Genetics

Appreciation and Progression of the Ideal Budgerigar

Eric Peake

I will try to take an artistic view of this delightful grass-parakeet we call the budgerigar. In the last ten years, it has progressed beyond all forms of imagination to the magnificent large bird we know today. Parallel to the positive progression have been some factors such as an increase in disease and an earlier mortality.

Ideal has Moved with the Times

Since the early 1930s, when serious budgerigar exhibiting began, the ideal has changed many times. Prior to 1980, many exhibition budgerigars were either caught on camera or viewed by the exhibitor. The late R A Vowles, a top bird artist of the 1970s, could see the birds of the future. Many of his excellent black-and-white drawings graced the pages of Cage and Aviary Birds. This weekly publication allowed readers to see Vowles depict many views of the exhibition budgerigar. Through his eyes, fanciers could see the progression being made with the exhibition Budgerigar.

As far as the show bench is concerned, one man progressed the budgerigar more than any other. The late Harry Bryan, like Vowles, could see beyond the budgerigar of the day to the budgerigar of the future. His numerous successes are testimony to that. He became mentor to other fanciers.

Pictorial Ideal

The Budgerigar Society, in order to give guidance to exhibitors, issued a pictorial idea, which was used until the late 1970s. During the late 1970s however, the ideal was being overtaken by birds with superior head-quality. Consequently, a request was made to update the standard. In 1980/81, I had the pleasure of painting a new standard for the exhibition budgerigar, which is still in use today. By illustrating a side and three-quarter view, the exhibitor is given a more accurate standard to measure by.

A simple exercise we can all carry out, is to compare one's birds with the Ideal. Cut out the Ideal image as printed by the BS and place it in a show cage. Compare the Ideal with the bird in question. One can clearly see that the Ideal bird is a large bird and in proportion.

A three-dimensional object such as a budgerigar, is very difficult to look at in a two-dimensional scale. Consequently we have had models of the Ideal and artistic impressions of ideal birds, and real birds in show cages. Nevertheless everyone sees them differently.

Head

Most winning birds should display good head quality. The skull structure is one of the most difficult areas to breed into an exhibition budgerigar. If we look at the width of face on the bird, it has to be in proportion to the height above the cere. Achieving a full backskull is a most challenging task. Too many birds lack backskull which is a most undesirable feature on the exhibition bird. How many winners do you see that excel in backskull? Mr and Mrs Newman's Grey-Green cock, which won the 1994 National was one, but many do not. The bird must also have a deep mask on which to carry large spots. A shallow mask is a major fault which must be avoided at all costs.

Wings

A bird's wings need to sit neatly on the base of the tail. Crossed wings or dropped wings are serious faults. Both are hereditary, therefore, specimens possessing these faults should be eliminated from breeding stock. The normal wing markings are a main feature of the exhibition budgerigar. Due to using Opalines, many colour faults have appeared on wings. For example, a normal Light Green can sometimes show green on the shell markings which should be yellow. Opalescent marks can also appear on the shoulders, neck and wing butts of the Normal bird.

Tail

There are two main faults in the tail. A drooping or vertical tail is another serious fault which cannot be corrected. The correct angle of the tail should be 60° through the eye. A tail which is too long, the other fault, is usually associated with long-flighted birds. If the length of the tail exceeds the length of the body this is too long.

Style & Stance

To achieve any success on the show bench, a winning bird must have style and stance. Style is usually inherited, stance on the other hand can be taught by training the bird from an early age.

Opalines

Not all that has happened has been progress. Take the Opaline as one example. Why has nobody formed a specialist Opaline society? Many of the new varieties take care of themselves. Over the last few years, I have read articles by Ray Steele and the late Vic Smith regarding Opalines. I agree with them both. We are destroying the Opaline. We are not looking at the area of the bird we should be looking at. We should examine it as a composite bird.

