I first became interested in budgerigars in 1965 and at that time I kept about 5 pairs in a mixed aviary.

It was in 1986 that, after a visit to the aviary of Gerald Binks, I decided to breed budgies of show quality to compete in shows.

Since I was always fascinated by the colours, I decided to build an aviary for only “Rares”. This was not the easy way to start – but it was a challenge and I still have the rares today.

History

As a boy, I was always fascinated by birds and other animals, but I think it was in my genes because my grandfather was a well known racing pigeon breeder and my father kept canaries.

So, I was destined to do the same.

First, I started with racing pigeons, later on canaries and then I concentrated on budgies.

Many years ago I became a member of a local club and soon after that I became a member of the boards of several clubs. First the parrot clubs, then later on I started, with some other fanciers, the B.G.C (Belgian Budgerigar Club). I also became the first Vice-President and after that I became President. I was at that time one of the delegates at the W.B.O. for Belgium.

It was Gerald Binks who taught me the way to breed and keep budgies. After a while I became a correspondent for Budgerigar World for my country and I am still a member today.

Meanwhile, I became involved in the Belgian Lovebird Society as editor and judge and I still have the same interests in the “rares”.

I reorganised the BBS and was editor and member of the board. At that time I was also one of the two Belgian delegates at the WBO meetings and an WBO judge. BBS was one of the three budgie clubs
in Belgium. I left the club in 2008/2009 and in 2011 the club stopped its activities.

Breeding

Keeping rares is one thing, but breeding them is quite a challenge.

So I bought a lot of books and videos and attended as many meetings as possible to learn about other aspects of the birds – such as genetics, colors, feeding, standards etc.

I contacted Mr. Inte Onsman, from MUTAVI, and through him I learned about the genetic rules. Indeed, I was so involved with this subject that I became the liaison for MUTAVI in Belgium.

To breed rares you need to have a basic understanding of genetics, otherwise you will miss a lot. You can breed good budgies without knowledge but specialising in rares demands the knowledge of genetics.

In the past my aviary contained Slate, Saddleback, Texas Clearbody, Easley Clearbody, English Fallow and recently Recessive Pieds.

Breeding rares without some good Normals is not possible – you need them in order to obtain a better standard in the rares. That is why I always try to put a good Normal to a mutation – this makes the birds stronger.

My Normals came from two different lines namely, BA23 (Mr. Gerald Binks, U.K.) and RE 08 (Mr. Roger Reynders, Belgium).

Now I have also birds from German breeders Mr. Dieter Keller (100% Mannes line) and Mr. Gerd Bleicher (Anthracite line).

Every year I visit one of those breeders to obtain one or two outcrosses and, due to the mixing of bloodlines I used in my aviary from different breeders, I have developed new genes from Mannes and Moffat through the BA23 bloodline, Ormerod and Mannes through the RE 08 and Keller bloodline.

With that base I try to build up my own strong bloodlines.

For a few years I do not attend any of the shows with my birds in my country. The reason for that is a lack of time on my part and also a lack of co-operation within the Belgium clubs.

In Belgium we have 2 clubs. There is a lot of discussions and politics going on between those clubs and members – so I decided to leave that and concentrate only on breeding.

With the modern way of the Internet and websites I have no problems in keeping contact with breeders all over the world and selling my birds to countries like Germany, The Netherlands, France, U.K., Portugal and the U.S.A. (where I introduced the Slate).

I like to enjoy myself in this hobby and that is why I do this.

Slates

My first Slate came from a breeder in The Netherlands, who had stopped breeding Slates because of the lack of interest from the breeders in this mutation.

I concentrated on the normal Slates without darkfactor, one dark factor and two dark factors, I am getting rid of the Opalines because I do not like them.

Slate is a sex-linked variety, so if you want to start with Slates it is better to start with a visual cock or hen, just to be sure you have the mutation. Later on in your breeding program you can use split birds.

To improve the mutation I have never paired Slate to Slate and prefer to put a blue split cock to a slate hen.
It is also possible to breed Green series Slates – but in my opinion it is better to stay in Blue series birds.

Always avoid the grey factor as it masks the Slate. The Slate mutation is sex-linked.

Fallows

Breeding Fallows is a real challenge, not everyone is able to do this because it takes years of breeding to obtain a very good bird.

If you want to breed Fallows you must understand the differences between the three mutations:

• English Fallows
• German Fallows
• Scottish Fallows

Most common are the English and German Fallows.

English Fallows are supposed to have an iris ring with no white so the eye seems to be red. In fact, there is an iris ring but it is deep pink in color.

German Fallows, on the other hand, have a white iris ring and between the two mutations there is not much difference in body color.

Paring German and English Fallows together is not a good practice because the youngsters are all “black eyed” and split for German and English Fallow. The Fallow mutation is recessive.

