by Harry Willis
Of the many varieties I have kept since starting up in
budgerigars over thirty years ago, Albinos have given me
considerable success having won best Albino at the B.S. Club
Show, the National Exhibition and the Specialist and Rare
Variety Show.
My method of breeding winners is based on line breeding or, as I
prefer to call it, "Family Breeding". The family approach can be
applied to any variety. Once a family is established, you have
the element of pedigree working in your favor. I have been able
to pair mediocre looking specimens from a very good family and
bred excellent youngsters. Any stud reaching for the top must
experiment. It has to be accepted that some experiments work and
others do not. If you have faith in the science of genetics, you
have a good chance of bringing out the excellent features that
you know to be in the family.
The beauty of the Albino lies in its lack of color and markings.
Breeding a pure white budgerigar is quite a challenge. Albinos
displaying blue suffusion have no place on the show bench, but
they can still be used as stock birds by pairing them with Grey
factor birds. An Albino cock with a Grey hen is an attractive
pairing because Albino hens are bred in the first generation.
All the young cocks are split Albinos and so are capable of
producing Red-eye chicks whatever they are paired with,
It is well known that Albinos that mask Grey are the ones that
most nearly approach the ideal coloration. However, anyone who
has paired two Greys together and bred a Blue will not be
surprised to learn that two pure white Albinos can occasionally
produce one that has blue suffusion. I believe that a Grey White
budgerigar has much to offer the Albino breeder as long as it is
a good budgerigar. Unfortunately, the same approach is not
easily transferred to Lutinos where the Grey factor tends to
detract from the deep golden yellow coloration that is so
necessary if they are to win.
Some breeders advocate the use of the Grey factor as though it
will solve all the color problems an Albino breeder has to face.
This is not so. Although it brings great benefits when
attempting to breed budgerigars with white bodies, it can also
introduce pale brown markings on the wings and mask. These are
sometimes incorrectly referred to as cinnamon markings. In fact
they are caused by traces of the intense black melanin carried
by Greys. So, dipping into the Grey should be undertaken only
with caution and not use as a regular mating.
Albinos of Grey White descent display snow white coloration
without incurring the problem of wing and mask markings.
Unfortunately there are not many good Grey Whites about so I
have set up my own line of Gray Whites, with, of course, the
added advantage of increasing the number of classes in which I
can exhibit.
So what happens when Lutinos are used to produce Albinos? In my
view, you can use Lutinos split blue which have sufficient
physical qualities to make them extremely useful in an Albino
breeding program. However, their further use in breeding Lutinos
could be disastrous because so much of their desirable rich
color is lost by the introduction of the blue factor.
Which brings me to the best mating of all, as long as the
partners have sufficient quality: Albino X Albino. This is the
pairing which can bring snow white coloration on a regular
basis.
Breeding Albinos is a very rewarding pastime which I would
recommend to anyone. There is ample scope for anyone wanting to
establish a stud and it has been made a more attractive
proposition now that the classes have been separated from
Lutinos and Albinos, and Albino now has its own Challenge
Certificate at Championship shows. Any keen fancier could make a
name for himself as a specialist as long as he forgets the
hazard method of pot luck pairings and concentrates instead on
selective breeding.
Within our fancy there are those who survive by buying.
Fortunately, there are others who get down to work and put their
skill into developing a breed. It is the skill of the breeder
that brings success.
