Budgie Genetics For Owners And Breeders

If you know which variety you are interested in then check if they have their own page on the list below. However, if you are trying to learn more about the different varieties then ignore the list and read on. I have grouped the varieties differently than most people as I wanted it easy for beginners to get a handle on the many types as they differ visually.  So they are grouped by how they look rather than how they are inherited.

Albino and Lutino
Blackface
Cinnamon
Normal
Opaline
Spangle

 

What is a budgie variety?

1

Sometimes a mutation occurs that alters the colour or pattern of a budgie's markings. If this is able to be passed on to chicks it can become a new variety. A variety is separate from a budgies base color. They can occur on any color and are basically overlaid, so you would describe your budgie by its color and its variety. For example a wild budgie would be a Light Green (the colour) Normal (the variety), or you may have a Skyblue (the color) Opaline (the variety).

I have thought long and hard about organising the varieties in a way that makes it easy to find the one you want if you don’t know what it is called… This has turned out to be a bit tricky, and will probably not suit everyone! I have grouped them in the way that they differ from the normal budgie. So we had better start with that...

The Normal budgie variety

Normal is the term for budgies whose markings match with the wild type. The budgie can be any of the basic body colors, but so long as it has the wild type markings it will be of the normal variety. So you can have Skyblue Normal, Grey Normal, Dark Green Normal.... etc. The picture to the right shows a Dark Green Normal hen and behind her a Skyblue Normal hen. For more information and pictures of the Normal variety click here to go to its own page.

Varieties with wings and markings that are not the wild type colour:

There are several varieties which have markings that are not black.

Brown markings:
Cinnamon
Fallow
Lacewing
Brownwing

Grey to very pale or non-existent markings:
Greywing
Dilute
Clearwing
Faded

Texas Cearbody - these have grey primaries but the majority of their markings are black so I have included them in the 'None of the above' category below.

Varieties with the pattern of its markings different than a Normal:

There are a few varieties which have marking patterns that are different from Normal:

Opaline
Spangle
Blackface

Varieties that have pied markings:

There are several types of pieds:

Dominant Pied - also known as Australian or Banded Pied
Recessive Pied - also known as Danish Pied
Clearflight - also known as Dutch Pied
Mottled - not an actual pied, but looks like one

Varieties with no markings at all:

These varieties have the markings and all or most of the body colour, removed:

Inos – albino and lutino
Double factor spangle
Dark eyed clears

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