VIOLET BUDGERIGARS – NOT A COLOUR IN ITSELF

By Maurice Roberts

 

Violet is not a colour in itself.  It can only be expressed as a beautiful visual tone when seen in combination with cobalt.  The colour character that causes it can be carried by all other varieties and as such the word ‘violet’ is used as a prefix when describing any bird possessing the violet character.  I must emphasise that the violet character is a dominant one and can be carried by a budgerigar in either single or double quantities.  A bird possessing it must show it in its plumage by altered colouration, with the exception of one case where it is seen as a visual violet colour.

 

Never ‘Split’

 

It is not possible for any budgerigar to carry the violet character in ‘split’ form.  In this respect it is very similar to the dominant grey character.  The vast majority of budgerigars that have the violet character in their genetic make-up, including the visual violets, are single factor birds.  This is due to the general desire of breeders to improve their violets by pairing them to good quality normals.  Occasionally a double factor violet is bred but in this article I shall consider all the violets I mention in various parings to be single factor specimens.  Both blue and green series birds can have the violet character but it will be appreciated that when the green series birds have the violet character, no visual violet shades can be produced.  Nevertheless, these green birds, or violet greens to give them their proper name, can be valuable in breeding violets and also help enrich the colour of the visual violets that they produce.

 

The violet character is inherited in the usual manner of all dominant varieties and when a single factor violet is paired to a non-violet bird, half of the young are single factor violets and half are non-violets.  Visual violets will appear only when combined with cobalt.   When a skyblue is mated to a single factor violet cobalt (visual violet) half of the young will inherit the violet character in single quantity but only half of these will possess the necessary dark character to make them visual violets.  The expectations from such matings are 25% skyblue, 25% violet skyblue, 25% cobalt and 25% violet cobalt.  One in four young from such pairings is a visual violet.  The theoretical expectations from single pairings can vary considerably from one extreme to the other.  It seems that when a fancier wants to produce visual violets many of the young in the nest will be either violet skyblues or ordinary cobalts.

 

Overall Accuracy

 

The theoretical expectations are accurate when a number of the same pairings are carried out, although it may appear to the breeder who keeps one or two pairs that the percentages are working against him.  It is possible to breed all visual violets in every nest provided one has the necessary stock birds.  By mating a double factor violet skyblue to a normal mauve, all the young will be violet cobalt single factor birds.  The reverse mating of double factor violet mauve to normal sky blue yields exactly the same result.  One can use both violet skyblue and violet mauve single factor birds when breeding visual violets.  In fact, if mated correctly, they will give a higher percentage of visual violets than visual violets themselves.  For example a single factor violet skyblue pared to an ordinary mauve will give 50% visual violets and 50% cobalts, as will the reverse mating of single factor violet mauve to normal skyblue.  From this it will be noticed that violet mauves are more useful in the breeding cage than visual violets.

 

In my opinion, if more violet skyblues and violet mauves were used, breeders would have a much greater chance of producing visual violets.   Some enthusiasts say it is difficult to recognise these violet-carrying budgerigars but I wonder if they realise that the birds in question have certain colour peculiarities not possessed by their non-violet-carrying counterparts.  The violet skyblues are frequently a pale cobalt colour, leaning more towards a hard blue shade with very deep violet cheek flashes and long bright blue tail feathers.   Violet mauves are usually a much brighter and more attractive colour than the majority of ordinary mauves.  Here again, the cheek flashes are very deep coloured as are the long tail feathers.  In addition they have violet flecking on their rump and flanks.  When seen beside their normal counterparts, both of these violet-carrying birds are easy to distinguish.

 

Because the birds of the green series have violet in their genetic make-up, recognition is certainly more difficult and it is often due to these birds that the surprise violets arrive, much to the mystification of their owners.  The outstanding feature of the violet green series birds is the evenness of their colour which gives the violet light green a dull dark green body shade and the violet dark green a very heavy dark green colour.  The few violet olive greens that have been produced were exceedingly dark and did not have that sandy shade which we usually associate with normal olive greens.  It may take a breeder some time to sort out these differences in violet green shades but once he has done so recognition becomes straightforward.

 

From various cross parings involving both green and violet budgerigars many birds are disposed of as ordinary green and blues.  These may come into the hands of breeders who by chance mate them up correctly and to their surprise violet birds appear in the nest.  Whenever a visual violet is bred from two non-violet parents, the owner can be certain that one of the parent birds must have the violet character in its genetic make-up.  It will be realised that there are many different pairings that can result in the production of the visual violet birds.  It may be in some cases that they do not appear until the second generations and this of course will puzzle a novice even more.  I have known the violet character introduced into a strain quite unknowingly by the owner using birds belonging to the albino, grey and green kinds, all carrying a single quantity of violet.  If these birds do not have any dark character either, the violet colouring will not show up visually until suitable crosses are made.  Because of this the violet character can be handed down in a strain and then suddenly put in an appearance when the right colour combinations are accidentally made.