My pet tufted light green opaline boy and his mauve normal hen have six pretty babies at the moment, incredibly all the blue series babies are a most beautiful shade of violet .

 

 

Number one - violet normal crested cock

 

 

Number 2 - violet normal cock

 

 

Number 3 - light green normal cock

 

 

Number 4 - green normal crested cock (this was the best I could do at showing the crest forming)

 

 

Number 5 - green cinnamon opaline hen

 

 

Number 6 - green normal cock

 

that tuft is just too cute MB, thank you for sharing, and you are right the blue coloration is beautiful, congrats.

And as usual Elly the camera never does that colour justice

looking good MB! So bring me up to speed on the crested gene... does it work just like the other recessive gene's? I am guessing it is recessive...

No crested is what they call an irritating gene You can breed two cresteds together and get no crested babies and you can breed a crested to an uncrested and get crest babies even if one of the parents isn't a carrier. In this case these two simply paired up in the aviary and I threw them in together, the hen doesn't carry the gene at all. Best to just not think too hard about this one Jimmy

Oh MB! I love them! I take dibs on the first one if you ever get rid of him.

Not going anywhere I am trying to build a pet type flock of all crested and crest-bred birds. In this case I will be rehoming two of the three uncrested cocks and keeping the two crested cocks, the crestbred hen and one of the crestbred cocks.

No crested is what they call an irritating gene You can breed two cresteds together and get no crested babies and you can breed a crested to an uncrested and get crest babies even if one of the parents isn't a carrier. In this case these two simply paired up in the aviary and I threw them in together, the hen doesn't carry the gene at all. Best to just not think too hard about this one Jimmy

 

So really it would be possible for any of your crest bred normals to have crested babies? Wow that would be hard to keep track of... have a good time with that

Yep. Basically to get the most crested babies you would breed two crested birds together BUT these chicks tend to be small and possibly lacking a bit in general vigour. The most recommended pairing is crested to crest bred as that will give a very good percentage of crested babies while helping to keep the size and health up. Crested to non-crestbred will still give a smaller percentage of crested babies as seen here and crestbred to non- crestbred will still throw the odd one. There is a whole extra drama then with genes contributing to whether birds are tufted, half crested or full crested

Perhaps you can clear something up for me.

 

You said pairing crested to crested results in smaller birds - much like breeding recessive to recessive. I read somewhere that the breeding of crested to crested results in high chick mortality rates, as in more of these chicks die. Is that ture or just a budgie breeding urban myth?

In all honesty Dave I don't think anyone really knows for sure. It is generally believed that chicks may be less healthy so yes this could lead to higher mortality rates if conditions were not optimal for the birds.

In all honesty Dave I don't think anyone really knows for sure. It is generally believed that chicks may be less healthy so yes this could lead to higher mortality rates if conditions were not optimal for the birds.

 

okay, thanks for the swift reply.

 

Very cute little ones by the way

And as usual Elly the camera never does that colour justice

so true

Perhaps you can clear something up for me.You said pairing crested to crested results in smaller birds - much like breeding recessive to recessive. I read somewhere that the breeding of crested to crested results in high chick mortality rates, as in more of these chicks die. Is that ture or just a budgie breeding urban myth?

if you do a search, I know in another MB post about breeding crested I posted an article about breeding them.

I think that was in the post about my "present to myself" when I bought my new crested pair

MB they are adorable Especially the 1st one!

Edited December 28, 200816 yr by bird_paradise

I just can't believe my luck that out of six babies I only got one hen! That might sound harsh but when you are breeding for the pet market it's a blessing

I do find it interesting that people prefer males over females... I guess if they are easier to tame and stuff like people say though...

Personally I think it's all down to the temperament of the individual bird, that oldest one that everyone thinks is so cute squarks at me and carries on like a pork chop every time Icome near the nest box whereas the little hen just sits in my hand and looks sweet.

Yep. Basically to get the most crested babies you would breed two crested birds together BUT these chicks tend to be small and possibly lacking a bit in general vigour. The most recommended pairing is crested to crest bred as that will give a very good percentage of crested babies while helping to keep the size and health up. Crested to non-crestbred will still give a smaller percentage of crested babies as seen here and crestbred to non- crestbred will still throw the odd one. There is a whole extra drama then with genes contributing to whether birds are tufted, half crested or full crested :hooray:

Whoa :hooray: . This is another old topic I'm digging up, but I'd love to see how your cresteds turned out all grown up MB?

 

The more I read about cresteds, the more fascinated I am. I think I'm in love :hooray:. I'd love any help you could offer with breeding them please :hooray: .

Nevermind, scrap that last question. After reading articles on the genetics of cresteds, I've learned a lot and still want to learn more.

 

:boogie: