Line Breeding with Dominant Pieds

Hector Segui and Norman Schofield

The SAS1 partnership started in Dominant Pieds with a pied line in which some of the cocks produced had spots missing, but with hens that were nearly always fully spotted

There are some Pieds on which the only visual sign of their variety is the patch on the back of the head. These birds when paired, can still produce a well-marked pied so do not necessarily discard them

When one is building a stud, line breeding is important. We always try to follow one of the following options:

• Year 1: Pair best Dominant Pied cock to the best suitable normal hen in the stud.
• Year 2: Pair best hen from above pairing back to the sire.
• Year 3: Pair third generation hens back to original sire.

By doing this the youngsters produced will have an increasing dose of the original sire.

• Year 1: Pair best Dominant Pied cock to two good quality normal hens.
• Year 2: Pair half-brothers and sisters from the two pairings together.
• Year 3: Pair third generation hens back to original sire.

This again produces youngsters with an increasing dose of the original sire. We have experienced some very good results using this method We also try to breed each of our best cocks with two hens in each season. This again produces half brothers and sisters, doubling up on the original bloodline.

We cannot say that outcrossing does not produce good birds, this does happen now and again, but further pairings with outcrosses have not improved on this form of pairing and can prevent improvement in your stud.

During the years we have been specialising in breeding Dominant Pieds we have experienced highs and lows and from these experiences we have reached the following conclusions.

Lack of Spots

To avoid this fault, we are very selective in our pairings, and although it is tempting to breed from a fair sized pied, if such a bird comes out of a line with an inherent fault of permanent spots missing or no spots at all, it is not advisable to use such a bird in establishing a Dominant Pied line, as the fault will manifest itself throughout your Pied stud.

Being of a dominant inheritance, it is quite easy to breed the Dominant Pieds by simply pairing one to a non-pied mate. It is always best to pair Dominant Pieds to first class normals so as to improve the general quality of the birds and maintain the colouring (if opalines are used markings sometimes suffer). When two Dominant Pieds are paired together there is always a strong tendency for the birds produced to have only very small dark areas which is not desirable and we have experienced instances where these matings in later generations produce Dominant Pieds that showed the Recessive Pied colour pattern, i.e., broken cheek patches and incomplete sets of spots together with colour failings. It is therefore, essential in producing good-coloured Dominant Pieds to use Normal × Dominant Pied matings.

By keeping records of our pairings and the breeding results, we have also come to the conclusion that when pairing a non-pied hen which has been bred from a pied nest to a pied cock, we produce 75% of Pieds instead of the 50% expectation.

If you persist in your efforts to breed a good-sized, well-spotted and well-marked Pied as per the Budgerigar Society Colour Standards, 1994 you will find that your hard work is much appreciated by other fanciers.

Below is given the BS Standard for the Dominant Pied Light Green.

Mask

Buttercup yellow, ornamented by up to six evenly spaced large round black throat spots, the two outer spots to be partially covered by the cheek patches. The buttercup yellow of the mask extending over the frontal and crown, to merge with the black undulations at the back of the head. The frontal and crown should be clear and free from all markings.

Cheek Patches

Violet

General Body Colour

Rump, breast, flanks and underparts; bright grass green of a solid and and even shade throughout but broken with no more than a maximum of 50% of total body colour area by irregular patches of buttercup yellow or with a clear buttercup yellow band around its middle, just above the thighs.

Markings on cheeks, back of head, neck and wings

Black with a well-defined yellow edge but having irregular patches of clear buttercup yellow or with part of the leading edge of the wing up to the shoulder clear buttercup yellow on an otherwise normally marked wing. Wing markings may be grizzled in appearance, all markings should be free from any intrusion of body colour.

Primary Wing Flights

Buttercup yellow but odd dark feathers are not faults.

Primary Tail Feathers

Clear buttercup yellow, dark blue or a mixture of both.

Cere

Blue, fleshy-pink or a mixture of both in cocks, brown in hens.

Feet and Legs

Blue/grey mottled, fleshy-pink or a mixture of both.

Eyes

Black with a white iris.