Most Fallows are small birds, so when you are breeding this mutation you have to use your better Normal birds – this is why I said earlier that it is always good practice to breed back to a Normal.

I prefer not to use Cinnamon because I found that it did not improve the Fallow mutation.

In my breeding room I have only English Fallows and after 10 years of breeding I do not have the standard bird that you would expect.

In conclusion, I can say that the Fallow is a very attractive budgerigar, but is a bird for the experienced breeder.

Clearbodies

Here we have two types who are common, the Texas Clearbody and the Easley Clearbody.

The Texas Clearbody is sex-linked whilst the Easley Clearbody is dominant.

The Texas Clearbody is the most common variety to be bred in Europe. It has close links to the Ino mutation to which it is dominant.

An Ino cannot be split for Texas Clearbody, a Normal can be split for Texas Clearbody and Ino, but Texas Clearbody can be split for Ino.

In my aviary I have two different lines which can produce Clearbody. The first line is a mating between Clearbody and Ino, the second line is a combination between Clearbody and Normals.

Later on I have put the youngsters from the two lines together to produce a Texas Clearbody with the correct markings.

Texas Clearbody coming from the first line have a better yellow color but the wings are white, those coming from the second line have better wing markings and color on the flights. Putting them together gives me a bird who has a nice body color, good wing markings and a better standard.

I have had the Easley Clearbody in my aviary since 1999 and I am trying to breed a DF Easley Clearbody, so the challenge goes on.

Anthracites

Since 2007 I have introduced the Anthracite mutation in my aviary. You can read more about this in other articles on my website – didiermervilde.bestofbreeds.net.

Aviary

I have two aviaries, so to understand it better I will call them Aviary 1 and Aviary 2.

Aviary 1 is a wooden summerhouse with 20 breeding cages with no special facilities.

Aviary 2 has a wooden construction and isolated walls, tile floors and is just big enough to be managed on one’s own very effectively.

Inside the aviary I build breeding cages and a flight for the surplus birds and young. The breeding cages measure 30 x 30 x 80 cm, the inside flight is 4 by 6 metres.

In recent years I built a second flight which measures 3 by 3 metres.

I use outside boxes for the breeding cages and keep a record of all my birds on the computer so it is easy to see which pedigree and bloodline they have.

As seed I use a mix of 50% canary seed and 50% millets.

As additives I give Abidec (multi-vitamin solution) and Cytacon (vitamin b12 solution) – a product that I buy in the U.K. because in my country it is not available – and for the youngsters I use Biovit soft food. I also give grit and iodine blocs.

I give the additives continuously in the breeding season, and twice a week in the non-breeding season.

I give the soft food once a week in the non–breeding season, and every day in the breeding season.

An Enormous Challenge

Breeding rare budgerigars is certainly an enormous challenge.

After years of work and with a little luck, one day you will achieve success.

Enjoy your success and be aware that breeding budgerigars is a challenge but first of all it is a lovely hobby.

Photographs

All photographs below were kindly supplied to us by Didier Mervilde.

Click on any image to enlarge it.

Normal blue cock

Cinnamon blue cock

Australian yellowface blue cock

Full Crest cobalt hen
(Best Rare at the BBS show in 2007)

Lacewing yellow cock

Anthracite cock

Recessive Pied opaline blue cock

Normal Greygreen cock

Lutino cock

Normal grey hen

Recessive pied Opaline Cinnamon blue hen

Full Crest Opaline green hen

Dutch pied cobalt cock

Australian yellowface Opaline cobalt
recessive pied cock

Generally these are harmful and are the result of a pair of genes which have become altered from different effects so that the genes have changed.

These could be deformities such as by overdosing from radiation, but in our cases the classic mutations concern colour changes and the Feather Dusters.

The Blackface

In the 1990′s in The Netherlands, I saw a few strange birds in the stud of a Mr Van Dijk.

They had black faces and he had named them as such.

They were very fertile and the parents were split for blackface. For beginners, split means they were carrying the blackface feature, but not visibly.

I noticed that many of these split blackfaces were recessive pieds.

Naturally, I asked if I could buy a few, but this was refused even though they were very small birds and badly confined into cages that prevented them flying properly.

On my return home, it crossed my mind what would happen if any disease were to affect these birds?

Regrettably this is what did happen and all were to die. I wrote to Mr Van Dijk, but he did not reply.

What I did know was the genetic background was recessive. He had started with two blue blackface cocks that he spotted in a market stall which he bought immediately. He paired them to two normal grey hens which resulted in chicks that were all greys and blues in appearance.

The following breeding season the next round of breeding revealed all normals again but with black faces and striped bodies.

Sadly this line was lost, never to re-appear.

Today, I wish I could have had a few with which to experiment and take further, but it was not to be.