Do we really try, anymore, to achieve to clear saddle? We describe birds as Opalines but they really are not Opalines. Dirty-back Opalines are ever more prevalent, along with head flecking. The colour on the wings should be the same as the body colour. Another Opaline characteristic is the leading edge on the flights, which is white or yellow depending on the colour of the bird. The Opaline had the thumbmarks on the wings at one time. In an effort to get rid of these the colour has, in some cases, been removed causing the wings to return to Normal wing markings. I say again, "Do we need an Opaline society to protect and promote the interests of the Opaline"?

Colour

It is very important to look at colours. The cheek patch can tell you whether a bird is a light, dark or medium of the colour. For example be careful not to pair two dark cinnamons together. Cinnamon after all is a pigment of melanin, therefore, by doubling the dark cinnamon factor you are increasing the melanin and increasing the chance of flecking.

Outline

It is impossible to appreciate a bird unless you can see its outline. Look at the bird's outline and see what needs to be done to improve it. The beak should be well tucked-in, depth of mask, the backline and tail should be at the correct angle, and the wings well-positioned, the outline of the head should show good frontal rise and plenty of backskull. The outline is like a beer glass. You then need to fill it with the variety's content, such as the content required for a good Opaline or Normal or more specialist variety.

The Future

People often ask me what the future holds as far as the budgerigar is concerned. Is it going to be a massive 10.5" inert bird? Is it going to be so big that it is unabIe to perch? I don't know! It is up to you the breeders. You will determine the future. In some ways we have already created a certain type of bird that does not breed readily and some are ugly even to the point of being monstrosities. The Ideal should be beyond reach, like the top of some unconquered mountain. You hear people say they have bred bigger birds than the Ideal. They may have, but do they match the Ideal in head, spot, shape and style? Sometimes when you reach the end of a road you cannot go any further, the only way is back. There may come a time when we realise the only sensible option is to take a step back.

Progression

This will only be achieved by careful selection. You cannot pick birds out of flights. You must put them in show cages and study them. I cannot believe you can pair properly all your birds in one or two days. It could take a day to select four or five pairs. Not only would I put the cock and hen in show cages but their brothers and sisters etc. I would gain a full appreciation of the family characteristics both good and bad. My records would be at my side playing a full part.

Choose your key bird for that breeding season. It must have length, size and width across the chest. A common mistake is keeping too many birds. Too many people keep too many middle-of-the-road birds, birds which are neither good or bad, but which will not take them forward. Be strong in your convictions in selecting only the best birds. Don't keep inferior birds.

Look at Feather - Look at Quality, Look at Colour

Be honest and when you pair up have a clear picture of what you are doing.

Conclusions

The exhibition budgerigar Ideal could possibly be altered in pictorial form by illustrating a larger head and more feather detail. This would have to be done in a somewhat loose manner, as the previous pictorial Ideals have always been sharp and concise, with a clean outline. Considering that there are only a few hundred of the million and half budgerigars bred each year meeting the standard, perhaps it would be inappropriate to change the ideal at this time.

Original text Copyright © 1995 Eric Peake

Breeding Dark Factor Budgerigars of
Exhibition Standard

Gren Norris

Most of the books and articles I have read since coming into the budgerigar fancy, suggest that dark factor birds inherit a factor which makes the single dark factor birds i.e., cobalt and dark green, smaller than their light green or sky blue brothers. The birds carrying the dark factor in double dose i.e., mauve and olive, we are informed, are even smaller in stature. Other articles suggest that the physical body size of birds varies very little and that it is the feather structure which determines the size of the bird we see.

If one is to believe this second statement, the conclusions would be that single dark factor and double dark factor birds inherit a finer feather structure, thus making them appear smaller in stature. Should we want to breed larger cobalts and mauves therefore, we shall have to concentrate on introducing a coarser feather into the dark factor birds.

I have always been attracted to cobalts and dark greens and, given a choice, would concentrate on those colours. Life, however is never that simple and at the end of each breeding season the birds one retains are those nearest to exhibition quality, colour being of secondary importance. Pat and I are perhaps fortunate that among our birds are a number of dark factors which are every bit as large as their skyblue and light green brothers and sisters. How then have we managed to achieve this size and more importantly, retain it.