Original text Copyright © 1997,Hector Segui and Norman Schofield

The Albino

Tom Ormerod

The characteristic which causes a budgerigar to appear as an albino is also that which produces the lutino, the difference being that the lutino is the Ino form of the green series bird whilst the albino is that of the blue series. It is a sex-linked characteristic and reproduces in the same manner as that for the opaline, cinnamon, lacewing and slate.

Only one bird which carries the Ino factor is needed to start a family, but the fancier who wishes to introduce albinos into the stud by bringing in only a couple of birds, would be advised to use two albino cocks (preferably brothers or very closely-related birds) rather than a cock and hen pair. The two cocks can then be paired to grey hens, either normal or opaline and this means that all of the young hens produced will be visual albinos whilst all the young cocks will be carriers of the ino factor (called splits).

A young hen bred from each albino cock can then be paired to the other albino cock the following year, giving two pairs to produce all albino youngsters. Also, using a split cock from one pairing to another albino hen from the other can give a further two pairs which can produce both albino cocks and hens. If the original two cocks were brothers then this is now giving uncle to niece matings and also those of first cousins -two good relationship pairings.

The family of albinos should be reasonably well established after the second year, if only in terms of numbers and their relationship to each other. Provided that the original birds were of good colour then this should have been maintained; but from now on great care should be taken about the amount of grey (visual) birds which are introduced into the family. Overuse of grey will lead to a dirty, flat, white body-colour which may have a grey suffusion and which can show wing and other markings. These markings will appear greyish brown and can sometimes be mistaken for those of a lacewing, although the long tail feathers of the lacewing, even faintly marked ones, will always show a brownish quill whereas the mis-coloured albino will not.

As the colour of the albino is of prime consideration, this should always be the main factor when any pairings are made. Any bird to be used (whether albino or normal) if bred from a grey parent, should be paired to an albino bred from a pair of visual albinos. This does help to maintain a good body colour. The introduction of flecked-headed non-albinos into the family should also be done sparingly and with great care, as this can also show itself -albeit very faintly -even though wing markings may not be present.

Birds which have a blue suffusion to tend to be penalised by most judges far more severely than those showing a grey overlay. They do however, have a place in the breeding programme. The majority of blue-suffused birds tend to have little or no wing marking and so can be useful in reducing the amount of visible grey factor. Whilst I have mentioned the grey as the outcross for the albino, by far the best to use is the dilute grey which is known as the white grey. This dilute factor is also one which reduces the amount of melanin pigment visually present in a bird, thereby lessening the degree of suffusion and/or wing marking. Anyone wishing to form a family of albinos could do well to also establish a small family line of slightly related dilute greys of good quality for use as outcrosses.

N.B: The cocks from the last-mentioned pairing can only be proved to be split for the albino factor by test mating to albino hens.

Original text Copyright © 1996, Tom Ormerod.

The Dominant Pieds

Tom Ormerod

One of the most popular types of Budgerigar among the so-called specialist varieties is the Dominant Pied. Why then have I deliberately titled this article in the plural. You may be forgiven for believing there is only one type of Dominant Pied. Everything within the Budgerigar hobby seems designed to foster this impression. The BS Colour Standard 1994 gives one interpretation only, of the variety.

The Dominant Pied has been popular ever since the introduction of the Australian "banded" Pied into the UK in 1958. It is not necessary to have many of this variety of bird within a stud as, due to the nature of its inheritance, no split birds can be produced from any mating, so closer control can be kept on the numbers of Pieds produced. The Pied parent can be either the cock or the hen and, theoretically, half of the youngsters produced will be Pied. Therefore a Dominant Pied could be a useful addition to a stud of, say, normals without introducing any hidden factors. They are either Pieds or do not carry the factor. Dominant Pieds are regularly in the line-up at major shows sometimes taking leading awards including Best in Show. The normals which are bred from the same pairings are of the same standard as the Pieds - or can be - and apart from the touch of colour, extra interest is brought into the breeding season waiting to see how the Pieds develop as regards their markings.

