AV and I were talking to a bloke out our budgie club the other night who didn't quite understand what we were trying to do with the black budgie thing but he described the occasional black body feahters found on some birds as 'sport' feathers. He was pretty chatty so we didn't go into it further with him as we would have been there till midnight! Has nyone heard this term used before and know what it means?

I have heard of them.... some old guy told me about them.... okay so I have nothing to add. :hap:

Wow AV that was so helpful I'm just trying to work out if they are genetic and tend to be passed on to chick or whether they are as a result of damage to the skin on the budgie causing an excess of melanin, much the same way that damaged fish fins will go black while they are regrowing.

Sports are a word used in the Poultry breeding,Dirty white birds with black feathers here & there.

Are breed to blue & blacks,in the leghorn breed,to breed a nice soft blue colour.I don't know

it would be any help in the budgie breeding.Only more dirty birds.

So are they genetic then?

I think what they guy is talking a bout is the Feather. Like Norm's or Tb or Lone's bird ( sorry guys Can't remember which of you it was )

??? Sorry Neat I'm having a 'moment' and I don't get what you mean. He was referring to the single black feathers nothing to do with the shape of the feathers or anything.

Yeah not talking about shape .... The post had something to do with a single black feather on the birds chest .....

"member" is waiting for the molt to work out if it is a new mutation or a muddled gene

That's me, that's why I'm asking this question

 

This is her:

 

Hmmmmm, I think I have caught your brain frezze moments MB .....

I will need to look at the other picture that was posted too hahaha I think if memory serves me correctly ( never usually does lol) that the other member had a striped feather on the chest ....

SPORT… in this meaning is something that occurs suddenly that is different from the normal…they would probably have genetic meaning unless they came about by some sort of external damage.

Hmmmmm, I think I have caught your brain frezze moments MB ..... I will need to look at the other picture that was posted too hahaha I think if memory serves me correctly ( never usually does lol) that the other member had a striped feather on the chest ....

You must be thinking of Throwbacks Cinnamon with the breast stripes Neat, this could be called a Sport...but maybe it's also a Mutation. A Sport could be just another name for Mutation.

Thanks Norm

If you are geting excited about that feather,forget about it.If there were a dozen or so,maybe worth geting excited,

I'm not getting excited about that single feather I am asking about the genetics of black sport feathers, it's just the best example I have at the moment. We have been in contact with a breeder who has had birds turn up commonly with quite a few of these sorts of feathers and has offerred them to us so I'm tring to grow my own understanding of where they come from.

Every new colour/mutation that we see has to start somwhere. One feather today may lead to one feather in 20 years time or may lead to lots of feathers in 20 years time. Either way I know that I am going to have fun over the next few years and learn more about breeding and showing the birds.

 

If everyone said that nothing could come out of mutations then nothing would and we would not have crested Budgies or follows or a variety of colours that we have.

Usually (in mammals anyway) when damage occurs to hair (or feather) follicles the resulting hair (or feather) is white, because the melanin producing cells are damaged. Think freeze branding in horses. So I wouldn't think a black feather would be from damage. Hyperpigmentation can occur from various diseases, but i don't know if that affects feathers as well as skin, or if it is just one spot and I don't think Hyperpigmentation is particularly permanent, and it moves around (I think).

Thanks SW, that's very helpful. INteresting that in mammals it's white and in fish and amphibiams it's black

I don't know about amphibians and fish, so I can't really comment. I wonder what happens in reptiles, cause if they go white (which I think they do) then birds would go white upon damage. Because both mammals and birds originate from reptiles (birds are sometimes classified as reptiles (which I think is weird, because they are definitely different enough to have their own class) however I think they are classified separately most of the time).

Not sure about reptiles but I have a feeling they go black, I seem to have recollections of seeing a snake that had injuries and had black marks on it's skin as a result. Maybe I'll ask some reptile people.

I had a blue tounge that got it's toes chewed by a cat and they all went white.

Weird, I was just looking at images of injured reptiles and most seemed to be black. Maybe it also depends whether they are dragons or skinks...

SPORT… in this meaning is something that occurs suddenly that is different from the normal…they would probably have genetic meaning unless they came about by some sort of external damage.

Hmmmmm, I think I have caught your brain frezze moments MB ..... I will need to look at the other picture that was posted too hahaha I think if memory serves me correctly ( never usually does lol) that the other member had a striped feather on the chest ....

You must be thinking of Throwbacks Cinnamon with the breast stripes Neat, this could be called a Sport...but maybe it's also a Mutation. A Sport could be just another name for Mutation.

 

Yep yep, Was thinking of Tb's little Throwback ... But had MB's picture in my head ..... Deary me .....

I need to be able to empty my brain one day there is tooo much stuff in there ( hahaha YES I DO HAVE A BRAIN IN THERE) ... It's just on holidays ... For good

Then again different injuries produce different results