Budgerigars The Color Revolution

Budgerigars, affectionately known as Budgies, are the world’ s most popular pet bird, and the third most popular pet overall after dogs and cats. They are kept as pets in countless homes in the vast majority of countries, but they are also bred in magnificent colors for exhibiting and there is very keen competition at shows. Budgies are arguably the most rewarding, affordable, competitive pet animal around. Books on budgies are usually not the sort of book that make a ‘ great read’ , but huge effort has been made to make this Budgie book a joy to curl up with. Budgies are a cheap and easy pet to keep or to breed. Recent years have seen spectacular new colors developed; from Pinkish Lavender to Teal Blue, Ultraviolet, Red Violet and unbelievable Pastel colors, often combined with white or yellow wings. The book is lavishly illustrated with many photos of the amazing colors and varieties of Budgies as well. New advances in genetic science, as outlined in straightforward terms in this book, will make breeding these jewels much easier for everyone. Because the heredity of Budgies is now so well understood, breeding them is a great entry point for those who wish to understand .

xxxx

Introduction 8 Budgerigars: the Color Revolution 8 Part 1: The Essentials SECTION 1 Budgerigar varieties 13 Clearbodies 13 Darkwings: the world’ s first Clearbodies 13 Easley Clearbodies 17 Texas Clearbodies 18 Crested Budgerigars 19 Crested Budgerigars – a new whorled view 19 Hagoromos 26 Dilutes, Clearwings and Greywings 29 Black Eyed Whites and Black Eyed Yellows 29 Clearwings are the Rubik’ s Cube of genetics 34 Dilutes 47 Greywings 50 Fallows 54 Australian and German Fallows – why it’ s almost impossible to improve them 54 Dun or English Fallows, plus the other Fallow varieties worldwide 58 Pieds 61 Australian Banded Dominant Pieds 61 Dutch (a.k.a. Continental Clearflighted and Frosted) Pieds 64 Recessive Pieds and Dark Eyed Clears 67 Rainbow Budgerigars 69 Rainbow Budgerigars 69 The AHBA Rainbow Budgerigar Standard 80 Yellow Faced Blue (Parblue) Group 85 Australian Golden Faced Blues 85 English Yellow Faced Blues 88 Golden Tops 89 White Caps 93 Other varieties 99 Albinos and Lutinos 99 Black Budgerigars 100 Chimeras: two Budgies in one body 106 Cinnamonwings 110 Lacewings 111 Opalines 112 Pastels: a new breakthrough 115 Saddlebacks 117 Spangles 118 Strange Budgies 121 SECTION 2 Budgerigar colors 124 Amethysts 124 Anthracites 131 Basic color variations in Budgies 132 The mysterious Red Violet 136 Ultraviolet colors in Budgies 139 SECTION 3 Fundamentals of genetics and breeding 146 Are new mutations common? 146 Breeding to the Standard 148 Breeding without genetics 154 Forget genetics, breeding can be easy 159 Gene modifiers put simply 163 Heredity of feathers in Budgerigars 165 Improving Exhibition features in Budgies 169 Inbreeding Budgies – do you dare? 175 Long flight and tail feathers 178 Multiple alleles – a simple guide 179 Pairing up 180 Prepotency 183 Sex linkage and how it works 185 The curse of mops or feather dusters 188 The world’ s rarest Budgerigar 194 What to do with a new mutation 196 SECTION 4 Budgerigars in India 198 Budgerigars in India 198 SECTION 5 Budgerigar management 203 A new approach to disease control 203 Aviaries and breeding cages 210 Budgie management 213 Feeding Budgies 231 Budgies and water 236 Removing Budgerigar rings 237 SECTION 6 Types of Budgerigars 239 Bush Budgies 239 Pet Budgies 245 Heritage Budgerigars 247 SECTION 7 Budgerigar behavior 257 How to communicate with birds 262 SECTION 8 Photographing Budgerigars 270 Part 2: The Masterclass SECTION 9 Dilutes, Clearwings and Greywings 275 The Origin of Clearwings 275 Clearwings – how to modernise them 278 Yellows, Whites, Dilutes, Greywings and Clearwings 282 SECTION 10 – THE MASTERCLASS Creating the Modern Budgerigar 290 Breeding winners 290 Creating the Modern UK Budgerigar 297 Directional feather 302 True Crested Budgies 314 SECTION 11 – THE MASTERCLASS Advanced variety information 318 Golden Budgies 318 Heredity of patterns in Australian Dominant Pieds 321 Opaline – magnificently variable 328 SECTION 12 – THE MASTERCLASS Advanced genetics 337 Genetic archaeology of Budgerigars 337 Gene linkage – huh? 340 Gene modifiers: the key to breeding winners 346 Mistakes and myths 346 More useless genetics 355 Index 365