Many years ago I was fortunate in obtaining a very rich coloured opaline cobalt cock which, although not large, had very good head qualities and lots of blow when displaying. He was used quite extensively in the stud and over the years produced many cobalts and mauves of quality. Overall size however, tended to be a little down with the darker factor birds and I determined to improve this. I looked around for the largest buff-feathered hens I had, irrespective of colour, and these I mated with two or three of the best young cobalts I had bred. I retained all of those displaying intermediate or buff-feathering especially any which were dark factors. Colour was not considered and among the dark factors were cinnamon dark greens and cinnamon greys. As all of these had been bred from cobalts it meant that all of the non-blues were split for blue and the dark factors were split for cobalt blue.

Over the next few years this breeding programme was continued and I ensured that any birds introduced into this family were either buffs or intermediate-feathered bred from a buff parent. As each year went by it was noticed that an increasing number of the dark factor birds displayed feathering of the buff or intermediate type I was seeking and among those would be the cobalts. These were equal in size to their brothers and sisters carrying no dark factor. Eventually I was able to concentrate on pairing cobalt to skyblue, thereby increasing the number of cobalts produced and in time, a cobalt to pied greygreen pairing of Pat's produced a high quality normal mauve cock from which our present mauves are descended.

To ensure that the desired feathering and size and retained, any dark factors not displaying the necessary credentials are not used in the breeding, irrespective of other desirable features. We have now reached the fortunate situation that quite often, we use dark factor birds to improve the feathering of some of our other families.

Anyone intending to do something similar will need patience and dedication. Colour will have to be of secondary importance, although we have been fortunate in that we have managed to retain in most of our birds, the brilliant colouring of the opaline cobalt that started it all off.

Over the years, many specials have been won by top fanciers with dark green or cobalt budgerigars including Best in Show at the B.S. Club Show, thus demonstrating to all that quality birds in these colours can be bred. My immediate ambition is to breed mauves or opaline mauves capable of winning cc's. Have a go.....

Original text Copyright © 1996, Gren Norris.

Genetics and Colour Breeding for Budgerigars

Ghalib Al-Nasser

Many fanciers consider the subject of genetics too complicated and shy away from it, but as breeders of budgerigars, and with the number of varieties and colours available to us, it is important that we have some knowledge about colour production. This article only touches on the basis of genetics with its colour and variety production, and is aimed mostly for the newcomers to the fancy rather than established fanciers.

A greater depth of knowledge was obtained when Gregor Mendel, an Austrian monk, published his scientific observations during 1866. After experimenting for many years by cross-pollinating Pea plants and noting the characteristics of the resulting seedlings, he established the first laws for the science of heredity which is now known as genetics.

Mendel's Theory of Inheritance was the basis which many scientists followed during the late nineteenth century and early part of this century, to apply both to plant and animal production. It was not until Dr H Duncker and C H Cremer of Bremen, Germany, applied Mendel's theories to budgerigars, in about 1920, that these laws became universally accepted by the fancy. These laws are used for budgerigar production to predict the colour characteristics of the offspring from any particular pairing.

Each bird has it own genetic code contained in its own unique set of 26 microscopic bodies known as "Chromosomes". This set of chromosomes is duplicated in each cell of the bird. Each chromosome of the set consists of a different string of "Genes" or "Factors" (which was Mendel's term) which controls the various hereditary characters of the bird. These hereditary characters include size of spots and head, shape, type, colour, sex, bone structure, length and texture of feather, etc. The 26 chromosomes are associated in 13 pairs of equal length (except for that chromosome pair that controls the sex of the bird). Corresponding (in position) genes on each chromosome, in a pair arc called "Allelmorphs" or "Alleles".

