Budgie Mutations 101

[AntiqueB]

How about a quiz? It might be fun to see pictures of your birds and try to tell their types.

 

[Zoohtasim]

After a long break, here's the fourth mutation of this thread.
~The Spangle Mutation~

Firstly, to understand this mutation clearly, we need to learn a new term.
> Incomplete Dominant Gene
- An incomplete dominant gene is a dominant gene which does not completely overpower a recessive gene. As we know, anything alive in this world needs two copies of genes to exist (not counting asexual reproduction) and of course budgies do too. One copy from the father and one from the mother. Now in normal dominant genes, only one copy of the dominant gene can completely mask of the other recessive copy. For example - A recessive gene makes a bird yellow. Another dominant gene makes a bird red. If a bird has one copy of each of these genes, the bird will be red. Two copies of the recessive gene will make it yellow and two copies of the dominant gene will of course result in a red bird. But if the gene turning the bird red is incomplete dominant, and the bird has one copy of it, the bird may be half red and half yellow. But if the bird has two copies of that gene, the bird will be completely red, but sometimes it can turn out to be a bit orange-ish (as Red and Yellow suffuse to make orange) All in all, an incomplete dominant gene cannot mask off a recessive gene completely with one copy of it, only with two copies of it. And even then, sometimes the recessive trait can show up.

Now let's start on the actual Spangle Mutation.

GENOTYPE :
The Spangle Mutation is an Incomplete Dominant Mutation in budgies which changes their appearance in certain ways.

Due to being Incomplete Dominant, this mutation causes budgies to be -
i) Not Spangle aka not carrying any copies of this mutation
ii) Single Factor Spangle aka carrying one copy of this mutation
iii) Double Factor Spangle aka carrying two copies of this mutation [note that as the spangle mutation is incomplete 'dominant', a bird's appearance tells it all, spangle or not spangle]

Some fun with the punnet square now! Let's make uppercase 'S' carry the spangle gene and lowercase 's' not carry the spangle gene, meaning -
SS = Double Factor Spangle Budgie
Ss = Single Factor Spangle Budgie
ss = Normal Budgie

a) Normal x Single Factor Spangle

= 50% Single Factor Spangle babies, 50% Normal babies
b) Normal x Double Factor Spangle

= 100% Single Factor Spangle babies
c) Single Factor Spangle x Single Factor Spangle

= 25% Double Factor Spangle babies, 50% Single Factor Spangle babies, 25% normal babies
d) Single Factor Spangle x Double Factor Spangle

= 50% Double Factor Spangle babies, 50% Single Factor Spangle babies
e) Double Factor Spangle x Double Factor Spangle

= 100% Double Factor Spangle babies

Though, keep in mind that sometimes the breeding outcomes for spangle budgies may not always be accurate for complications surrounding the gene itself. But still, the punnet square is a quite reliable source to predict what the babies might be.

PHENOTYPE :

i) Single Factor Spangle Budgie -
This bird is quite easy to recognize. The wings of this bird look completely different from any other mutation of budgies.

Above, two normal budgies can be seen. Their wings black with their base color. Nothing special

But here is a SINGLE FACTOR SPANGLE BUDGIE. This bird's wings are completely different in anyone's eyes! But let's get a bit deeper into why it is.

Firstly, the structure of the color pattern of the wing of a normal GREEN budgie is like this -

A black inner edge, a black centre and a base colored (white/yellow) outer edge [note that the black centre is not a part of the black inner edge and thus has been colored differently]. Many many patterns like this make up the wing of a normal budgie.
In an opaline budgie, it's also the same structure except the outer edge is of the bird's body color (green/blue) instead of the base color. A diagram for the structure of the wing colors of a GREEN Opaline bird -

Now, what the Spangle gene does here is it removes the pigmentation from the centre of the wing. Aka the black is removed to reveal the base color of the bird. The wing structure of a GREEN SF Spangle Bird -

(If the SF spangle budgie is blue, the centre and the outer edge would be white because that is the base color of a blue budgie)
The wing structure of a BLUE Opaline SF Spangle bird -

(here the centre is white)
A BLUE Opaline SF Spangle Bird for reference -

For some fun, can you guess what the wing structure of a Green Opaline Cinnamon SF Spangle Budgie would be?

