Postati: 06 ottobre 2005 at 07:57 | IP Logged

THE BLACKFACE BUDGERIGAR
A new mutation

by Didier Mervilde
photos by D. Van den Abeele

In 1998 I read an article about "blackface" budgerigars in a magazine from the Netherlands, because of my interest of new mutations I wonder if the breeder would let me see these birds. I had to wait until September 1999 to make an appointment with Mr. Van Dijk and after a trip of 4 hours we finally arrived. What we saw was small pet type budgerigars but so different from what we usually expect.

It was in 1992 that Mr. Van Dijk discovered two blue cocks with black undulated masks and black striped markings on their breast. He decided to buy the birds and breed with them. The first year the birds were mated to normal grey hens. Out of these matings normal blues and greys were produced. During the second year he mated the young hens back to the original cocks; only one pairing produced a few blackfaces.

After test mating, Mr. Van Dijk concluded that the mutation was recessive. For the moment there is no evidence that the mutation is linked to any other mutation, the fact is that in the offspring we found some recessive pieds and even one blackface with a white spot on the head. According to Mr. Van Dijk breeding blackfaces is not so easy. For the moment his stock contains about 13 blackfaces and many "splits" or I must say "maybe splits".

To establish this mutation to a good standard standards will take a lot of time, and it would be helpful if Mr. Dijk let other breeders take some of his blackfaces to work with. In my opinion this is the only way to ensure the continuation of the mutation. I asked myself what would happen if his birds became ill? The mutation could disappear and perhaps the way to breed black budgies in the future along with it.

Possible matings:

Blackface x normal = 100% normal / blackface

Normal/blackface x normal/blackface = 25% normals, 50% normal/blackface, 25% blackface

Blackface x normal/blackface = 50% normal/blackface, 50% blackface

Normal/blackface x normal = 50% normal, 50% normal/blackface

Blackface x blackface = 100% blackface

COSA NE DITE BELLI VERO SPERIAMO SI FFONDINO

Postati: 06 ottobre 2005 at 07:58 | IP Logged

A new mutation can be add to the long list of existing mutations in the Budgerigar: the blackface. According to the phenotype of this mutant, this name seems to be the most appropriate. Therefore the name blackface is proposed.
Where and when this mutation origionally was derived cannot be ascertained, but it is almost for sure that it was in the Netherlands. In any way, the blackface discussed here was discovered in The Netherlands.

The facts:
Mr. Van Dijk, a Budgerigar breeder from the Netherlands, discovered two blue cocks having black undulated masks and black striped markings at their abdomen, amongst a wide range of varieties at a bird-market. He decided to buy the birds to breed with them and find out if the trait was a modification or inheritable.
In the first year the cocks were mated to normal Australian grey hens. Out of these matings normal greys and skyblues were derived, cocks as well as hens. During the second year Mr. Van Dijk mated the young hens back to the original cocks. Only one mating - original blackface cock x F₁ (grey) hen - produced offspring from which a few were blackfaced.
After the second breeding season it was almost certain that the blackface mutation resides on an autosome and is recessive to the wildtype. The testmatings Mr. Van Dijk carried out so far, confirm this point of view. At this moment there are no indications that the mutation is linked to any other known mutation in the Budgerigar.
Mr. Van Dijk observed a much darker body colour as opposed to normal birds split blackface [2]. A blue blackface without darkfactor is showing a considerable darker blue colour as is seen in normal cobalt blue Budgerigars. In grey blackface speciments without darkfactor, a comparable darkening of the bodycolour is observed as opposed to normal grey birds. In green blackfaces the same phenomenon has been observed. By the way, all green blackfaces died. Only a few pictures are left. At this moment Mr. Van Dijk has one cinnamon-blackface, naturally with a brown mask and ditto striped markings on the abdomen.
It was told by Mr. Van Dijk that the first two cocks bought in 1992 must have had a common recessive pied ancestor, because several recessive pieds were found in the offspring. In the passed five years several younsters were bred with a small headspot suggesting they are split for recessive pied. Breeding blackfaces is, according to Van Dijk, not as easy as one would like [2].

For this new mutation the symbol bf is proposed, derived from the English name given to this mutation. The wildtype symbol is bf ⁺.

Possible matings:

1. blackface x blackface = 100% blackface

2. blackface x normal/blackface = 50% normals/blackface and 50% blackface

3. blackface x normal = 100% normal/blackface

4. normal/blackface x normal/blackface = 25% normals, 50% norm./blackface and 25% blackface

5. normal/blackface x normal = 50% normal and 50% normal/blackface

Matings 4 and 5 are not recommanded because one cannot see which youngsters are split blackface and which are not.

Expectations:
Breeding blackfaces is, according to Van Dijk, not very easy. His stock contains about twelve blackfaces and some split blackfaces and "maybe" splits. It will take some time for this mutation to establish and will become available to a wider range of breeders. That is understandable, but on the other hand risky because if a fatal disease affects this stock or another disaster takes place, there is a chance the mutation will disappear again.
On the long run, when sufficient birds are available, one could possibly achieve a smooth colour of the "mask" and body, and what to think of a fully coloured black belly-spot?
If this is indeed a possibillity we will have to wait to see what happens in the future.

Note from the MUTAVI Research and Advice Group:
This mutation could be residing in the neural crest just like recessive pied. It could even be possible that bf is an allele of recessive pied (s). Therefore it is recommanded to carry out testmatings between blackface and recessive pied. It is obviously a pigment distribution factor resulting in some kind of melanism [1,3,4]. We have not seen these birds alive but we hope this mutation will become available soon for further investigation and testmatings.

Postati: 06 ottobre 2005 at 09:49 | IP Logged

Praticamente una nuova mutazione "faccia nera"... . Interessante, anche se di per sè il nero non giova alla bellezza dei colori d'insieme... .

Io sto ancora aspettando che mi spunti la mutazione in ROSSO: allora sì che divento ricco...slurp...sigh...

Postati: 06 ottobre 2005 at 13:53 | IP Logged

quando avro un piccolo lo coloro di rosso

sai miliardi !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!

e poi le cause....

Postati: 06 ottobre 2005 at 13:56 | IP Logged

su di noi nemmeno una nuvola su di noi.............................

addesso sto ascoltando pupo

be quandoi il mio bel faccino fare apparizione su i giornali11POTRETE DIRE IO LO CONOSCO..................

SAI CHE BELLO.......................