The ALUMINA.

A new mutation.

Taken from an Article - Zebra Times, April 1997.

This new mutation was first found by Steve McMillan in a Pet shop. At first he thought it was a pale Chestnut Flanked Cock but then realised that the head, back and wings area were an even Silver colour, that the underbelly was White and it had a Grey Barred tail. To him it appeared to be a Silver version of a Cream Backed.

Taking it home he paired it to a Grey hen from his line of Greys. This pair produced a number of Grey cocks and hens.

He then paired the New colour cock to a grey hen from the previous rounds. They produced a Grey cock, Grey Pied cock, Grey Pied hen and a NEW COLOUR Pied cock.

At this point the original bird died. With two mature Grey hens he carried on; First pair produced Grey Pied cocks and hens over two rounds; second pair produced, Grey cocks and hens, Grey Pied cock and New Colour cocks but also a New Colour hen ( the hen was the same colour as the cock but White from beak through to vent).

By this time some more Greys from the original mating had matured and pairing the Greys he produced two New Colour cocks and a New Colour hen thereby proving they had Recessive and Autosomal breeding characteristics and that he now had a New mutation.

Taken from an Article - Zebra Times, June 2000.

The only New Mutation pair produced by Steve MacMillan was passed to Clive Clarke to carry on breeding and to see what he could produce. Steve at this time was unable to immediately carry on with his experiments although he kept some split pairs for his future use. Clives breeding results confirmed earlier findings that the New Mutation was of a Recessive nature and Sex Linkage was ruled out. It appeared to be a stand alone mutation and for convenience was named … ALUMINA.

The original birds received proved to be incompatible so were split up and cross mated to pure Greys. Numerous pairings were made with Pure Greys and a number of Alumina birds have subsequently been bred. They have generally proved to be of an even colour with the exception of two hens being nearly white. Again some Pieds have been bred. This branch of the family is known, so can be traced. A Fawn hen was produced from a Grey cock received as an outcross to improve type. As a result some cock birds are also split for Fawn. As a complete breeding record has been kept these birds can be selected out to maintain purity of the Alumina.

Further Information

There are now approximately 28 Aluminas and Clive is distributing stock to members of the Society selected to breed on and to put checks in place to ensure the true breeding qualities of this bird are established. Once this has been done the "Alumina" will be placed onto the Federation of Zebra Finch Societies agenda, as an Interim Standard.

Another worthwhile SEQZFS mutation to be considered.

A stud of Alumina's have now been bred, and a description is as follows;

Eyes Dark,

Beak Red,

Head, Neck and Wings Light Silver,

Feet and Legs Orange

Tear Drop Silver,

Throat and Upper Breast Light Silver with Silver Lines,

Breast Bar Silver,

Cheek Lobes Pale Orange,

Flankings Pinkish Fawn with White Spots,

Tail Coverts Silver with White Bars,

Rump White,

Underparts White from Bar to Tail,

Face Area White

The ALUMINA cock.