As we know, the cinnamon mutation removes the black pigmentation from a budgie's wings a replaces them with a brownish color. That is why the black inner edge got swapped for a brown inner edge!

This is the only big visual feature of the SF Spangle Bird. Some other features include -
1) Cheek patches are purple or sometimes silvery. They are also a lot smaller and in some cases, completely gone.
2) The barrings in their head are a bit reduced and lighter.

ii) Double Factor Spangle Budgie -
This bird is even easier to recognize. It is all white or all yellow. Although sometimes a bit of suffusion can happen which can make the bird a pale off white color. Careful not to confuse this budgie with the Ino budgies as Ino budgies always have red eyes, and Spangle budgies have the normal black eyes. A yellow DF Spangle for reference -

And after a LONG reading session, that's all you need to know about the Spangle Mutation!

 

[Zoohtasim]

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

And I was just wondering if there were Cinnamon Spangles, when I got to that example! When I finally get another budgie, I'm going to wow the pet store with knowledge, thanks to this thread!

Thanks a lot! Means a lot to me that people find this thread helpful!! And also, I'm not into chicken genetics yet, first I'll master chicken care, then I'll touch the genetics part. It seems too complicated

 

[Rosa moschata]

Birds don't have XX or XY sex-chromosomes -- they are ZZ (male) and ZW (female). You have the two pigments reversed -- melanins are inside the feather, and psittacins are on top. Melanins are brown to black, and appear blue because feather structure bends the reflected light. The dark factor, gray, and violet mutations affect that structure to alter the refraction, bending the light a little differently. Psittacins are deposited on the outer parts of the feather, and the refracted blue filters through yellow giving green. You're doing an otherwise great job, but just wanted to give you a little polish.

 

[EmmaRainboe]

@zoohatism I have a budgie genetics question.

What's the difference between yellow face type one and type two? What about golden face? Are all three seperate genes? And in type two, I think it Said that homozygous has less yellow than when it's heterozygous? How do that work? One gene adds it then the next dilutes the first? I'd get how it would work on a wildtype, but I'm not understanding how it works like that on a blue base?

 

[Zoohtasim]

Let's learn about the Opaline Mutation now!

Firstly, in budgies, the chromosomes of the sexes are opposite to the chromosomes in humans. Thus -
Males = XX
and Females = XY
Secondly,
What is a sex linked mutation?
- A sex linked mutation is a mutation that is only carried in the 'x' chromosome.

Now let's start on the actual learning -

PHENOTYPE :
The Opaline Mutation is a mutation present in budgies that make the following changes occur in their phenotype which is their physical appearance -
a) It makes the barrings on their head and shoulders lessen or disappear entirely.
For example, here are two of my budgies -

As you can see in the above picture, the budgie has a lot of black stripes on it's head and on it's shoulders.

But in this picture, you can easily see how much reduced the black stripings are in the head and shoulders! (sunsilk is better just saying)
b) It changes their wing colors.
A regular budgie will have black and their base color colored wings (like black/yellow for a green birb and black/white for a blue birb)
But the opaline gene changes that. Instead it changes the wings from 'Black and base color' to 'Black and body color' (like black/blue for a blue birb and black/green for a green birb)
For example, here are two of my budgies again -

You can see in the above picture that the bird has black striped with white wings (white being the base color of the budgie)

But this bird has black and blue (blue being his body color) wings!
That's the physical changes the opaline gene makes, everything else of this budgie is normal.

GENETICS :
The opaline gene is a sex linked recessive mutation meaning it can only be carried in the 'x' chromosome.

