Breeding Albino Budgerigars,
The Faults that can occur
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| I have been breeding Albino Budgerigars now for five years. I started with a pair I bought from a local breeder. I broke all my own rules and paid a fair bit of money for them. The cock bird was very nice, but showed the fault of blue suffusion. I knew this when I bought the bird. The hen was also nice and showed just a touch of blue across her breast depending on the light. |
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I bred these birds the first year but was only able to breed 1 cock and 1 hen from the pair. These birds were very nice although they both show the blue suffusion. I exhibited the young cock bird and he continually won his class but won nothing greater. The second breeding season, I went back to the same breeder and bought a second pair of related birds. These I paired with the two youngsters. I bred the original pair together again. At the end of the second season I had quite a good stock, which looked better than their parents but most of which showed the blue suffusion. |
| The following year I decided to try line breeding. I had no great understanding of line breeding but I went on to pair up the birds. Because of the relationship of the second pair, I felt I was not breeding them to close. By the end of the third year, I had a major problem with the colour of the birds. The birds themselves were of good size and shape, had good feathering and looked fair on the show bench. They were also very blue. |
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At the beginning of the fourth year I decided to breed two opaline grey hens with two of my best Albino cock birds. That year I got albino hens straight away, but the colour on these birds was still blue. I also got a percentage of normal grey cock birds which were split for albino. At the end of that year because there had been no great improvement I decided to sell the majority of my albino stock on to the pet trade. I kept one Albino hen and one Normal-Split for Albino cock to breed the following year. |
| I purchase new stock
the following year to breed. They were of excellent colour showing no blue at all. I bought two sister hens from one breeder and two related cock birds from another. I have paired them up last year and I have bred some lovely birds, all of good colour and size. I have also bred the Albino hen I retained from last year, to the normal grey split. I thought that maybe the colour would improve. It did slightly but not enough. The birds still showed the blue suffusion. I have since sold the rest of that line to the pet trade and I am going to concentrate on the new stock I have. |
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I think my greatest mistake was in the line breeding. I bred together two related bird which both showed an inherent fault. By breeding these birds together the fault was so deep rooted it was impossible to breed out. I hope if you read this you will not make the same mistake as I did. I will not make the same mistake again. If I find any of my albino show any blue again then that particular bird will not be used to breed with. |
| On the next page is a Breeding Chart which I work from which shows the exceptions of the birds you breed. |
