Bec Sta

Awesome! Pogo sounds like quite a character, good luck with taming him/her, looking forward to some pictures .

Wow, awesome cars!

Gorgeous budgies, I especially like Chantra & Athena .

That's priceless.

You go little Plucker! Show them you don't need feathers to be a 'big budgie' . I definitely think this is a case of 'it is so ugly it's cute', I mean look at that last picture

That's a fair point Bea .

What a great experience! And to work with all those animals . Cannot wait to see some pictures of the Kestrel.

Recently I have been reading up on budgies genetics, as after many months of research and preparation, I think I'm finally ready to begin breeding. I have studied 'human genetics' for the past 4 years, the last 3 years at high school and my first year of university and am attempting to translate that knowledge to budgie genetics. But most of the websites I have looked at are quite in depth and would be really confusing to someone who does not have a basic knowledge of genetics. So I thought I would make an attempt at explaining the very basics of genetics, and how they work. TERMS TO KNOW: General Terms: Allele: A gene, each allele 'carries' certain traits. Sex Chromosome: Determines sex. If I remember correctly, in birds the sex chromosomes are Z & W and the female is the heterozygote. So, the male = ZZ and female = ZW Homozygous/Homozygote: Has two identical alleles at a gene locus. Heterozygous/Heterozygote: Has two different alleles at a gene locus, apparently known in the budgie world as "Split for". EXAMPLE: Normal green budgie not split for blue, has alleles GG – this is homozygous Normal green budgie split for blue, has alleles Gg – heterozygous or 'split' Normal blue budgie, has alleles gg – homozygous. Phenotype: The outward appearance of the budgie. Genotype: The genes of the budgie. Mutation: A heritable change in the genetic material, or an 'accident' in the genes, as such it is probably fair to say that all budgies types bar the 'wild type' are 'mutations'. Types of Inheritance: Dominant: A particular trait that is visible in the homozygote and the heterozygote. One way to remember it is, dominant genes 'block' recessive gene's so that you can't see them. Recessive: The trait is only seen in the recessive homozygote (such as in the normal blue budgie, with the genes = gg) Sexlinked: Can also be either dominant or recessive, however the genes are located on the sex chromosomes (either on the Z or W) There are other types of inheritance as well, such as Incomplete dominance or Co-dominance, but, for basic genetics, we do not need to worry about them yet. PUNNET SQUARES: These are actually quite fun to do and are useful in helping to predict what your budgies offspring may look like. Starting very simple, we will do a monohybrid cross, all this means is that it is a cross between two budgies involving one trait. For the monohybrid crosses I will use 'base colour' as an example. Green Budgies (yellow-based) are dominant to blue budgies (white-based) So the genes we will use are: G = green g = blue Cross Number 1: A normal green cock x A normal green hen split to blue So the genes will be = GG x Gg Offspring: Phenotype = 100% Green Budgies Genotype = 50% homozygous dominant 50% split for blue Cross Number 2: A normal green cock split for blue x A normal green hen split for blue Gg x Gg Offspring: Phenotype = 75% Green 25 % Blue Genotype = 25% homozygous dominant 50% split for blue 25% homozygous recessive Now it gets a bit trickier, with the dihybrid cross. This is still a cross between two budgies but for two traits. For the dihybrid cross I will use 'base colour' and spangle wing pattern. Green Budgies are dominant to blue budgies and Spangle is dominant to normal. So the genes we will use are: G = green g = blue S = spangle s = normal Cross Number 3: A spangle green cock x A normal blue hen SSGG x ssgg Okay, this is the trickest part, working out what to cross. Take the first set of genes, SSGG, Cross the first S with the first G, then the first S with the second G. You will end up with SG and SG Then cross the second S with first G, then the second S with the second G. Now you have four - SG, SG, SG, SG. These go across the top of your punnet square. Repeat the process with the second set of genes (ssgg) You should end up with four – sg, sg, sg, sg. These go down the side of your punnet square. Offspring: Phenotype:100% Green Spangles Genotype: 100% split for normal 100% split for blue Now we will do a sex-linked monohybrid cross. Using opaline wing pattern (which has to be on the Z chromosome, as it is observed in both males and females.) So opaline males will be ZO ZO Opaline females will be ZO W Cross Number 4: A opaline cock x A normal hen ZO ZO x Z W Offspring: Phenotype = Males: 100% normal Females: 100% Opaline Genotype = Males: 100% split for opaline Females: 100% opaline Cross Number 5: A cock split for opaline x an opaline hen Z ZO x ZO W Offspring: Phenotype = Males: 50% Opaline 50% Normal Females: 50% Opaline 50% Normal Genotype = Males: 50% Split for opaline 50% homozygous opaline Females: 50% normal 50% opaline Notes: * Use the same letter, a capital and lower case, for one trait. Example, G = green & g = blue. Do not use different letters, such as G = green & b = blue, because you will confuse yourself, especially if you are doing a dyhybrid cross. * When using a letter where the capital and lower case look almost identical make a mark on one so you can differentiate (I put a little stroke on my capital S in the dyhybrid cross) * With Sex-linked crosses, make sex chromosome letters larger and the trait letters smaller. * Remember that each cross represents what one chick may be, i.e. if your punnet square tells you that 75% of your offspring will be green and 25% will be blue, that means that for every chick that hatches there is a 75% chance it will be green and a 25% chance it will be blue. It does not mean that if you have four chicks hatch, 3 (75%) will be green and 1 (25%) will be blue. A pair could have 100 chicks and every single one could be green, conversely every single one could also be blue. That's the fun of genetics! I hope that helped a little bit and didn't make anyone even more confused! (And if I made any mistakes please let me know.)

Oh no! I'm so sorry Kaz. :oliveb: Little ones.

Fizzy: "Well, I tried to tell you plastic surgery was no good for you, but you refused to listen!"

Thanks for sharing! Looks like it could be alot of fun, though I do love the 'mess and fuss' that comes with creating your own drawings :hap: .

Will have to give that a go....thanks for the tip :hap: .

Awesome, I bet Shandy will love it .

I think that sounds fantastic! You'll have to post some pics when it's completed . The only thing, with the 'natural floor', dirt can be a haven for bacteria, especially if it gets damp and mixed with urine & faeces.

They are gorgeous bubs Kaz! Beautiful colours .

Thanks for the welcome everyone. If they can be sexed really young, how can I tell. One of the more experienced members will be better able to answer your question, but it is my understanding that budgie baby males have a deep pink cere, evenly coloured where as the females have white-ish coloured 'rings' around their nostrils. And of course there are exceptions to the rules, such as in the lutino, albino and recessive pied.

Hi and welcome to you and your flock Laraine .

Good to hear you are slowly winning the battle. Though if you find a solution let us know! (Laughing out loud) I've started to get lots of ants in the aviary, they are going after the veggies. I have taken to squirting them with the hose, but it isn't a great long-term solution.

That really is amazing he survived so long. I'm very sorry to hear the little one didn't make it, though he obviously put up one h*** of a fight! :sad:

Your budgies are beautiful.

Hi and welcome to the forum Craig and co, you're aviary looks great, looking forward to seeing the new one .

Shandy, a beautiful name for a beautiful puppy. And I think those are always the best names, the ones that just randomly pop into your head .

Adorable, and such beautiful colours too!

They are gorgeous and they look very happy.

Congrats, all your budgies are very cute.