Please click on an image to enlarge it.

 

Blackface

Blackface

 

The Misty

A few years ago fanciers began to discuss a new mutation that had appeared in one aviary. I contacted the breeder, but he was unable to give me any accurate details about these birds and their genetic background from his “records”.

However, he did give me some photographs. Looking at them, it was difficult at first to understand what we were dealing with? Was it a mutation or not?

The fancier concerned was a Mr De Geest, so I bought a few of these birds this time to test breed with them.

Basically these birds possessed a 25% colour reduction on their feathering, so they were named “Mistys” from the start. This terminology is already used in some species of parrots.

I established that the Misty mutation is what is called an “incomplete-dominant factor” and shows itself in single and double factor forms.

It is difficult to see the difference between the single factor Mistys and the normal birds, but the cheek patch of the Misty variety is far darker.

Combined with cinnamon, the legs are also darker from a normal cinnamon. In the case of the Double Factor Misty, the body colour also lightens.

In conclusion, I believe that only the Double Factor Misty would be considered for the show bench – as we do with the Anthracite Budgerigars (also a mutation).

From the wing photograph below (click to enlarge it), we can see clearly the difference between a Misty Skyblue (left) and a Normal Skyblue (right). The wing feathers are darker in the Normal variety.

In the other photographs, we can see the differences between the Normal, Single Factor and Double Factor Misty examples. Such Misty birds can be paired in all colours but it is not advised that the cinnamon factor is involved.

Blue Misty

Dominant Pied Grey Misty

A normal Blue (left) with 3 Blue Misty DF (right)

Misty Pairings

SF = Single Factor; DF = Double Factor

1. Misty SF x Normal = 50% Normal + 50% Misty
2. Misty SF x Misty SF = 25% Normal + 50% SF + 25% DF
3. Misty DF x Normal = 100% Misty SF
4. Misty DF x Misty SF = 50% Misty SF + 50% DF
5. Misty DF x Misty DF =100% Misty DF

John did an initial simplistic presentation specifically for the Australian National Budgerigar Council to show where the Yellow Faced should sit within the Australian Matrix, just below the Normal blue series. Nigel expanded this presentation, inclusive of photos, percentages, examples and had John review to ensure that he was okay with the changes.

Each country MAY have the Yellow Faced variety ‘mixed’ with a particular variety, when we would argue that the Yellow Faced ‘Normal’ should be shown as the Yellow Faced in a class of its own and all others with a Yellow Face be exhibited within the variety.

I use as one example, the Albino. In Australia this is shown in the Yellow Faced class, we would argue that it is an Albino first, with a Yellow Face – thus should be shown as an Albino. This example could be used for all varieties in the blue series.

I trust fanciers enjoy the presentation and consider the reasons behind it.

To view the presentation, please click on the slide below (left).

Budgerigar.co.uk has received the following request from Dr Marc A. Noakes. Marc is an experienced geneticist who is researching the yellowfaced factor – and would like your help!

Here is his appeal – please help him if you can.

Dear All,

I am a friend of Ron Hunt (Australian national budgerigar judge) in Sydney, and an honorary member of the Australian Pied Budgerigar Society. I am also a molecular geneticist turned school teacher with a PhD in genetics. I have resumed breding budgerigars and zebra finches after several years absence in America (Washington State University) doing postdoctoral research on multiallelic, immunological and sex genes in salmon and trout.

I grew up in the Macarthur budgerigar club with Ron and have been involved in budgerigar breeding for about 30 years now. I breed birds to satisfy personal and research interests in the conservation of antique mutations and varieties, as well as to help my fellow breeders of budgerigars and zebra finches better understand the mechanisms of inheritance and small population management, including conservation.

The Budgerigar Society of NSW (BSNSW) has approached me to help clarify the present confusion in yellowface inheritance. I understand Peter Bergman’s 5 allele model and I am very familiar with multidomain proteins including heterodimers. However, Peter’s description of that model is incomplete and thus confusing. I am trying to simplify/clarify the model with the aim of making it more accessible to the general enthusiast who has a basic understanding of inheritance. This includes clarifying the relationship between the lemon/cream face mutation and the yellow/golden face mutation.

I am seeking clubs or individuals who are willing to provide information in the form of photographs, descriptions, annotations and breeding results.

If you are able to help, please download and read the “How to Help” PDF document. Then, e-mail me at the address below, or consider joining my Yahoo! group as this will make communication easier. Also, if you know someone (or another club/society) who would be interested in helping out can you please forward this message to them. In return I am happy to provide participants with copies of the survey findings.

I look forward your reply.

Sincerely

Dr Marc A. Noakes
Science Department
John Therry Catholic High School

If you can help, please read the “How To Help” document and contact Marc as follows: