart.

First example. 

GRHO X GRHO = GRHO ONLY, Any other color mutation produce beside GRHO means that the parents are split to something. Therefore, breeding GRHO with any opaline will only produce GRHO only. However, since the Opaline is a sex-linked gene, it gets more complicated. However, if you undertand the sex-linked #1 and sex-linked #2, you will be just find. 

Sex-linked gene example 1,

GRHO x Normal GPF = Any GRHO are all females and any GPF will be males split to opaline. If you remember, in the sex-linked gene, only the males can carry the sex-linked gene and the female cannot. We can explore by breeding the offspring.

GPF split to O x GPF = Any GRHO will be females and the GPF can be males or females. However, the males offspring no longer carry the opaline gene. This is the same when we breed for normal cinnamons and normal lutinos as I have explained previously.

GPF x GRHO = All offspring are normal GPF. However, the males will be split to opaline. You cannot tell visually, and therefore, the babies should all be DNA. However, since it's a sex-linked gene, the females are just normal females and is not split to opaline.

GPF split to O x GPF = All opalines can be males or females. And the normal GPF can also be males or females. However, just like the about example, the males is also split to opaline again and not the normal GPF females.

The top examples are about as basic as it can get. There are only so many examples you can use to illustrate. Now, we can do some basic splits for opalines. Which I will explore some more in the Opaline 102 and the multiple genetic section. How each person breed the opalines normally depends on what they have available and what they are trying to breed for.

In this section, I will use examples on how to breed for orange headed opaline as well as blue series opaline without having any blue series opaline and orange-headed opaline without having any orange-headed opaline. Basically, we are going back when these birds doesn't exist yet. So, we are trying to react how a breeder can achieve that good. Again, if you understand the dominate chart, it will definitely be easier for you. As a reminder, please have several pairs set this way. There are plenty of opalines out there already and therefore, you do not need to breed offspring from the same parents.

How to get Orange-Headed opaline. The easiest way is if you have male GRHO.

GRHO X GOF = All GRHO are females split to orange-headed. All GPF will be males split to GOHO.

You can use the offspring in several ways. It's all depends on what you want to produce.

2nd generation pairing

GPF split to GOHO X GOF = From this pair, you can produce GRHO females split to OH and GOHO females. No male opaline can be produce from this pairing. Also, you will produce GPF split to OF male or female. Also, you can produce GOF. However, none of the GPF or GOF will be split to opaline from this pairing.

GPF split to GOHO X GOHO = From this pair you can produce GRHO males or females split to GOHO. You can also be able to produce GOHO males and females. You will also be able to produce GPF males or females split to OF. However, if the offspring are males, it will also be split to GOHO as well. You will also be able to produce GOF males or females. Also, all the males will be split to GOHO. 

If you want to produce the seagreen opaline, the pairing is just like the above examples.

GRHO X DUTCH BLUES = All opaline babies are females (GRHO). The GPF will be males split to blues or seagreen opaline. Just like the above. How you want to pair them normally depends on what you want to produce

GPF split blue opaline x dutch blues = You will only be to produce GRHO females and Seagreen Opaline females. All GPF and dutch blues can be male or females but do not carry the opaline gene.

GPF split blue opaline x GRHO split blue = From this pairing, you can produce GRHO males or females split to blue. You will also be able to produce seagreen opaline males or females. You will also be able to produce GPF split blue. However, if males, they will be split blue opaline again. You can also produce dutch blues males or females. Also, if males, it will be split to opaline.

These are some of the ways you can produce opalines by using the peachface families to get other color mutations. In the opaline 102, I will go more deeper on how to produce different mutations. This is just the basic opaline sections and therefore should be understood before you can go any further on breeding for opaline mutations. Please just keep reading if you do not understand them. The more you read, the more you will realize that it's not that complicated. Also, the more you read, you will realize about what options you really have. What you can do with what you have and also if you need to get more birds or not. However, the more birds you have, the easier it will be.

These are just several ways you can achieve breeding for these normal color opaline mutation. However, these color mutation are already available everywhere. Therefore, there is no reason for you to waste 2 or 3 years trying to produce something that already exist. Especially when the prices on them as dropped dramatically in the last couple of years. It's better to just buy them unless you just want to do your own experiment. In other sections, I will explain on how to produce more different kinds of opaline using the peachface.