An allele pair may be identical or different and how they interact controls one of the characters of the bird. If a pair of alleles are identical the bird is said to be "Homozygous" for the particular gene (or the gene is said to be present as a "Double Factor"); if these are different, the bird is said to be "Heterozygous". for each gene (or each gene is said to be present as a "Single" Factor")

A "mutation" is a genetic accident where a gene or a set of genes changed. However, a viable mutation is a rare event; which is why in the wild budgerigar population, the original gene is most common. Thus the original gene is called the "Wild-Type" gene and any departure from the wild-type is called a mutation. A mutant can differ in some major ways or minor ways from the wild-type. Obviously, some mutations can occur more easily (and hence more often) than others.

On mating, (hopefully), the sperm from the cock fertilises the ovum of the hen to produce the egg. The sperm and the ovum are single cells which contain only one chromosome of each chromosome pair (which half of a chromosome pair that gets included in the sperm or ovum is a matter of chance). Thus the fertilised egg has a full set of chromosomes, with each chromosome pair having a chromosome from each parent. Thus each parent's genes contribute towards every characteristic of the chick.

There is a genetic complication to this process called "Crossing-over". This occurs during that part of the production of the sperm and the ovum when the chromosomes pair up and lie parallel to each other. At this stage, a pair of chromosomes can become entangled at certain points rather like a pair of long balloons twisted together. The segments between these points can then exchange or "Cross-over". Thus a chromosome in a sperm or an ovum can be a mixture of the chromosome pair of parent. Crossing-over, for a particular pair of chromosomes, tends to occur at the same locations. This means that genes found on the same segment will always be associated or "linked" with each other.

The Sex Character

As mentioned earlier, the pair of chromosomes that control the sex are not of equal lengths. The sex-chromosomes of the hen, denoted by the letters X and Y, are of different lengths, Y being the shorter member of that pair and carrying no sex genes. The cock will have a pair of sex-chromosomes of the same length, referred to as XX. Whenever a cock and a hen are paired together they should always produce equal numbers of the two sexes, on average. This is because, on mating, the cock's sperm cell carrying half a set of chromosome pairs, combines with the hen's egg cell also containing half a set of chromosome pairs, forming a completely new whole set of chromosomes.

The Split Character

A pair of birds of one colour "Phenotype" may produce other colours if their genetic make-up "Genotype" differs from their actual phenotypic appearance. These are impure birds and commonly known as "splits" indicated by an oblique line"/".

The Dominant and Recessive Character

The colour genes are either "dominant" (e.g. green) or "recessive" (e.g., blue). A bird carrying the dominant gene on one half of the chromosome pair will be coloured as if it was carried on both halves. The recessive colours will only show themselves if they are carried on both halves of the chromosome pairs. The colour genes can be carried in a number of different chromosome pairs. A bird can then be one dominant colour and carry in its genetic make-up one or more recessive colours in a hidden form, but not vice-versa. Thus, one can say that in the simplest form of interaction of two dissimilar alleles, one is dominant and the other recessive, that is, the dominant allele controls the character.

For instance, when the green gene (i.e., the gene with the code for green feathers) and the blue gene are on allele pair, the bird is green because the green gene is dominant with respect to the blue gene. Because of the interaction of dissimilar alleles, a bird's physical make-up (its phenotype) may be different from its genetic make-up (its genotype). In the colour inheritance, the following groupings can be made:

The dominant mutations are:

• Greens (All Forms)
• Dominant Pieds
• Greys
• Clear-Flights
• Violets
• Spangles
• Yellow Faces (to the blue series)
• Crests

The recessive mutations are:

• Blues (All Forms)
• Recessive Pieds
• Fallows
• Whites
• Yellows
• Greywings
• Clearwings.

The gene of a dominant character may be present as a single or double factor, determination of which is only possible by trial pairing to a pure normal. It is not possible for any normal looking bird to be "split" for a dominant character.

The various rules that govern the inheritance of the dominant character irrespective of the actual colour are:

The production of any of the recessive characters act as a simple "autosomal recessive gene"and the rules of their reproduction are as follows:

From the table above, it can be deduced that there is absolutely no merit in the pairings indicated in rules 4 and 5. A lot of wastage is produced from these pairings and also it is not possible to distinguish the split progeny from the Normals.

