Quaker Parakeet mutations: Breeding and care
Quaker Parakeet mutations: Myiopsitta monachus – Quakers, or Monk parakeets, are found in a large area of South America, from central Bolivia and the South of Brazil to Argentina.
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In General
Everyone knows the smaller, bright green parakeet with the light grey face and breast. Over the breast, there are horizontal cross-stripes. The males and females do not differ in colour from each other. The difference in build is also not enough to tell the sexes apart reliably. Therefore, it is recommended that the birds be surgically sexed. In nature, they build big communal nests from branches in which separate pairs breed. The nests remind one of our own Buffalo Weavers’ nests.
Many bird breeders have the negative impression that Quakers make a lot of noise. When they are kept in large colonies, they can be noisy. If they are rather kept in pairs in hanging aviaries with solid divisions, it is a totally different story, and no one will complain about the noise.
Quakers weigh between 90 and 135 grams. This large variation came about as a result of the inclusion of different subspecies being bred together over the years. The larger subspecies’ genes are well distributed and through selection we can significantly improve the quality of future offspring. The acceptable, general-used, ring size is 6 mm. When working with rather small birds 5.5 mm rings could be considered.
Sub-species
Apart from the subspecies bearing the name Myiopsitta monachus there are three subspecies of which two resemble the Myiopsitta monachus, and usually just differ in size. The third subspecies (M.m. luchsi) is completely different from the others. The face and breast are a lot lighter, and the horizontal stripes are absent. As far as I know there are none of these birds in South Africa.
Housing and Breeding
Quakers can be kept as pairs in hanging aviaries or in ground-level cages. They can also be kept in large cages in a colony. The females usually lay five to eight eggs, on which they sit for about twenty-one days. The chicks stay in the nest for about six weeks. Some pairs can make a person despondent because they break their eggs. If that happens you must take the eggs away as they are laid so that they can be hatched in an incubator.
I choose rather to make use of foster parents. The eggs that I have to hatch in an incubator I put under the foster parents as soon as the chick begins to peck at the shell.
Common Quakers can be retained and used as foster parents. Red Rump parakeets are also very good foster parents for Quakers.
Nest box
I choose to breed the Quakers in ordinary nest boxes of 20 cm x 20 cm x 45 cm deep. For nest making material I place shavings or wood chips in the bottom of the nest, as for all other parakeets. Palm branches are also offered so the birds can tear strips off the leaves and build nests on top of the shavings – much like Lovebirds.
This stimulates the natural instinct to nest building, but the nest is still accessible for nest inspection. If you provide the rough branches that the birds use naturally, they pack the whole nest with these twigs, which makes nest inspection impossible. For the same reason, I never allow my Quakers to build their natural twig nests in my cages. When breeding mutations it is of utmost importance that the chicks at least be ringed.
Mutations must be identifiable at all times especially where splits are involved. When Quakers are bred in a colony and there are mutations involved, the construction must be such that the breeder is always sure how the offspring split. In such a colony it is recommended that the nests are made precisely the same and that they are hung at the same height, as this curbs the fight over nests. Also, place at least twenty-five present more nests in the cage as the number of pairs of birds.
Quaker Parakeet mutations: Feeding
Quakers do well on the diet that is normally given to Australian parakeets. This consists of a seed mix of millet, canary seed and “manna” with a small amount of “niger” and linseed added. In the mornings I feed the standard soaked grain mix, to which grated vegetables and fruit are added in a separate bowl.
Quaker Parakeet mutations
The following Quaker parakeet mutations are available in South Africa at the moment.
Blue
This is the first mutation that became established. This mutation came into existence in the early 1950s in the aviaries of a Belgium breeder, and all Blues are presumably offspring of these birds. Blue inherits the autosomal recessive gene, which means that when a Blue is bred with a Green all the chicks will be Green in colour but will be split for Blue.
When a Blue is bred with one of these splits, fifty per cent of the progeny will be Blue and the other fifty per cent will be Green but split for Blue irrespective of the sex.
Cinnamon
Blue Cinnamon
Cinnamon originated after Blue. This immediately raised the possibility of breeding Blue-cinnamon or Skyblue birds. Cinnamon inherits the sex-linked autosomal gene. This means that when a Cinnamon male is paired with a normal Green female, all the female offspring will be Cinnamon and males will be Green but split for Cinnamon. When a Cinnamon female is mated with a normal male all the chicks will be Green and the males will be split for Blue.
Lutino
The survival of the Lutino (yellow) mutation paved the way for the establishment of Albino (white). Although most Lutino mutations are sex-linked, the Lutino Quaker is recessive – exactly like the Blue Quaker.
Quaker Parakeet mutations: Grey green and Dark green
Dark green
Until the first dark factor existed it was generally accepted that it was Grey-green. After these birds were mixed with Blue and the first Greys were bred, the breeders noticed that the chicks were not true Grey but had an obvious purple sheen, especially on the underside and the lower back area. Opportunistic breeders immediately sold the birds as Cobalts at double the price. Whatever the truth is, they remain beautiful birds.
This dark mutation inherits dominant just like most other dark mutations. This dark mutation is still not bred enough to establish whether it is a co-dominant or fully dominant inheritance.
In co-dominant specimens, the colour of the single factor mutation is between the wild colour and the double factor, while that of the dominant mutation the single and double factor look the same. If it is co-dominant it is Dark-green in the Green series and Cobalt in the Blue series. If the mutation is fully dominant it is probable that it will be Grey green in the Green series and Grey in the Blue series.
Quaker Parakeet mutations: Aqua
This mutation is recessive to all other well-known colours, but is dominant over Blue. This means that when a pure Aqua is bred with any other Quaker except Blue, none of the offspring will be Aqua in colour, but all of them will be split for Aqua. When an Aqua (double factor) is bred with a Blue all the offspring will be Aqua in colour (single factor). Just as in Turquoise Ringnecks, this mutation holds great potential to carry through and mix with existing colours.
Quaker Parakeet mutations: Opaline
This is the newest mutation of the Quakers and very pretty colours can be bred by mixing this mutation with other mutations. Opaline is sex-linked just like Cinnamon. Opaline is an interesting mutation which, until now, has not been fully understood because Opaline reacts so differently in different species. Opaline is another species, for example, “Pearl Cockatiel, “Rosa” Bourke, “Yellow-sided” conure, “Red” Golden-mantle and “Pied” Turquoisine.
Quaker Parakeet mutations: Cobalt
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