That results in a budgie male to be -
1. Opaline : Having two 'x' chromosomes carrying the opaline gene as it is recessive to the wild type
2. Not opaline : Having none of the 'x' chromosomes carry the gene
3. Carrier : Have one of the 'x' chromosomes to carry the gene, but the appearance of that budgie will be of the wild type as Opaline is a recessive mutation

That also results in females being -
1. Opaline : Have her single 'x' chromosome carry the opaline gene
2. Not opaline : As she doesn't carry two 'x' chromosomes, her appearance tells it all. Either an opaline or not an opaline.

Let's have some fun with the punnet square now! (pretend the red color 'x' carries the opaline gene and the black 'x' doesn't)
a) Two opaline birds produce

= 100% opaline babies
b) Opaline male and Normal female produce

= 100% male babies will be carriers and 100% female babies will be opaline
c) Normal male and Opaline female produce

= 100% male babies will be carriers and 100% females will be normal
d) Carrier for opaline gene male and normal female produce

= 50% of male babies will be carriers, 50% of male babies will be normal, 50% of the female babies will be opaline and 50% of the female babies will be normal
e) Carrier for opaline gene male and opaline female produce

= 50% of the male babies will be opaline, 50% of the male babies will be carriers, 50% of the female babies will be opaline and 50% of the female babies will be normal

And THAT sums up the opaline mutation!

 

[Zoohtasim]

Thanks It makes much more sense now!!!

Glad I could help! If you didnt get the genotype part, scroll upto the opaline gene explanation and swap the word 'opaline' for Ino and it'll be easier!!

 

[Zoohtasim]

Let's start on the third mutation of this thread now!
~The Cinnamon Mutation~
Just like the Ino and Opaline mutations, the Cinnamon Mutation is a sex linked recessive mutation.

PHENOTYPE :
As we know, the wing colors of the budgie can be black/yellow or black/white if it is a normal budgie and black/green or black/blue if it is an opaline budgie. Still, all of these wing colors have something in common, which is that they all have the color black! They have black wing markings and black barrings on their head. And the job of the cinnamon mutation is to basically change that.

A normal budgie with black wing markings and barrings can be seen above.

But here, it can be clearly seen that this budgie doesn't have the color black. Rather, it has a warm brown color. This is the main change that the cinnamon mutation makes. [the cinnamon budgie shown above is also opaline which is an entire different gene of it's own giving her wings the color blue, the cinnamon mutation only changed the color black to brown in her wings, it didn't do anything else]
So, all in all the changes this mutation carries with it are -
1) They change the black color of the wing markings and barrings of a budgie to brown.
2) They dilute about 50% of their original body color.
3) They have pink feet.
4) In babyhood, some cinnamons are born with red eyes which darkens over time [nothing to do with the Ino mutation]

Other than that, the cinnamon budgie brings no more phenotypical changes to a bird.

GENOTYPE :
This mutation is passed on exactly like the Ino and Opaline budgies. But for a recap -
The cinnamon gene is a sex linked recessive mutation meaning it is only carried in the 'x' chromosome.
Resulting in males being -
Cinnamon
Not Cinnamon
Or carrier
And females being -
Cinnamon
Not Cinnamon

In the punnet square -
1) A carrier male and cinnamon female produce

= 50% of the male babies will be cinnamon, 50% of the male babies will be carriers, 50% of the females will be cinnamon and 50% of the females will be normal.

And THAT sums up the cinnamon gene!

 

[Zoohtasim]

How about a quiz? It might be fun to see pictures of your birds and try to tell their types.

WOW!!! That's BRILLIANT Be sure, I'll be doing that!!

 

[Poultrybonkers]

Ive been breeding for years never used those charts as never got the point lol and these days im just out for the %of chicks will be this or that like my greywings both split parents gives a 25% chance of getting a greywing so a 1 out of 4 chances lol thats all i need to know