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Happy Bird Place

Happy Bird Place
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Saturday, August 25, 2012

A Profile of Scarlet Chested Grasskeets aka Scarlet Chested Parakeet - Neophema splendida




Scarlet chested grasskeet aka splendid grasskeet is a popular species of parakeet from Australia. They are quiet birds in general but males will sing a quiet song to entice his mate.  They are peaceful and mixes well with non-aggressive finches and other grasskeets in general, but would avoid mixing with aggressive species or larger hookbills.  They enjoy larger flights - minimum 30"x30" per pair, and do well with a standard parakeet diet of seed mix, greens, and eggfood.  Given the right conditions, they readily breed.  Health wise, they are considered a bit more delicate than other grasskeets like turquoisines and bourkes - warmer and dryer conditions are appreciated.  I started keeping scarlets in 2008 after seeing pictures of them online.  After doing some intense research, I just knew I had to start keeping them.  Although the normal scarlet is probably one of the most beautiful birds in aviculture, another reason for their popularity is the availability of many mutations.  Now, I will try to give a brief description of the more commonly available mutations although a lot of the mutations and better examples of the mutations are much more readily available in Europe than the USA.

NORMAL:

mature adult normal male
young normal hen

LUTINO: like most lutino mutations, it is sex-linked recessive

splmalut 001n copie.jpg
lutino male
http://grassparrots.free.fr/scarletchest/splmalut%20001n%20copie_jpg_view.htm
lutino hen











CINNAMON: sex-linked recessive
gmcin 023.jpg
cinnamon male - photo A.C. / J .Gruson
http://grassparrots.free.fr/scarletchest/gmcin%20023_jpg_view.htm
 
cinnamon hen (with red belly)


















PALLID: sex-linked recessive

Copie de A normal et pallid.jpg
normal male on left, pallid male on right
http://grassparrots.free.fr/scarletchest/Copie%20de%20A%20normal%20et%20pallid_jpg_view.htm


BLUE: autosomal recessive.  This is probably the most complicated and confusing since there are several blue mutations that are incompletely dominant to each other.  Overall, there is seagreen aka aqua, turquoise, and white front blue.  Sometimes aqua and turquoise are referred to as par-blue.  I've read that white front blue is a combination of seagreen and turquoise.  With a lot of interbreeding of the different blue mutations, sometimes it can be a challenge to know exactly what a bird is.

seagreen/aqua male
g033.jpg
seagreen/aqua hen
http://grassparrots.free.fr/scarletchest/g033_jpg_view.htm
AMsyturquoise.jpg
turquoise male
http://grassparrots.free.fr/scarletchest/AMsyturquoise_jpg_view.htm
young tuquoise hen




















white front blue male


ajgfbl 052.jpg
white front blue hen - photo A.C. / J. Gruson
http://grassparrots.free.fr/scarletchest/ajgfbl%20052_jpg_view.htm






















GREY: autosomal dominant.  The grey can be combined with any normal or mutation scarlets.
grey white front blue male
M039gvm.jpg
grey green male - photo A.C / D. Moyer
http://grassparrots.free.fr/scarletchest/M039gvm_jpg_view.htm






















VIOLET: autosomal dominant.  Can be combined with any normal or mutation scarlet, but since it affects the blue color, will show up best in the blue series.  Double factor will be a more intense effect than single factor.
Copie de Violet cock.jpg
double factor violet white front blue male - bred by H. Köster
http://grassparrots.free.fr/scarletchest/Copie%20de%20Violet%20cock_jpg_view.htm
 























PIED: autosomal dominant.  Can apply to any normal or mutation scarlet.
YF NORMAL PIED350.jpg
pied normal male - photo Colin O'Hara
http://grassparrots.free.fr/scarletchest/YF%20NORMAL%20PIED350_jpg_view.htm






















RED FRONT: modification that can be improved with selective breeding
svr.jpg
red front normal male - photo J.Suikerbuik
http://grassparrots.free.fr/scarletchest/svr_jpg_view.htm
 There can also be more lovely colors made by combining the various mutations and modifications.  Some of the results can be found at: http://grassparrots.free.fr/scarletchest/scarletmutcomb.htm
 

1 comment:

  1. I have a hen scarlet that becomes more heavily pied with every moult ? does anyone know what genetic category this bird may be ? when i first bought her she had some minor splashes of yellow on her body and a bit more on the head, now she is about 80% yellow ? i did get eggs from her but they were clear so no young to see what she may throw ? there are dominant pieds but this seems to be like the pied red faced parrot finches that from what i am aware become more heavily pied after each moult ? can anyone shed some light on this for me ? Regards Neale.

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