The magic of genetics in the Catherine parakeet

This species offers a wide range of colors ( mutations ). Green, blue, lutino, cremini, white, and purple with or without dark factors. Without forgetting the Gray Wings…

In short, this represents ten dozen mutations… I will come back to this subject in more detail shortly.

For an enthusiast like me, it’s perfect. On the other hand, obtaining certain mutations is not so easy.

Working on genetics in the Catherine parakeet 

Objective 1

To work on the Catherine parakeet mutations, I first had to set goals. The first objective was to obtain my own strain with birds born in my breeding to constitute my own pairs with well-defined combinations.

Behind this first step, there was a lot of investment at all levels. Time, research, selection, and of course the financial side.

Objective 2

Once the first goal had been reached, I moved on to the next step. This consisted of obtaining two very specific mutations. These are the ino mutation and the turquoise-ino mutation known as cremino.

Before going into details, let me explain what these two mutations are?

• The info mutation is linked to sex. Often passed on by dad to these girls. the appearance is yellow with a hint of white on the wing feathers and shoulders. The eyes are red.
• The criminal mutation is also linked to sex. It is a combination of turquoise and ino, hence its name turquoise-ino. The appearance is creamy white and the eyes are red.

Parakeet couple

The couples I had selected allowed me to have them. At least on paper, because genetically they have the info and turquoise gene.

The rest will depend on the probabilities because at most 37% of newborns will be. So nothing was won in advance. What makes breeding exciting I find.

The first couple is composed of a turquoise male carrier ino and female turquoise DD (mauve).

With this association, I would only have cremino babies and other cobalt blues. Because in this case the ino and necessarily associated with turquoise.

Disappointment and discouragement

This couple was the first to bring me a baby with red eyes. It is a term that is used to designate into or criminal.

Unfortunately, the baby passed away the same day and my disappointment was great. It is always moving to see a living being who died on the one hand and on the other hand because I missed an opportunity to achieve my goal.

The couple returned to service with a new brood. A baby with red eyes is born. But again the baby did not survive in turn. You can’t even imagine how saddened and discouraged I was …

Perseverance and determination

Following these two bitter failures, I put the couple to rest and I began to think about getting things done.

I placed in reproduction, a young promising couple. The female is green DD AG carrier blue (FYI it’s Hope’s sister if you have followed her story here ) with a green male D carrier info. You have seen these two young people growing up on our  Facebook page.

Deep down, I didn’t want to believe it too much in order to preserve myself. It was also a way for me not to bring bad luck lol. In addition, this young couple is inexperienced, which added to the doubt.

Despite all these reservations, I sensed their genetically speaking potential (they could come out of ino and cremini babies) as well as their capacity to raise the young.

After 21 days of brooding, the first baby with black eyes was born. The next day I looked and saw a baby with red eyes. I was happy but I retained my joy. 2 days later a second with red eyes came out of its shell. Then a few days later a last with red eyes pointed his beak.

It grows slowly !!!

Three babies with red eyes, it was unexpected and especially in the same brood. I was in heaven but still under my reservations. Because the first days are always crucial and the survival of babies depended on it.

I was present to monitor the progress of the feeding of the babies by making sure that they are eating well and that the parents are not overwhelmed. 5 babies were in the nest and for a first nest, it’s work.

With each passing day, it was one to win and the future for these red-eyed babies began to brighten.

Looks like the sun and moon have come together lol. There were two lutinos, a cremino, a mauve with gray wings, and a green with gray wings.

The complete evolution of baby Catherine parakeets

In the meantime and despite the two previous failures, the first couple made me so proud. he finally managed to get me, 3 cremino babies, at the same time.

For me, it was like a world cup final lol. AND 1 and 2 and 3 zero. This is the magic of genetics in the Catherine parakeet.

Genetics in the Catherine parakeet continue

After these satisfactory results, I continued the work on genetics to obtain other rare mutations. I managed to get out some inos and creminos, but this time with gray wings.

Something that we do not see often. Here is a photo of an example of a gray-winged Catherine Cremino parakeet.