The Dark Character

As well as the colour gene being dominant or recessive, there is the inherited depth-of-colour gene call the "Dark Factor" and denoted by the letter "D". The dark gene is not responsible for colour in itself but will alter the depth of colour. It works independently of any other colour gene. The theory used to establish different shades of colour is known as the "Incomplete Dominance Theorem". The absence of the dark gene is denoted by "dd", it's presence as a single factor by "Dd"and in double factor by "DD".

The results and percentages of the mating and production of budgerigars with regard to the dark character is governed by the Mendelian Theory. It is important to realise when giving results in percentages, that the percentages are calculated over a wide number of different pairings of the same combination and not for a single nest. In doing so, the practical results will roughly agree with the theoretical expectation.

Therefore results of cross-mating with various shades of dark genes can be summarised as follows:

The Sex-linked Recessive Character

One further character worth mentioning, is the sex-linked recessive inheritance character. With this character, the relevant genes occur only on the X sex-chromosome. As mentioned before, the hen only has one X sex-chromosome, hence the hen can either have a sex-linked gene or none at all; it cannot be split for sex-linked genes. Therefore its phenotype must be the same as its genotype. However, the cock can be split for sex-linked genes. This is because the cock birds of the sex-linked varieties can have this gene on either one or both of their sex-chromosomes; while the sex-linked hens have only one half of their sex chromosome pair that can carry the sex-linked colour character, the other half determines the actual sex.

The varieties that obey the Sex-Linkage Theory are:

• Opalines
• Cinnamons
• Lutinos and Albinos
• Lacewings
• Slates
• Texas Clearbody (but dominant to Ino)

The five possible pairings with the Sex-Linkage Theory are, using the following abbreviations:

• SL for Sex-Linked
• NL for Non Sex-Linked
• NL/SL for Non Sex-Linked/Sex-Linked

When two birds with different sex-linked characters are mated, one will act as if it were a non sex-linked bird and rule 2 applies. With this knowledge of genetics we can now perhaps, appreciate the production of the various colours and varieties.

Original text copyright © 1997, Ghalib Al-Nasser

The Grey Factor and Its Dominance

Gordon and Sylvia Hallam

Our own colour preference as far as Budgerigars go is the Light Green. Why then do we only have four or five in our stud? There is nothing more satisfying for us, indeed for many Budgerigar enthusiasts than a really quality, typy, stylish Light Green, displaying good colour and in the peak of condition. We ask again why are there so few of our favourite colour in our stud? The answer lies in the dominance of the grey factor in the development of our strain of Budgerigars.

We do not seek particular colours, notwithstanding the above,already expressed, preference. Our aim is, and always has been, to breed outstanding show specimens. To that end, colour is largely irrelevant. It simply has been our experience that by breeding Light Green to Light Green we have lost size. Without the Grey factor we get quality face, but the birds lack body or, where they possess sufficient body, they lack the face required. It may not be so for everyone, and here we must recognise that the Snell stud has produced top class Light Greens for many, many years. However it certainly has not been true for us. If we have a nest of youngsters containing Greys, Grey Greens, Blues and Light Greens inevitably the Grey Greens are best followed by the Greys with the others in third place.

Stud Dominated by the Grey Factor

Our selection each year is designed to keep the best stock for next year's breeding, consequently our stud is now dominated by Greys and Grey Greens. Close to 99% of our pairs will have the Grey factor on one side, and most often it will appear on both sides. By keeping the best youngsters each year natural selection has eliminated most Light Greens and Blues from our stud .

One accusation levelled against Grey factor birds is that surplus young birds are difficult to dispose of through the pet trade. This may be true, but the question one must ask is this. Are you in the hobby to fill cages in your local pet shop or to build a stud that can compete on the show bench? If the answer to the second question is "yes", then thoughts of colour should not dominate your thinking.

You may not be concerned with winning. There is nothing wrong with this philosophy. Horses for courses we say and good luck to you. If your pleasure is derived from breeding one of the less dominant varieties we wish you well. There are now many other awards other than Best in Show.