Original Pieds were Dutch

Prior to 1958 the Dominant Pied in the UK was the Dutch, but it always seemed to be difficult to actually improve the Pieds produced, especially in size, although for some unknown reason this did not apply to the same degree with the non-Pieds. When the Australian "banded" Pied arrived it was quickly realized that this factor was capable of being improved by selective breeding. Not surprisingly, this advantage led to increased Australian Pieds, to the detriment of the earlier Dutch form. So much so, that the numbers of Dutch Pieds declined to the point that it is doubtful if any true examples exist in the UK today.

One additional form of Pied that was around at the time was the Continental Clearflight. More of the Clearflight later, as this type still exists. The Dutch Pied had the head spot or patch and, immediateiy below the mask, had a small clear area of yellow or white similar to Recessive Pieds. The rest of the body had variegated patches of clear colour on a normal body ground colour. The wings were approximately 50% dark, 50% ground colour (white or yellow). The dark markings were usually polka-dotted or grizzled. Flight feathers were a mixture of clear and dark, and the long tail feathers could be the same. An attractive and colourful Budgerigar, it is a pity if the Dutch Pied truly has gone.

Australian "Banded" Pied

The original "banded" Pieds which were introduced and bred from had, as the name implies, a band of clear colour across the body. This was roughly a half to three-quarters of an inch wide in the upper stomach region. These bands were never really always level and straight-Iined, and after a few years' breeding them, the band factor was found not to be true-breeding. The first Pied I obtained in 1961 had only a band on the right-hand side of its body. Bands could be broken or narrower or wider at various points of the body. Birds with virtually no clear area on the body could produce youngsters with almost perfect band and the reverse was also true.

Pieds did have, and I believe should still have, normal body colour above and below the clear area. With the increasing popularity of the variety some fanciers began pairing Pied to Pied. This increased the number of Pieds bred, but was also found to increase the clear area on both the body and wings. The original wings had all clear flights and secondaries with a narrow, clear leading edge from the secondaries to the wing butt. Most of today's Pieds tend to have more clear area on the wings although I, personally, have not seen variegated patches of clear colour as described in the present Budgerigar Society standard. Odd dark flight feathers or one or both long tail feathers being dark was, as now, permissible but should be penalised.

Missing Spots

One unfortunate aspect which occurred at the same time as the increase in the clear body area was that "blanking out" started to encroach on the mask area. This had the effect of visibly removing one or more spots. Whilst the full complement of spots should be present some judges do tend to penalise a missing spot, much more than others, as if it was something which does not occur naturally. The Pieds with missing spots can, and do, breed young with a full set of spots. The only birds that I have found not to do so are those with silver feathers in the cheek patch area. There is always an exception and no doubt someone will let me know!

The Clearflight

This bird had all the flights, both tail feathers, and the head spot or patch all white or yellow. There were no clear areas on the body or wings. On occasion there could be a slight "bleeding" of the mask colour just into the extreme upper breast giving a blurred effect. Dark flights or tail feathers are definite faults to be penalised. How then does one tell the difference between a badly-marked Clearflight and a Dominant Pied? Possibly the main way is by the colour of the cere. In the Clearflight the cock's cere is the blue of a normal, non-Pied, bird. The Dominant Pied cere will be a bluish- and/or a fleshy-pink. Not a hard and fast guide and certainly no guide to identifying any doubtful hens! The only differences between the Continental and Australian Clearflights was the lack of a head spot on the former, which also had long dark tail feathers though sometimes these could

Why Only One Dominant Pied Standard?

The present BS standard for the Dominant Pied is one which, in my opinion, contains aspects of more of than one variety of the Dominant Pied. It tries to cover all the possibilities which could conceivably confront a judge. When the Colour Standards committee was revising all the standards, the Variegated Budgerigar Club submitted proposed standards for all the Pied varieties: the Australian Banded, the Australian Dominant, the Dutch Dominant, Australian Clearflight and Continental Clearflight, as well as the Recessive (Danish) Pied and the Dark Eyed Clear. Surely if there can be three standards for the Crested Budgerigar, there is merit in acknowledging that more than one Dominant Pied exists. The Australian National Budgerigar Council does differentiate between the banded and variegated Dominant Pieds. They stress that within the banded form there should be unbroken normal body-colour above and below the clear areas. One other point made by the VBC regarding the Dominant Pied colour standard was that five points be deducted from mask and spot and added to those for wing markings, to emphasise the importance of correct wing markings. The present scale of points establishes no difference between Normal varieties and Pieds with regard

The Lutino

Ian Fordham

If you visit most of the Championship shows in the UK you will notice that some of the largest entries are in the classes for Lutinos. This ensures that any newcomer to the variety will have plenty of competition if he or she chooses to exhibit.

