# Comparing silver and dirty silver



## Print Tippler (May 18, 2011)

Alright, i was looking at my birds, then i started to notice two were dirty. Then i looked at others and it seems most of mine are dirty! Its really hard to capture on camera, i may be wrong and two may just be in there juvenile tone? the real difference can be seen in the tails, lighter grey and tail band is lighter.

im not 100% sure on any of this, i think i need to look more into it, tell me what you think.


to start i will post picks of a intense non dirty.

on the right









flights









tail









dirty silver velvet


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## Print Tippler (May 18, 2011)

Tail is much darker *quail is also dark*










flights









another dirty 









another dirty


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## MaryOfExeter (Sep 30, 2007)

The first bird is dilute, not intense 
Do dilutes naturally have lighter beaks? They aren't as dark as I would have expected on a dirty bird.
I do agree the silver velvet definitely looks dirty by the dark feathers. Sooty also darkens the feathers but not as severely and the skin is not effected.


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## Print Tippler (May 18, 2011)

ill have to look, yeah i misspoke i meant non dirty not intense


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## Print Tippler (May 18, 2011)

yeah, i just noticed all the dirtys have darker beaks, no completely black but mostly

the two silver bars which i expect are not dirty have a more flesh tone but have a darker tip. Also none of them are smokey.

im really not sure if on this all, maybe they just start of lighter? these two have darker beaks now. I guess i would have to breed them to find out. Ill probably be breeding a velvet to a check grizzle or bar.


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## rudolph.est (May 14, 2009)

Yes dilutes do have naturally lighter beaks. More of a dark horn color than black. Dirty will mostly darken the tip of a light beak (the front 3/4, while the base is still lighter), but once mature that would be difficult to see. Dirty hatchlings are often differentiable due to the darker face, even in dilutes.


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## Print Tippler (May 18, 2011)

well yeah, they have the dark horn colored for 3/4. While i think the silver bars only have horn on the very tip. But i dont know, those two young birds above had lighter beaks than they do now. Ill have to see toenails later. I've been trap training 40 birds for more than 3 weeks and i finally kicked them out for the second time and left them outside last night and they will have to figure it out today hopefully


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## rudolph.est (May 14, 2009)

;-) Trap training is always a mission. I always say that youngsters who don't learn to come in at night within a week, aren't worth the effort. The trick is to start as early as possible.

Beak color can be affected with age and exposure to sunlight. Your two silvers may well have had beaks that were very light in the nest, but as soon as they fledged and got a little sun, their beaks could have started darkening naturally.


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## Print Tippler (May 18, 2011)

Well, it went good, like I said I just left them out the night before and I got all but 4 in which I caught 3 young, 2 of which were just a little over a month. Now I'm just going to keep the trap open and leave them be. Both my silver bars flew off all day, one came back and I had a kite of about 8 in the air and right when they dropped like 15 to 30 seconds later the other silver bar was flying around landing on a pole about 150 yards away. Didn't get him, hopefully tomorrow. 43 out of 44. 9 of which are my "vets". 

As for getting darker, the silver bar looked a lot darker today in the flights when it showed up. Will have to take a picture to compare, it might just be the velvets that are dirty. Those are are so much a deeper color. All the rest are probably normal.

EDIT: bird is back


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