I hope it's okay to link to this site but have a look at this guys halfsiders. He lives in Cairo http://www.budgerigars.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=10778

 

Pied one side and normal the other as well as Lutino one side and normal the other.

That is very cool - two birds in one - WOW!!

 

My understanding is The halfsider is not a genetic thing, but as a result of an injury to the developing embryo. so that person will not breed halfsiders from thoes birds.

 

Very interesting

I was just under the impression is was a genetic screw up where there genes and such combined or didn't seperate or something...

The info I have seen is that it is basically the reult of two embryos fusing at a very early stage, so a halfsider is exactly two birds in one

You too could be a chimera and not know it!!!

I just read a article that says their sterile. ---> HERE

 

And it also has a picture of a halfsider; Half of it is a FEATHER DUSTER GREY GREEN, and the other side is a NORMAL LIGHT GREEN - WOW!! Bizzar!!!

You too could be a chimera and not know it!!!

Smiling here. Remembering that the original Chimera from Greek Mythgology was reputed to have the head of a lion, the body of a she-goat, and the tail of a dragon.

I just read a article that says their sterile. ---> HEREAnd it also has a picture of a halfsider; Half of it is a FEATHER DUSTER GREY GREEN, and the other side is a NORMAL LIGHT GREEN - WOW!! Bizzar!!!

Well Atef has already dispelled that. He put his Lutino based halfsider hen with an Albino cock and got two offspring. A Lutino and Albino. So the theory of them being sterile is not true.

His next plan is to put the two halfsiders together to see what he gets.

 

This man also has some extremely good crested budgerigars http://www.budgerigars.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=10706

Edited June 5, 200817 yr by Derek

Yeah, greek mythology or perhaps the stories of an ancient civilisation with advanced technology that created genetic monsters by mixing stuff up in a lab. Truth stranger than fiction...

Very interesting Derek, thanks for posting

halfsiders are so neat

Halfsiders are called tetragametic chimerism. This is when two zygotes or embryos of two completely different sets of DNA fuse at a very early stage to become one animal. Chimera humans exist. They just have patches where DNA is different to other patches.

Thus is it likely that a hermaphrodite bird could be caused this way then it would probably be sterile, but not necessarily.

No reason for a halfsider to be sterile, they would still have the reproductive organs. The question remaining is: are their reproductive organs from 2 sets of DNA or 1. No matter what a gamete would only be one set of DNA, so a baby would not have halfsider written into its DNA, but could be more predisposed to it occurring or in its offspring.

 

The lutino halfsider may not necessarily be halfsider, she could have a condition causing her to loose her pigment like vitiligo, or be a new kind of pied mutation. Pied is just large areas of absence of pigmentation.

 

The first one is definately a halfsider though.

The interesting thing would be that halfsiders may be more common than we know as there would be many birds that are halfsiders with two sets of DNA but the two sides happened to be the same colour. For instance both embryos were destined to be green budgies, but are different birds of course.

Edited June 6, 200817 yr by Sailorwolf

amazing colours