Lovebird Pairing Outcomes: Every Aqua & Blue Cross

This is a verified reference of lovebird pairing outcomes for the Aqua and Blue (Parblue) series in Agapornis fischeri. Every result below was generated by the Lovebird Genetics Calculator engine, not estimated. Each pairing links straight into the calculator so you can adjust it for your own birds. For the Aqua mutation explained in full, see the Aqua breeder guide and the aqua mutation in lovebirds guide.

Why these are trustworthy

Aqua, Blue 1 and Blue 2 are alleles at the same blue locus, recessive to wild-type Green and co-dominant among themselves. Two visual blue-series parents carry no green allele, so they can never produce a pure Normal chick, a common mistake in older charts. The percentages here come directly from the calculator engine.

Every pairing in breeder syntax, cock × hen

Breeders write a pairing as cock × hen. What a pairing produces depends on the inheritance type of the mutation, not on the mutation name. Sex-linked mutations give different results depending on which parent carries them. Autosomal mutations do not.

Sex-linked recessive: Opaline cock × normal hen, and the reverse

Sex-linked mutations sit on the Z chromosome. A cock has two Z chromosomes so he can be split, a hen has only one Z so she can never be split. She either shows the mutation or does not carry it. This is why the direction of the pairing changes everything, and why these pairings can auto-sex the chicks.

Pairing (cock × hen)	Sons	Daughters
Visual cock × normal hen	100% split	100% visual
Normal cock × visual hen	100% split	100% normal
Split cock × normal hen	50% split, 50% normal	50% visual, 50% normal
Split cock × visual hen	50% visual, 50% split	50% visual, 50% normal
Visual cock × visual hen	100% visual	100% visual

Applies to Opaline, Cinnamon, Pallid and Pale. A visual cock paired to a normal hen is the classic auto-sexing pairing: every visual chick is a hen, every normal-looking chick is a split cock. Pallid carries a caveat: it is confirmed in Agapornis roseicollis, its status in Agapornis fischeri is not formally confirmed, so birds labelled Pallid fischeri should be treated as unverified until a pairing proves the mode. See the Pallid guide for the detail.

Autosomal recessive: Pale Fallow cock × Pale Fallow hen, and the split combinations

Autosomal mutations sit on ordinary chromosomes, so cocks and hens inherit them identically. Swapping the sexes in the pairing changes nothing.

Pairing (cock × hen)	All chicks, both sexes
Visual cock × visual hen	100% visual
Visual cock × normal hen	100% split, no visuals
Split cock × split hen	25% visual, 50% split, 25% pure normal
Visual cock × split hen	50% visual, 50% split
Split cock × normal hen	50% split, 50% pure normal, no visuals

Applies to Yellow Face, Lutino and Albino, Dark Eyed Clear, Pastel, Dilute, Pale Fallow, Dun Fallow, Bronze Fallow and Recessive Pied. Splits and pure normals look identical, so pedigree records matter.

Aqua, Blue and Parblue are a special case. They are alleles at the same blue locus and Aqua B1 and Aqua B2 are co-dominant compounds rather than plain recessives, so a visual to visual pairing can still throw a different visual form. Their compound-specific tables are set out in full further down this page.

Safety

Bronze Fallow cock × Bronze Fallow hen gives roughly 100 percent chick mortality. Bronze Fallow must be bred through split carriers, never visual to visual.

Autosomal dominant: single factor and double factor pairings

Dominant mutations have no split form. One copy already shows as single factor (SF) and two copies make the bird double factor (DF). Where the mutation is an incomplete dominant, such as Euwing and Misty, the DF bird also looks visibly stronger than the SF bird. Where it is a plain dominant, such as Dominant Pied and Slaty, SF and DF are not reliably separable by eye and the pairing arithmetic below is what identifies a DF bird.

Pairing (cock × hen)	All chicks, both sexes
SF cock × normal hen	50% SF, 50% normal
SF cock × SF hen	25% DF, 50% SF, 25% normal
DF cock × normal hen	100% SF
DF cock × SF hen	50% DF, 50% SF
DF cock × DF hen	100% DF

Euwing, Misty, Dominant Pied and Slaty follow this pattern and are modelled in the calculator. Violet and Dark Factor follow exactly the same rules but are not yet modelled in the calculator, so their SF or DF dose has to be tracked on paper.

