How exactly did people hundreds of years ago create the different colored parakeets?

[BigRedHenny]

I always wanted to know how exactly did people breeding the common parakeet hundreds of years ago were able to take the green Australian parakeet and produce the colors blue, yellow, white, etc. There was hardly any technology during that era. I am amazed at how the process of selective breeding works. Can someone please explain this?

 

[OtherRaptor]

I always wanted to know how exactly did people breeding the common parakeet hundreds of years ago were able to take the green Australian parakeet and produce the colors blue, yellow, white, etc. There was hardly any technology during that era. I am amazed at how the process of selective breeding works. Can someone please explain this?

Maybe they dyed them different colors! Nah, I found this, it might help you: budgie-parakeet/genetics

 

[BigRedHenny]

Maybe they dyed them different colors! Nah, I found this, it might help you: budgie-parakeet/genetics

Thank you but the information on that website just says that captive bred Budgies can result in the different colored mutations.

My main question is why green Australian Budgies who breed naturally in the wild don’t produce different colored offspring. So am I to understand that when they are taken from the wild and placed inside cages, their offspring can result in different colors?

 

[muddy75]

@Quailobsessed @Zoohtasim @JaeG

 

[Zoohtasim]

My main question is why green Australian Budgies who breed naturally in the wild don’t produce different colored offspring. So am I to understand that when they are taken from the wild and placed inside cages, their offspring can result in different colors?

They actually do! The thing that happens is, in the wild if a blue chick is born and survives it's babyhood, it has a very slim chance of survival as it stands out. Falcons may target it specially or some females may reject mating with him as he looks different (natural instinct of choosing the best for her children). Also the blue gene is recessive to the green gene giving it a huge disadvantage. But in captivity, there are no falcons or females rejection as the instincts have been selectively bred out. Also to humans color variety looks very pretty so they kept choosing blue chicks and bred them to create more blue chicks. Thus, the blue gene thrived in captivity, while in the wild, not so much

 

[BigRedHenny]

They actually do! The thing that happens is, in the wild if a blue chick is born and survives it's babyhood, it has a very slim chance of survival as it stands out. Falcons may target it specially or some females may reject mating with him as he looks different (natural instinct of choosing the best for her children). Also the blue gene is recessive to the green gene giving it a huge disadvantage. But in captivity, there are no falcons or females rejection as the instincts have been selectively bred out. Also to humans color variety looks very pretty so they kept choosing blue chicks and bred them to create more blue chicks. Thus, the blue gene thrived in captivity, while in the wild, not so much

Thank you! That explains pretty much what has always been a mystery to me.

 

[Zoohtasim]

I always wanted to know how exactly did people breeding the common parakeet hundreds of years ago were able to take the green Australian parakeet and produce the colors blue, yellow, white, etc. There was hardly any technology during that era. I am amazed at how the process of selective breeding works. Can someone please explain this?

The white and yellow budgies are the Ino budgie (Lutino and Albino) and they have a bad immune system making them a failure in the wild. The Ino gene is also recessive making it very rare in the wild

 

[BigRedHenny]

Also, where did the English Budgie come from if they don’t naturally exist in the wild? How did the early bird keepers create them? Did they just breed the fattest Australian parakeets with each other to produce the English Budgie breed?

 

[Zoohtasim]

Also, where did the English Budgie come from if they don’t naturally exist in the wild? How did the early bird keepers create them? Did they just breed the fattest Australian parakeets with each other to produce the English Budgie breed?

I need to do a bit more research on that part but this is my hypothesis -
As Budgies exclusively belong to the southern part of Australia, I guess the English budgies are a result of years of selective breeding and choosing the biggest budgies. That will also answer why English budgies live less than an Australian budgie and have a pretty shaky immune system

 

[BigRedHenny]

I need to do a bit more research on that part but this is my hypothesis -
As Budgies exclusively belong to the southern part of Australia, I guess the English budgies are a result of years of selective breeding and choosing the biggest budgies. That will also answer why English budgies live less than an Australian budgie and have a pretty shaky immune system

Thank you for that information!

This reminds me of learning about the science of genetics back when I was in elementary school. How awesome!