Jenny
07-17-2003, 12:13 AM
I thought this was interesting...and sad...so I'm going to copy it here. This is what I think of in instances such as the "Pied African Greys", "English budgies", and others. So that I don't get in trouble, it comes from "The Parrot Breeder's Answer Book" by Gayle Soucek and is on pages 6-8.
It's first talking about careful pairing up of birds and breeders who are careless and inbreed and how their flock suffers health-wise, and then comes to the subject of mutations:
"Mutations: These weaknesses appear most often in heavily inbred birds. Mutations are genetic faults that occur randomly in nature. In birds, these faults most commonly show up as changes in feather color due to missing or altered pigmentation. The cockatiel is a perfect example. Normal cockatiels are mostly gray birds and are usually quite hardy. Although color mutations appear occasionally in the wild, these birds do not usually survive since they stand out from their flock and make a perfect target for predators. Even when they do survive, theyr'e unlikely to find a similar mate. Therefore, they tend either to not breed or to breed with a normal-colored mate, thus not perpetuating the mutation.
In captivity, however, that all changed. Over the years, color mutations such as pure white (albino), solid yellow (lutino), and variegated colors (pied) appeared. Since these birds were unusual and often quite pretty, breeders began to inbreed them intentionally to produce established bloodlines that would pass on these genetic traits. At this point, captive-bred cockatiels are available in over a dozen different color mutations, and normal grey cockatiels are slowly beginning to disappear.Unfortuneately, some undesirable traits are also passed along with the color mutations, such as bald spots in feathering, night thrashing (sudden panic attacks after dark), and shortened life spans. New research being done at the University of California in Davis suggests that highly inbred color mutation cockatiels may be suffering from an inherited kidney defect that causes poor kidney function and that will progress to gout and kidney failure when the birds are fed a high-protein diet.
Responsible cockatiel breeders are working hard to eliminate these negative traits. However, careless or inept people are still out there paying little or no attention to strengthening the bloodlines of the birds they keep. In the long run, these people end up hurting themselves economically in addition to the damage they cause to the birds. Genetically weak birds produce less, suffer more illnesses, and might display personality defects that make them undesirable as pets or breeding stock. The worst fear is that careless breeding will eventually introduce a lethal gene, which is a genetic flaw that prevents hatching or kills the bird at an early age. Lethal genes have already shown up in the poultry industry. The reports of kidney disease in cockatiels might very well be the tip of that iceberg."
In my opinion anyone wishing to buy a pet bird should first make sure the breeder is responsible and second they should go for the normal coloration. At my vet clinic I've seen so many non-normal colored rats with huge tumors and ferrets with adrenal gland problems and more, none of which happen in the wild nearly as much. These poor animals suffer because of careless people breeding them, and I hate to think that this is happening to birds. Already budgies' average lifespans are nearly 50% less than they used to be. And about the "feather duster budgies", though it might be "natural" that it was born like that and not a human's fault, the English budgies have still been inbred first to achieve their size and second to get the different colors, thus weakening them and allowing for defects like feathers that constantly grow. Anyway, sorry this was so long!
It's first talking about careful pairing up of birds and breeders who are careless and inbreed and how their flock suffers health-wise, and then comes to the subject of mutations:
"Mutations: These weaknesses appear most often in heavily inbred birds. Mutations are genetic faults that occur randomly in nature. In birds, these faults most commonly show up as changes in feather color due to missing or altered pigmentation. The cockatiel is a perfect example. Normal cockatiels are mostly gray birds and are usually quite hardy. Although color mutations appear occasionally in the wild, these birds do not usually survive since they stand out from their flock and make a perfect target for predators. Even when they do survive, theyr'e unlikely to find a similar mate. Therefore, they tend either to not breed or to breed with a normal-colored mate, thus not perpetuating the mutation.
In captivity, however, that all changed. Over the years, color mutations such as pure white (albino), solid yellow (lutino), and variegated colors (pied) appeared. Since these birds were unusual and often quite pretty, breeders began to inbreed them intentionally to produce established bloodlines that would pass on these genetic traits. At this point, captive-bred cockatiels are available in over a dozen different color mutations, and normal grey cockatiels are slowly beginning to disappear.Unfortuneately, some undesirable traits are also passed along with the color mutations, such as bald spots in feathering, night thrashing (sudden panic attacks after dark), and shortened life spans. New research being done at the University of California in Davis suggests that highly inbred color mutation cockatiels may be suffering from an inherited kidney defect that causes poor kidney function and that will progress to gout and kidney failure when the birds are fed a high-protein diet.
Responsible cockatiel breeders are working hard to eliminate these negative traits. However, careless or inept people are still out there paying little or no attention to strengthening the bloodlines of the birds they keep. In the long run, these people end up hurting themselves economically in addition to the damage they cause to the birds. Genetically weak birds produce less, suffer more illnesses, and might display personality defects that make them undesirable as pets or breeding stock. The worst fear is that careless breeding will eventually introduce a lethal gene, which is a genetic flaw that prevents hatching or kills the bird at an early age. Lethal genes have already shown up in the poultry industry. The reports of kidney disease in cockatiels might very well be the tip of that iceberg."
In my opinion anyone wishing to buy a pet bird should first make sure the breeder is responsible and second they should go for the normal coloration. At my vet clinic I've seen so many non-normal colored rats with huge tumors and ferrets with adrenal gland problems and more, none of which happen in the wild nearly as much. These poor animals suffer because of careless people breeding them, and I hate to think that this is happening to birds. Already budgies' average lifespans are nearly 50% less than they used to be. And about the "feather duster budgies", though it might be "natural" that it was born like that and not a human's fault, the English budgies have still been inbred first to achieve their size and second to get the different colors, thus weakening them and allowing for defects like feathers that constantly grow. Anyway, sorry this was so long!