Many Chances of Success

Do not be fooled into thinking the Grey factor has narrowed our chances of show success. The reality is that it combines with the Opaline, Cinnamon and Spangle factors to produce many certificates to compete for and to enable a sizeable show team to be entered. Recent years have seen our stud achieve considerable success with Yellowfaces. This is the one variety where we purposely pair two Grey birds together every time. Any Yellowface Blues bred are purely uninentional. We aim to produce double factor Greys, as the effect of the yellow running through the body is diminished though, it appears, it cannot be entirely eliminated.

Against the Grain

Prior to taking up Budgerigars we bred Dutch rabbits for fifteen years, and bred many champions during that time. We won many Best in Shows and club show winners including "Boy Blue" one of the most successful winning rabbits of all time.

When we bred rabbits, our methods were often against the accepted practice within that sphere of live stock breeding. Everyone argued that best to best should be used, and that outcrosses should be the very best you could buy. We thought differently believing that blood is more important than visual qualities. Naturally, it is ideal if you can combine visual quality with the right pedigree. However these birds are seldom available and much more expensive. Our method had the added advantage of being less expensive for the average fancier.

Buying an Outcross

When considering buying a bird, study who is winning with their own bred Budgerigars. If you can visit the aviary, you can assess the overall standard of the stud. If you buy a bird, the likelihood is that you will breed from it, no better than the average of the stud from whence it came. Of course, the higher that average the better you can expect to breed from your bird. If the average is poor then no matter the quality of the outcross purchased the likely outcome is poor young birds.

Your next step should be to pair the outcross to the most prepotent birds in your own birdroom to bring out the qualities of the "home stud". Our most successful outcrosses have been from inferior brothers and sisters of really top class birds. Far better to buy the worst bird from an outstanding stud than the best bird from a poor quality stud. It is all too easy to be taken in by a few exceptional birds. Look at the overall standard.

Make certain the birds you buy are healthy. They should be fit and active and not in a heavy moult. Moving a bird during the moult can be risky. Any bird which looks under the weather could be liable to bring disease into your shed. A healthy stud is a noisy stud. Beware of drinkers with coloured water.

Stock Birds

We don't buy show birds. As stated earlier these are much more expensive and their nest mates are more likely to breed winners anyway. By buying stock birds the same outlay can purchase several outcrosses, therefore, avoiding putting "all your eggs in one basket". You will have several chances of one of the bought birds "clicking" with your own birds. It is also a fact that many of the bigger birds do not breed as successfully as their smaller brothers and sisters.

A word of warning is required here. Many people "buy the blood". By this they mean they have bought an inferior bird on the premise that it is off a certain family. If buying a bird of lesser quality, it must be from quality parents with quality siblings. If it is bred from poor quality parents and the other chicks are ordinary it is unlikely to produce anything that is other than ordinary. Even if its great great grandfather won the Club Show it is too far removed to realistically mean anything .

Keep Sufficient Birds

We like to keep plenty of spare birds. It is easy to sell good Budgerigars but if you end up short it is extremely difficult to get any good ones to replace them. You should aim to have a choice even when filling your last breeding cage. Otherwise the last two birds to be paired could both be short in the mask or flecked.

We don't pair up on paper before starting breeding. We pick those hens most active. Those chewing every piece of wood and most alert. Whether it is our worst or best hen, we pick the most visually compatible cock. By compatible we mean he must counter any shortcomings in the hen. Similarly the hen must excel where he fails. Pairing up two birds with the same faults is an absolute "No", as far as we are concerned. Once the pair is visually selected we check our breeding records to ensure the pair is not too closely bred. We consider that to be brother and sister or father and daughters. That being eliminated, the birds will be related as all our birds are in essence part of one big family.