According to the Budgerigar Society Colour Standard:

• The mask, general bodycolour, frontal, crown and wings should be a rich buttercup yellow throughout, and all areas to be clear and free from all markings.
• Primary wing flights and primary tail feathers - to be yellowish white.
• Cheek patches - silvery white
• Cere a fleshy pink in cocks and brown in hens.
• Feet and legs to be fleshy pink.
• Eye to be red with white iris.

Judges are instructed to penalise the following faults:

• Pale violet colour in cheek patches
• Cinnamon brown spots or markings on back, wings or tail.
• Green suffusion throughout

    ¹N.B. No spots should be visible on lutinos.

The usual attraction to the Lutino is the deep buttercup yellow colour but, believe me, this is very difficult to achieve when combined with the physical attributes required in todays' exhibition budgerigar.

My definition of a Lutino is that it is the Albino form of any Green Series budgerigar. One can therefore, have a Lutino Light Green, Dark Green or Olive Green; Light, Medium or Dark Grey Green; Light Yellow, Dark Yellow, Olive Yellow.

The appearance of the Lutino will be yellow (devoid of all the grey of grey green body colour, black wing markings etc.) The depth of yellow will depend on the shade of colour the bird is masking i.e., a Lutino masking Light Green will not have such a deep colour as one masking Dark Green. It should also be noted that a Lutino masking Grey Green will not have such a bright colour as a bird masking a colour which does not have a Grey factor. Like all Albino creatures the bird will have red eyes.

>From the above, one can see that to produce birds with the desired bright buttercup yellow, we should be aiming to produce birds masking colours that carry at least one Dark factor i.e., Dark Green or Dark Yellow. Two Dark factors would be even better i.e., Olive Green or Olive Yellow.

I would suggest that in all Lutino pairings, at least one partner should be of good colour and I would not use a pale Lutino if I had a better good coloured bird. If one pairs two pale coloured birds together then pale youngsters will be the result.

It should also be noted that today's Lutinos are a sex -linked variety so one would obtain the following results when paired to Normals:

    N.B: In this chart the word "Normal" means non-Lutino.

If you have read the above and still wish to continue, I would suggest the Beginner starts off by visiting a number of larger shows and spends a time studying the birds in the Lutino classes, trying to fix in his mind the type bird that is winning. Also, make a note of the breeders who are winning or always seem to have a number of birds near the top of the classes, particularly with breeder birds. Note who is winning the best of colour awards.

Having done this, maybe visit one or two of the exhibitors who seem to have the type of bird you are looking for and then try to buy one or two pairs from either or both breeders. I feel, if funds allow, that it is better to buy more than one pair from each breeder as it will give more chance of success when it comes to breeding with them. If both pairs breed it will offer some pairing options the following season. I am a great believer in breeding families of birds together, using related birds in most of my pairings i.e., half-brother × half-sister, cousin × cousin, nephew × aunt etc.

If possible, try to buy the best birds you can with the money available, but bear in mind that it is unlikely that you will be able to purchase the complete bird. Buy therefore, birds that complement each other e.g., don't buy all good-coloured but small birds. Make sure you have a good balance between size and colour but pay particular attention to head quality, depth of mask etc.

In the early days I would use all Lutino × Lutino pairings as this produces less waste and I would continue to do that until I was unable to purchase Lutino outcrosses of the quality I required.

Having had a successful first breeding season (we hope!) I would then assess the youngsters produced, bearing in mind that Lutinos can be very slow developers. I would then select the best pairings for the next year but still keep the families together. If I felt a particular feature was missing across most of the offspring the I would go back to the original source to purchase another bird from the same family - but it would have to excel in the missing feature.

By continuing to follow these principles one should, after a few years, have developed a stud of birds displaying family likenesses which will give you a good basis for the future.

Original text Copyright © 1997, Ian Fordham.