I picked this ittle guy up the other day as he caught my eye due to his strange colouring. He is blotchy. He clearly has a blue (looks to be cobalt in his light patches) but then the rest of him is grey , particularly on his rump where he is a deep slate blue grey.

 

 

As you can hopefully see in the photo on his chest there are some patches where the blue areas are. He is definately not mauve, the camera makes him look bluer as it tends to, in real life he looks nearly dark grey but with a blue tinge.

 

He isn't a baby, has his iris rings, nearly a year old I think so I don't think any more colour is going to develop.

 

Before anyone asks he is a grey wing not cinnamon

 

Piccy might help :hap:

Edited July 14, 200817 yr by melbournebudgies

He is a pretty colour isn't he.

My first impression was he was moulting. He looks young to me about 6-8 months :hap:

But a blue bird still won't turn grey when it moults!

I say he is a mauve greywing and agree with Liv on the age :hap:

He is definately not mauve. The grey areas are grey, not mauve, the blue areas are blue, other than on his rump the two don't meet..

Any grey blues and blue greys are defined as mauve. There are heaps and heaps of shades of mauve. I would be surprised if he was anything else as others I have had that colour have also been described as mauve. But greywing could be throwing the colour off a little depending on if he is full colour greywing or half strength body colour.

But why is half of him grey and half blue then, shouldn't his colour be even?

Here is Rocky...a cinnamon mauve boy I had and very much in colour like your new boy...patchy too :hap:

 

Edited July 14, 200817 yr by KAZ

I agree, greywing mauve and young even though he's got iris rings and a clear cap i'd still say 6-8 months.

I really don't have a clue on this sort of thing, but he looks the same age as my Coco, about 7 months old. Very cute He had iris rings when I bought him as a wee baby

However in the picture his grey looks really grey, like black grey, not like mauve. Kaz, your Rocky looks different to me.

MB post pictures of his rump, his wings etc etc.

A bluish grey or a greyish blue budgies IS a mauve budgie. There are so many shades of mauve you will get variance with it. I will do some pictures later of all my mauve budgies so you can see the level of variations.

From a show brreders point of view they dont talk mauves anyway...there is grey and there is blue series. And birds that look to us like a YF Grey are called YF blue. Very confusing.

Whatever you call it the grey really is grey and his blue is really blue like SW said. The grey is the same shade as the grey on his tail and the blue is a very definate light cobalt colour.

 

I'll take photos soon once the kids are asleep.

Edited July 14, 200817 yr by melbournebudgies

Blue in his body and blue throat cheek patches confirm him being a mauve. The grey in his body won't change anything.

AH HUH!

 

And I thought I was the one with a Slate that everyone calls a Mauve!

I now understand the whole and Blue grey is a mauve!!!

However if you take into account of the the Slate discription

Slate

Slate is a color-adding factor similar to grey and violet. Slate produces a very dark bluish grey in white-based budgies. The darkness of the slate varies slightly according to the dark factor of the bird. Slate, like violet, can be present in a green (yellow-based) budgie, but only produces a darkening effect. True slate only appears on blue (white-based) budgies. This variety is extremely rare.

Basic Genetics:

Sex-linked (on the x-chromosome)

Then Beacause it is a GREYWING!

Dilution

In addition to a dark factor, budgies may also have a degree of dilution. There are four types of dilution: greywing, full-body-color greywing, clearwing, and dilute. Greywing budgies have grey markings on head and wings instead of black, and the body feather color is about 50% diluted (washed out). Full-body-color greywing budgies have the same grey markings of the greywing but the body color is brightened (not lightened or diluted). Clearwing budgies have very light or no markings on head and wings and the body color is brightened (not lightened or diluted). Dilute budgies are washed out all over. The head and wing markings are very light, and the body color is about 80% diluted (washed out). Without any dilution, the budgie looks like the normal budgies seen above.

 

Basic Genetics:

Normal - dominant

Greywing - recessive, co-dominant with clearwing

 

This is why the colors are muddled up!!!!

 

So we all know that I am not the King pin on mutations however the above explains alot

 

 

An Raven Gypsy has a Cobalt slate ...

 

 

Must admit though the lines running across his belly are COOL!

That still doesn't really explain why the colour is blotchy though. Good info though, thanks.

Blochy ...maybe their is pied in there gene somewhere??

he's blotchy because he's young. As he gets older it'll even out.

Ahhh - Thanks Libb, I was straning my braing thinking, and well it kinda hurt

I agree with Kaz he is a mauve and there are many different shades of mauve, I would wait and see how he continues to molt out personally. He looks like a Mauve Fullbody Greywing.

Edited July 15, 200817 yr by KAZ