A Baby Budgie to join our Older Budgie

As the Coordinator of this forum, I will start a discussion thread on Rio.

If you want to say something about this thread or compare it to another, please do so.

You can link to other threads as well.

Feel free to help or ask questions.

Thanks

I bred some budgies which looked just like Rio and took them to the bird show. I entered them as greywings; but the Budgerigar Society guest judge re-classified them as dilutes.

A dilute blue, violet-blue, grey, etc. is also called a "white".

Like white cobalt, white grey, etc. A green-series dilute is also called a 'yellow'. FWIW.

Since some poorly-colored greywings very closely resemble dilutes, the only way to 'really' know whether a bird is 'white' or greywing is to cross it with a clearwing and see what kind of babies it produces.

A clearwing budgie looks similar to a dilute except it has the darker body color of a normal and dark cheek patches.

If the bird is a dilute, the babies will be either just like the original bird or clearwing. If the bird is a greywing, there will probably be at least one offspring which is a 'full-body-colored' greywing. This will be a bird with dark purple cheek patches, really grey wings, and body color dark as a normal budgie of the same color.

This is because greywing is genetically dominant to clearwing, which is in turn genetically dominant to dilute.

The Australians have the best-colored clearwing budgies.

The full-body-colored greywing is a real looker. I have some and love the color. I will try to get a photo.

Sarah

You are a wealth of genetics knowledge, Sarah! I look forward to seeing pictures of your greywing.

Thanks so much.

I hope you can give us a photo - please put it in Rio's Bio - I want that thread to be as educational as possible.

I was told by an English breeder that he was a Dilute Greywing - I guess there are conflicting thoughts.

You saw his parents - so I guess you have a better handle on his genetics than the 1st opinion. I'll post his siblings photos - maybe that will give more insight.

Thanks again.

Hi, All,

Well, here, finally, is a photo of a full-body colored greywing cock from my aviary.

My nicest bird of this variety was a violet; but he, sadly, passed recently.

The bird in the photos is a golden-faced sky blue full-body-colored greywing. He is pictured alone and next to a normal grey.

He is a fast little devil; so sorry if the pictures are a bit blurred.

Anyway, one can notice his cheek flashes are dark, unlike a normal greywing or dilute; and his body color is like that of a normal golden-faced sky blue. I don't know how well it shows in the picture, but the tail feathers are a grey-blue.

This bird cannot be mistaken for a clearwing; the wings and tail are definitely grey, as can be seen.

I love this color mutation.

Sarah

So from what you are saying - after reading all this again - is if Rio's sire had been a grey-wing then at least 'one' of his offspring would have been a full bodied Grey-wing like your lad in the photo above. I know the Hen was a Pied [not a Clearwing Pied] & a Cinnamon. Would this work a bit like the Clearwing, to tell if there is a Dilute vs a Greywing gene at work?

So far the only types of offspring that pair has produced were either like Rio, even more dilute, & some normal & Pied cinnamons.

That reminds me - I should update his thread now he's 1 year old!


Thanks for the photos - your bird is really lovely. The yellow & Grey seems very unusual & quite stunning on the wings. Yes - I could tell the face markings were darker than Rio's. Rio has quite a dark blue on his face but his dots are pale grey. Rio's tail is dark to light Grey - almost like a Tiel's.

Sarah, your greywing is very striking! I've never seen a coloring like that.

(Bringing these threads up reminds me that I haven't done Winston's bio yet!! It's a good time for it though since he's been home for just over a year now )

Sarah
The color of that bird is stunning. I have never seen on quite like it. Beautiful.

Hi,

I just brought-up the full-body-colored greywing because I think the genetics of greywing, clearwing, and dilute are very interesting, especially since I breed my birds.

The three varieties are sometimes hard to tell apart.

What is interesting to me is the greywing is dominant to clearwing, which is, in turn, dominant to dilute.

But greywings are similar to cinnamons in that some have very clear coloration while others are much more pastel. Dilutes also can be very, very light in coloration or rather dark; so the fun begins.

Greywings, cinnamons, and dilutes alway have lighter-colored-than-normal cheek flashes. This means if one of these is standing next to a normal blue or green, the cheek patches will be about half as bright in coloration. Clearwings always have dark, normal-shade cheek patches.

The exception to the above is the full-body-colored greywing, which is a cross between clearwing and greywing. It has grey wings and tail of the greywing and the dark cheek patches of the clearwing, like my bird above.

I am taking census of my stock, now, because we are having to repair the aviary; and the birds are caged-up. It turns out I have three birds like the one in the photo.

I also found what I think is a nicely colored regular greywing for comparison (light cheek patches). I also found a couple unusually bright cinnamons. I have some dilutes and and some that defy categorization. I'll try tp photograph some of them before we release them back to the aviary.

It is hectic with the budgies all in cages.

Sarah

Sarah, have you noticed any behavioral characteristics of certain genetic traits? For example Jac and I joke that maybe the hyperness of Rio and Jerry has something to do with their opaline factor. And I've heard things like lutinos beings more high strung.