i was wondering if anyone knew what patches indicated. in my last few clutches, over half of my babies have had patches on the back of their heads. i also have cocketiels and was told that patches on their heads meant that they were split to recessive trait (heterozygous) for body colour. is this the same for budgies and if so, which trait?

a clear patch on the back of the head means they are a pied bird even if the rest of the feathers are normal.

a dominant pied to be more specific like Merlin in my picture. If they have the pied spot it means they are a dominant pied it doesn't mean they are carrying the recessive pied gene.

 

I have read that about tiels and the genetics if different there.

a dominant pied to be more specific like Merlin in my picture. If they have the pied spot it means they are a dominant pied it doesn't mean they are carrying the recessive pied gene.

 

I have read that about tiels and the genetics if different there.

 

 

in cockatiels pied is recessive.

http://www.kirstenmunson.com/cockatiels/pied.html

thank lovely I should have added dominant pied to clear up confusion

hey guys , thanks for your responses. that helps me heaps and adds to my limited knowledge of budgie genetics.

One of my friends told me that if they have the spot on the back of their head it means that they only cary the gene for dominant pied, not that they ARE dominant pied. I didn't think this was true, is it? :glare:

Coz if they carried the dominant pied gene, since it is dominant over normal (or so I've read) then they would show the dominat pied markings, right?

Yup, that's right. :glare:

So a budgie with a spot IS a dominant pied?

Yup! :glare: