Budgie Mutations 101

[Zoohtasim]

Don't be scared, if you somehow even understand a little bit of the disastrous calamity called chicken genetics, this will be really easy! This is a broad topic and I will be updating this thread everyday with a new mutation! Thanks for keeping up with me!

 

[Zoohtasim]

First, let's learn about how budgie colors work.

Budgies come in a variety of colors! Namely blue and green. The green is also known as the 'Wild Type' as it can be seen in it's natural habitat Australia, while the blue is the result of years of captive selective breeding.

Budgies have two things giving them their color, Psittacine and Melanin. Psittacine gives them a yellow coat, and melanin gives them a blue coat on top of it. That blue and yellow mix together and create a green budgie (yes the color green actually doesn't exist in budgies). But somehow if the Psittacine doesn't work properly, it gives the budgie a plain white coat. Melanin falls on top and white and blue result in a blue budgie! So if you see a budgie, it's base color is the color psittacine gave it (like white for a blue bird and yellow for a green bird) But melanin doesn't fall in their head so they retain their base color in there.

Now the gene that turns the psittacine off for a blue bird is recessive, meaning that the green gene is dominant. Two copies of the blue gene will result in a blue bird (blue birds are always homozygous meaning their alleles or copies are the same), two copies of the green gene will result in a homozygous green bird, and 1 copy of the blue gene and 1 copy of the green gene will make a heterozygous green bird (as green is dominant)

Now each bird gets one copy of these genes from one of the parents, other from the other parent. So, if we put them in punnet square, we can predict what color children they will have.

So the green gene will be capital G and the blue gene will be lowercase b -

1) Two Homozygous green birds produce

100% Homozygous Green Birds
2) Two heterozygous green birds produce

25% homozygous green birds, 50% heterozygous green birds, 25% blue birds
3) Two blue birds produce

100% blue birds
[this process can be done with a lot more combinations like a heterozygous green bird and blue bird]

Now another thing that comes to consideration is, melanin always doesn't give only blue, sometimes it carries with it some factors like -
i) The purple factor ; makes a blue bird more purplish
ii) The grey factor
iii) Dark factor ; makes existing color darker

For this dark factor, green birds can be sorted into 3 types -
a) Light green (lightest shade)
b) Dark green
c) Olive green (darkest shade)

Same with the blue birds -
a) Sky blue (lightest shade)
b) Cobalt
c) Mauve (darkest shade)

These factors that come with the melanin are often hereditary and are passed on.

And that will be all about basic budgie colors!

 

[muddy75]

Maybe I'll start posting here again as my hectic school days are finally over!

Cant wait! Mine are pumping out all kinds of colors and I have no idea what to call them

 

[TheCluckyClucker2]

This is fascinating, @Zoohtasim . You explain it very well, and the squares make it easy. This should be an article!

I agree. I have been reading up on budgies. They seem fun!

 

[Zoohtasim]

This is fascinating, @Zoohtasim . You explain it very well, and the squares make it easy. This should be an article!

Thanks a lot!! I completely forgot about this thread for exams! New post by today!!

 

[Zoohtasim]

Maybe I'll start posting here again as my hectic school days are finally over!

 

[EmmaRainboe]

. Do you know if the same sort of genetics are what make chickens laced? It almost looks like the Spangles are laced budgies.

I realize this is a few months old but I came across this and never saw anyone answer it.

It is completely different, though the phenotype is similar.

Many genes are required to get the clean single lacing you see in birds like Wyandottes.

Partridge (p^b), Pattern Gene (Pg), Melanotic (Ml), and Columbian (Co).


Penciled is the result of carrying the dominant restrictor gene Pg (pattern gene) which restricts the eumelanin (black pigment) to lacing around the feather. The edge of a penciled feather is always the base color of the bird, instead of black like double laced.

Notice the double laced has a black edge, while the penciling has a silver edge, the base color of the bird.

When you add the Ml gene (Melanotic), a eumelanin (black pigment) intensifier gene it intensifies the black pigment to wider laces, and also shifts the location so the edge of the feather will always be black. This is double lacing.

And if we were to want to achieve single lacing we would add the Co gene (columbian) which would push the black pigment further to the edge of the feather resulting in a single lace outlining the edge.

 

[Zoohtasim]

Let's talk about another mutation today!

~The Ino Mutation~
The Ino mutation is another sex linked recessive mutation in budgies. It's job is to cut off the production of melanin in a budgie.

PHENOTYPE :

1) They are either all white or all yellow as it can be seen above. As the Ino gene cuts off the production of melanin (check post 1 for clarification of what this is), the budgie only gets the color of the psittacine aka yellow or white.
A yellow Ino budgie is called a Lutino.
A white Ino budgie is called an Albino.
2) They HAVE to have Red Eyes. Many other mutations can produce an all white or yellow budgie, so definitely look out for this.
3) They have pink legs (as melanin is cut off)
4) They have silvery white cheek patches (as melanin is cut off)
5) They have a bright orange beak (again as melanin is cut off)
6) Males dont change the color of their cere, it always remains pink as yet again melanin is cut off. Females still have white ceres and brown crusty ones once broody
7) The Ino gene masks off all the dark factors. It still has them in it, and will pass it on and express in offspring which aren't Ino

GENOTYPE :
The gene passes on exactly like the opaline gene so it's quite easy to understand.

@muddy75 here you go!

 

[muddy75]

Let's talk about another mutation today!

~The Ino Mutation~
The Ino mutation is another sex linked recessive mutation in budgies. It's job is to cut off the production of melanin in a budgie.

PHENOTYPE :
View attachment 2876652
1) They are either all white or all yellow as it can be seen above. As the Ino gene cuts off the production of melanin (check post 1 for clarification of what this is), the budgie only gets the color of the psittacine aka yellow or white.
A yellow Ino budgie is called a Lutino.
A white Ino budgie is called an Albino.
2) They HAVE to have Red Eyes. Many other mutations can produce an all white or yellow budgie, so definitely look out for this.
3) They have pink legs (as melanin is cut off)
4) They have silvery white cheek patches (as melanin is cut off)
5) They have a bright orange beak (again as melanin is cut off)
6) Males dont change the color of their cere, it always remains pink as yet again melanin is cut off. Females still have white ceres and brown crusty ones once broody
7) The Ino gene masks off all the dark factors. It still has them in it, and will pass in on and express in offspring which aren't Ino

GENOTYPE :
The gene passes on exactly like the opaline gene so it's quite easy to understand.

@muddy75 here you go!

Thanks It makes much more sense now!!!

 

[AntiqueB]

This is fascinating, @Zoohtasim . You explain it very well, and the squares make it easy. This should be an article!