Original text: Copyright © 1995, Gordon and Sylvia Hallam

Photograph: Copyright © 1995, Les Lockey

The Significance of Feather

Bernard Kellett

My article has two major objectives. Firstly to give a brief historical outline of the development of the Budgerigar in the UK from 1840 to the present day, with particular reference to the rôle played by feather mutations. Secondly to give some guidance to beginners and novices as to how they utilize feather in their quest for breeding top class birds.

Enormous Progress Has Been Made

Slides of lithographs, drawings and photographs of wild or pet-type birds and today's top-class birds, clearly illustrate the enormous progress made in the development of the Budgerigar particularly in the last fifty years. A major factor, of course, has been selective breeding on the part of skilled fanciers for many years. However, it has been two feather mutations which have had an equally important effect in the process. Anyone who doubts the significance of feather need only examine the feathers of non-exhibition birds, with those of exhibition stock. Even if one compares the winning birds of 10-15 years ago with today's winning birds, the differences are quite outstanding. The birds of that time would not come near winning in 1995.

Let us step back to those very early days. Prior to 1925 when The Budgerigar Society was formed, the Budgerigar was shown in pairs as a foreign exhibit. At that time, men such as Dr Armour and Bill Watmough laid great emphasis on colour and shape. Harry Bryan even then, laid more stress on the shape and power of the bird. The early advances were because of these early pioneers and others like them. The birds had protruding eyes, a protruding beak and small spots.

Feather Structure

To understand the changes that have taken place, we must first understand the structure of the feathers which comprise our Budgerigars. Most people are familiar with the various colour mutations which have taken place over the years, since the blue and yellow first arrived in the 1940s, but fewer are aware of the mutations which have affected the nature and structure of the feather itself. A feather is made up of three main elements:

1. the rachis (or shaft)
2. the barbs
3. the barbules

The barbules cannot be seen with the naked eye. Changes in the thickness and length of these components create an overall change in the feather itself. Thus a thickening of the rachis, barbs and barbules created the coarse or buff feather in the late-1940s, whilst a lengthening of the rachis created the longer feathers shortly afterwards. As a result, the short fine feathers of the original or wild Budgerigar have been replaced by a thicker, wider and longer feather in many of today's birds. Consequently the Budgerigar has a completely different shape and size. Instead of a lean banana shape we now have a powerful bulky carrot shape. Above all, has been the change to the facial features: a deep mask, high frontal rise and facial width coupled with a tucked in beak and well hidden eyes are all the result of these mutations plus, of course, selective breeding.

Buffs and Yellows

These terms are often used to describe the coarse- and fine-feathered birds. Personally I don't subscribe to these terms, which are more correctly associated with colour. The reason we have been stuck with these descriptions is, I believe, because we picked them up from the Canary fancy. Canary people like the type of bird with a dense yellow colour. They found that the colour became buff as the feathers became coarser. They became known as buff feathers. When the buff birds or coarser-feathered birds appeared in the late-1940's, Harry Bryan and others started to use them to improve the quality of the exhibition Budgerigar.

If they could acquire a coarse-feathered cock and hen, they paired them together. As we all know nowadays, this is a short cut to infertility. They learned the hard way as they encountered fertility problems. It wasn't long before they decided the hen should be fine feathered.

Longflights

The first real significant change in feather was seized upon quite by chance. Ken Farmer was invited by a fellow fancier to help him sort his birds out as he was selling up. When Ken arrived he was astounded to discover Budgerigars the like of which he had never seen. They had longer flights, longer tails, super masks and super heads. Not surprisingly, he bought the lot. It was not long before Harry Bryan and others were getting into these longflights. Then of course they started to win at shows. In 1982, Harry Bryan remarked to me, "I would give my right arm for one of those birds now". He maintained that having longflights in the past had helped make him the fancier he was.

It is perhaps a little surprising that they should be winning, as some of the leading figures of the time such as Dr Armour and W Watmough were opposed to that type of bird. The tails sagged down touching the bottom of the show cage. The extra long wings changed the appearance also. However, the head and mask quality overcame these disadvantages. I consider that the deep mask birds of today are the relic of the Longflighted birds.

