Meeting Report update...

Article by Sally O'Dwyer

“Rares” was the topic of the last Maryland Budgerigar Society (MBS) club meeting.  Members brought a number of Budgie varieties to the meeting so we could view them and talk about the pros and cons of breeding and showing them.  Stuart Sacks and Dave Collier led the discussion about rares. Kitty Newman shared her extensive experience in breeding Recessive Pieds. I am no expert by any means regarding rares, but I thought it might be helpful to share a little about rares and what we learned at the meeting.  

There was much discussion about what actually constitutes a rare. No one was able to come up with a really good definition. The American Budgerigar Society (ABS) classifies the following varieties as rare: Greywing, Clearflighted, Clearbody (Easley and Texas), Yellow, White, Clearwing, Recessive Pieds, Crested, Red Eye Lacewing, Fallow, Black Eyed Clear, and Composite (any two or more varieties listed on the Composite list—one of which must be a rare variety.)  Most of the varieties classified as rare by the ABS are those varieties carried by a recessive gene. (Exceptions are Red Eye Lacewing, Texas Clearbody and Crested—although Crested may also be recessive.)  

In a recessive variety, both parents must be carrying the gene to produce a visual offspring.  The parents may be visually recessive or splits, which carry the mutation but are not visually recessive—meaning they do not look like the rare variety.  Visually recessive parents bred to each other will produce 100% visual offspring.  Split for recessive parents bred together will produce a percentage of visuals, splits and normals. For a good article that explains recessive inheritance in Budgerigars by Michael Stewart Christian, go to http://www3.sympatico.ca/davehansen/recesive.html. Please also see Steve Holland’s informative, in depth article on Raising Rares in a Normal Stud at www.marylandbudgies.org.

Davie Collier, premier Budgerigar Society Judge and esteemed MBS member had a word for those considering dabbling in rares: beware!  Dave warns individuals thinking about  breeding a rare or two that they will not be competitive in the rare division unless they have outstanding normal birds to breed them to.  Breeding quality rares takes time as breeding rare to rare (for example, yellow/yellow) usually results in inferior offspring of poor size. Therefore, a rare should be paired with a top quality normal to produce the best possible splits. This is potentially a waste of the best bird in the stud, as the best bird should be reserved to be bred with another superior bird to continue the breeder’s line of quality budgerigars. The splits (which should be from different of sets parents) must be bred back together to each other to produce the rare variety. This means that the breeder will have to have a number of splits in the aviary.  Producing a recessive variety will take at least two breeding seasons, so careful planning is a must.  Most of us have limited space in our flights and never enough breeding cages, so raising rares will result in us giving up precious cage space. By reserving cages for the rares, the breeder effectively reduces the number of cages that can be used to produce top quality normals, which is key to moving ahead in the hobby. 

Dave gave his perspective on judging the rares and emphasized that in order for a Budgie to win in any division, including rare, it must first be a quality Budgie. Most important in judging any Budgie, rare or normal, is the bird’s size, shape, deportment, balance, head size and mask, etc.  Dave points out that the Budgerigar Society created a scale of points as a guide for judges which underscores the importance of the overall conformation of the Budgie relative to color.  Size, shape, balance and deportment are worth 35 points. The size and shape of head including mask and spots is worth 25 points.  These elements add up to 60 points.  Color is worth a mere 15 points and variety markings are worth 25 points.  Lutino/Albino, Dark Eyed Clear, Yellow and Double Factor Spangles can be awarded 40 points because they have no variety markings.  Each bird can earn up to 100 points.    

Nevertheless, with all this said, if the breeder has their heart set on getting into the rares, the breeder should enjoy themselves and embrace the challenge.  Dave says “pick what you want, go out and get it and work hard on it and eventually, you will succeed.” Dave adds, “You are the one that has to go down and feed them, so make sure they are what you like.” John Miles, another wonderful judge and expert variety classifier, says that if he were starting out in rares, he would pick a section where not too many birds are shown like Crests, Blackeyed Clears or Fallows. He adds that this stock will be hard to find.  John advises that the wing series birds are difficult because so many of them are mixed up. He is talking about Greywings, Clearwings, Whites and Yellows.

If you are interested in moving beyond the normals but don’t want to sacrifice quality in your aviary, consider incorporating one or more of the dominant varieties, such as Dominant Pied, Spangle, Dark Factor, Violet, or Yellow Face (to the blue series).  Dominant genetic factors are passed on visually to some of the offspring by either parent. How about trying a sex linked variety, such as Cinnamon, Opaline, Lutino/Albino?  In sex linked varieties, only the cock can produce visual offspring.  If only the cock is of the sex linked variety, only the hen offspring will be visually the same as the cock.  If the hen is visual and cock is normal, the male offspring will be split and none of the offspring will be visual.  Finding quality birds that carry dominant or sex linked genetic factors for sale is easier that finding quality rares. They are also easier to reproduce. As long as the bird you add to your line is of good quality, you should be able to maintain a stud of quality birds.