Sex-linked dominant: Greywing

Greywing in Fischer's lovebirds is sex-linked incomplete dominant per Ornitho-Genetics VZW, so it combines both rules: one copy shows, and the direction of the pairing still matters.

Pairing (cock × hen)	Sons	Daughters
Normal cock × Greywing hen	100% SF Greywing	100% normal
SF Greywing cock × normal hen	50% SF, 50% normal	50% Greywing, 50% normal
DF Greywing cock × normal hen	100% SF	100% Greywing

Which rule applies to which mutation

Mutation	Inheritance	Full cock × hen breakdown
Opaline	Sex-linked recessive	Opaline guide
Cinnamon	Sex-linked recessive	Cinnamon guide
Pallid	Sex-linked recessive, confirmed in A. roseicollis, not formally confirmed in A. fischeri	Pallid guide
Pale	Sex-linked recessive	Pale guide
Greywing	Sex-linked dominant	Greywing guide
Aqua	Blue-locus allele. Aqua Homo (aqua / aqua) behaves autosomal recessive; Aqua B1 (aqua // bl1) and Aqua B2 (aqua // bl2) are co-dominant compounds	Aqua guide
Yellow Face	Autosomal recessive	Yellow Face guide
Lutino and Albino	Autosomal recessive	Lutino and Albino guide
Dark Eyed Clear	Autosomal recessive	Dark Eyed Clear guide
Pastel	Autosomal recessive	Pastel guide
Dilute	Autosomal recessive	Dilute guide
Pale Fallow	Autosomal recessive	Pale Fallow guide
Dun Fallow	Autosomal recessive	Dun Fallow guide
Bronze Fallow	Autosomal recessive	Bronze Fallow guide
Blue	Blue-locus allele. bl1 / bl1 and bl2 / bl2 breed true and behave autosomal recessive to wild-type	Blue guide
Parblue	Blue-locus compound (bl1 // bl2). Both alleles express, so Parblue cannot breed true	Parblue guide
Recessive Pied	Autosomal recessive	Recessive Pied guide
Euwing	Autosomal dominant, incomplete	Euwing guide
Misty	Autosomal dominant, incomplete	Misty guide
Dominant Pied	Autosomal dominant	Dominant Pied guide
Slaty	Autosomal dominant	Slaty guide
Violet	Autosomal dominant, incomplete	Violet guide
Dark Factor	Autosomal dominant, incomplete	Dark Factor guide

Enter any of the modelled mutations above in the free lovebird genetics calculator to get the exact offspring percentages for your own birds, including splits and sex-specific results. Violet and Dark Factor are the two exceptions and are tracked on paper.

Aqua series pairings

What does Aqua B1 x Aqua B1 produce?

Aqua B1 x Aqua B1 produces 25% Aqua Homo, 50% Aqua B1, 25% Blue 1. Verified on the lovebirdgenetics.com calculator engine.

1.0 Aqua B10.1 Aqua B1
Offspring	Chance	Note
Aqua Homo	25%
Aqua B1	50%
Blue 1	25%

Lovebird Pairing Outcomes:Every Aqua and Blue Cross

Every pairing in breeder syntax, cock × hen

Sex-linked recessive: Opaline cock × normal hen, and the reverse

Autosomal recessive: Pale Fallow cock × Pale Fallow hen, and the split combinations

Autosomal dominant: single factor and double factor pairings

Sex-linked dominant: Greywing

Which rule applies to which mutation

Aqua series pairings

What does Aqua B1 x Aqua B1 produce?

What does Aqua B2 x Aqua B2 produce?

What does Aqua B1 x Aqua B2 produce?

What does Aqua Homo x Aqua B1 produce?

What does Aqua Homo x Aqua B2 produce?

What does Aqua Homo x Aqua Homo produce?

What does Aqua Homo x Green (Normal) produce?

What does Aqua B1 x Green (Normal) produce?

What does Aqua B1 x Blue 1 produce?

What does Aqua B2 x Blue 1 produce?

What does Aqua B2 x Parblue (B1B2) produce?

What does Normal / Aqua (split) x Normal / Aqua (split) produce?

Blue and Parblue series pairings

What does Blue 1 x Blue 2 produce?

What does Parblue (B1B2) x Parblue (B1B2) produce?

What does Blue 1 x Green (Normal) produce?

Run your own pairing

Frequently asked questions

Related guides

Lovebird Pairing Outcomes:
Every Aqua and Blue Cross