hi there, i had a dream last night that my budgie was a pygmy budgie - about the size of a finch or a grass wren type thing...

 

he had a tiny wee body with a small head but a lovely long tail still... sure it was a dream, but he really was totally adorable in that size. so adorable i could not stop thinking about it when i woke up... so here i am at 8am on a saturday morning typing this out!

 

is it possible to breed budgies selectively for smaller sizes? has anyone seen any genetic mutations that would support this idea/quest?

 

and can anyone foresee any problems - medical or otherwise - that may arise from this kind of selection?

 

love to hear what you think

:hap:

I LOVE WERID DREAMS HEHEHE .....

1stly OT :hap: ... Something new is about to happen to you with a wonderful outcome Look out for it .....

BACK ON TOPIC - Breed for small sizes, Well the Show breeders breed for large size s don't see why eventually we could not have mini Budgies there are mini cows, Horses, donkeys and anything else i really can't think of ...

Maybe breed a wild budgie ( Which is Completely smaller ) with a Norm ....

Also I have noticed that when I breed in summer the babies are smaller then those in winter .....

But I have no idea if this is possible But the thought is nice

Sounds like an awesome dream

 

I dont know about pygmy budgies but i have heard that the native australian wild budgie is about 4 1/2 inches long from top of its head to the tip of it's tail - thats smaller than my canary :hap:

 

Oh, and yes you could selectively breed smaller budgies - just the reverse of breeding bigger ones

Edited March 15, 200817 yr by **Liv**

Some of the inbred budgies you see at backyard breeders are tiny little things. But wild budgies arent that small- not the ones I have seen, just your average pet budgie size, I have budgies here smaller than a wild one

My green girl mozzie is small, a lot smaller then the rest. But I think that is more bad feeding as a baby then gentics. I have seen some really small ones at pet stores but I don't think it is somthing that anyone has really tried to breed

Edited March 15, 200817 yr by Angelic Vampyre

I guess it should be possible... My guess would be take your smallest han and smallest cock and breed them... then line breed until they were super small... as for medical problems... have no idea... is it possible that they could get so small the egg size would be to large?? I think the size of the egg would just decrease.. wouldn't it?

with every breeding program there can come problems, I wonder what genetics issues, possible life expectency shorter or longer?, healthier or weaker budgies would come out of breeding them for a smaller size? Along with personality would they be more "hyper" or "calmer" like the show budgie?

I have many Birds who're small... I do find you encounter Medical problems... They have more trouble passing eggs and are more likely to become egg bound. They Much more flighty than my big birds, but i have no idea on life expectancy of them as i've only owned them the last couple of years.

I don't think it goes by sepcific mutations, but in my aviary the smallest are 3 pet type opaline spangle hens (two are also cinnamon and 1 Yf)

I do not beleive it is opaline spangle genes specifically, because i have many other HUGE opaline spangles, but i have noticed that The smaller Pet type birds bred to other small pet type birds produce even smaller offspring.

So in theory, miniture budgies are very possible if Show breeders can get Large birds

I'll up load some pictures of the three tomorrow, with measurments next to a ruler to see how tiny they're

Also I was reading on another thread, wild budgies are alot smaller then show budgies and relatively smaller then typical pet budgies... so with that in mind I guess you could go out and catch a wild budgie and breed it with your smallest hen/cock, whatever your wild one wasn't... Just not sure how the wild one would be... possibly very aggressive towards the pet types... worth a shot though... only problem is I don't know how your going to catch the wild one either...

I have had wild ones in my hand and they were bigger than my small mongrel-bred pet birds, you'd be better off breeding the smaller pet ones together.

thanks everyone for the replies - all brilliant, thankyou.

 

i know that (generally speaking) domesticated budgies are bigger, but its mostly only show stock or breeders that go for that. my current budgie, kit, purchased in a pet store in edinburgh is not that big and perhaps only a tiny bit bigger than a bush budgie (wild).

 

i have seem many examples of how big domestic ones can get though, so yes i figured the genetics would allow to selectively breed smaller ones, but knew there would be medical issues.

 

and an egg bound hen is not great... very interested to hear more on what you think and if anyone is interested in going for this breeding experiment?

 

looking forward to your pics libby!

I have many Birds who're small... I do find you encounter Medical problems... They have more trouble passing eggs and are more likely to become egg bound. They Much more flighty than my big birds, but i have no idea on life expectancy of them as i've only owned them the last couple of years.

I don't think it goes by sepcific mutations, but in my aviary the smallest are 3 pet type opaline spangle hens (two are also cinnamon and 1 Yf)

I do not beleive it is opaline spangle genes specifically, because i have many other HUGE opaline spangles, but i have noticed that The smaller Pet type birds bred to other small pet type birds produce even smaller offspring.

So in theory, miniture budgies are very possible if Show breeders can get Large birds

I'll up load some pictures of the three tomorrow, with measurments next to a ruler to see how tiny they're

 

I agree with Libby here. On occasion I have had some small budgies too. These always without exception had other health issues...heart trouble or epilepsy. They didnt live very long.