A further feature in top class birds has been the recent development of "directional feathering". This occurs when feathers adjacent to the cere extend horizontally backwards to form a browiness above the eye. The feathers are actually at right-angles to the cere. Directional feathering is a great advantage for a show bird, as it catches the judge's eye. Compare this with poorer-quality birds where the eyes stand out in a manner unacceptable nowadays. Often the directional feathering is the only difference between two birds. Taken away from many birds they simply would not win. It can be a problem sometimes as the feathers can almost grow into the birds eyes and need to be trimmed to prevent irritation. One of the best examples of this type of bird in recent years was Eric and Michael Lane's Opaline Grey Green cock.

The Mannes Factor

In the last few years a further development in feather structure has occurred in the aviary of Joe Mannes in Germany. Whether this is a new mutation or simply a modification is a matter of debate, but feathers extracted from some Mannes birds have revealed feathers every bit as wide and long, if not longer, than those from UK birds but the rachis, barbs and barbules are much finer. This was revealed by Les Lockey, who used the latest photographic equipment at Manchester University to produce amazing photographs to prove the point. It will be fascinating to watch developments in this situation, with regard to its effects in the UK, and in the spheres of fertility and feather problems. Another characteristic of the Mannes' feathers was that the colour on the feather extends further down into the root of the feather.

Using Feather in Your Pairings

In addition to the coarse- and fine-feathered birds described earlier, it is now accepted that a third feather type exists. The intermediate feather is exactly as its name suggests halfway between the two other feather types. The aim of this article is to make you think about your birds' shortcomings or good points where feather is concerned. Having done this you must then decide what to do about it. You have several alternatives.

Fine-feather to fine-feather

A recipe for disaster in my opinion. A short-cut back to the old days.

Coarse-feather to Coarse-feather

Disadvantages are that they are not very virile, prone to disease and don't live as long on average.

Intermediate-feather to Intermediate-feather                   

This would be my choice, but in order to have this type of feather you need the other two types.

Of course any other combination of the three can be used. You must study your feather, assess what is required and put in fine, or coarse-feather as required.

Beware the Dominant Factor

Firstly, this is nothing to do with Pieds. Take a cock you feel is your most outstanding cock but lacking spot. You need to choose a hen with very good spots to balance the pairing. A great danger is that the hen you choose is a dominant bird. These are very rare, but this hen with the deep mask and big round spots would pass this onto the young, along with her faults. Of course the dominant factor can work in your favour with a particular bird who reproduces young, all of which are as good or better than itself. Unfortuately, there is nothing which can warn you if a bird is carrying this trait.

Feather Problems and Diseases

These have been considered in greater depth by others but the following points are worthy of note:

1. Bacteria and viruses have a higher success rate where livestock is kept in unclean and unhygienic conditions. Thus it is vital to provide Budgerigars with a clean environment and sound diet.
2. Nest boxes, especially, offer ideal conditions for the development and spread of diseases. Accordingly they should be cleaned or replaced during the breeding season.
3. Modern societies, despite all the expenditure on research and development of drugs, are still plagued by a wide range of diseases. In contrast, very little is spent on Budgerigar diseases and such things as French Moult, feather dusters etc., appear to be something we have to live with.
4. Conversely, if it is felt that feather problems are genetic in nature, should we stop using lines which produce lumps or tail-less wonders, where there are common failings?
5. Feather problems such as split masks, spot shape, poor stance or lying across the perch are, on the other hand, problems which the fancier can overcome by careful selection of breeding pairs.

Water and Feathers

The effect on feathers by spraying during the show season revealed two reactions. Firstly, feathers, just like human hair, show a favourable reaction to water. Cleansing and wetting the feathers appears to enhance the quality of the feathers. Secondly, the birds react by preening themselves, which means the rachis, barbs and barbules are all returned to their proper positions and coated with feather oil in the process. Little and often, appears to be a safer method than heavy doses of water, because of the danger of pneumonia, which often occurs when saturated down feathers fail to dry out prior to roosting.

Original text: Copyright © 1995 Bernard Kellatt