Hello Gail, Last
week, I acquired a pair of Bourke's. The
male is a dark-eyed Rosey, and I believe the female is a red-eyed lutino. I've attached a picture of them. What would be the correct terms for their
mutations?
They had two tiny fuzzy little dark-eyed chicks when I got
them on the 26th of this month (picture taken today is attached). I am assuming they hatched on the 24th and
the 26th. With my other parrots, their
eggs tend to hatch two days apart. Is it
the same with Bourke's? There were
several other eggs, but some were not fertile, two were no longer viable, and
I'm not sure about the other one. I
don't know if it's a DIS or not at this point, so I'm just going to leave it
alone.
The father is doing a great job of feeding the mother
millet, a safflower seed blend, pellets, and freshly-chopped veggies. The mom comes out occasionally, but is in the
box probably 90% of the time.
I've raised parrots (green-cheek conures, parakeets, English
budgies, parrotlets, and cockatiels) and even doves for years, handfeeding all
but the doves. However, as I mentioned
above, I'm totally new to Bourke's, and I want to become educated on them.
Though I've raised parrots for years, I'm not at all good
with genetics or being able to keep mutation names straight.
Will you please explain to me the difference between lutino
and rubino? I understand a rubino to be
a cross between a rosey and a lutino.
And I understand that a rosey is another word or opaline. Is that correct? But what are the differences in
appearance?
What exactly makes a fallow a fallow? Can you have a dark-eyed lutino or rubino, or
are the eyes always red? Can a rosey
have red eyes, or will they always have dark eyes? Can any of the offspring between my pair be a
normal Bourke's, or will they definitely be rosey or lutino or maybe even
rubino?
I saw in a video of yours that you band on approximately Day
9 (or when their little eyes open). With
all of my birds, I tend to band on Day 8, but 9 works for me if you think
that's best. I've read elsewhere that
the English budgie/parrotlet/parakeet band is appropriate. Do you agree?
I just so happen to have this size as I've raised may of those
chicks. Thank you in advance for sharing your expertise! - Dana
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| Dana's mated pair. |
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| Dana's Lutino and clutch. |
ANSWER:
Hello Dana,
Wow so many questions, all good ones though. All Lutinos or Rubinos have red eyes. All fallows have red eyes. To be fallow, a Bourke will have gray edged wings instead of black, and red eyes. Gray can be very dark or very light. Bourkes that are fallow can be any shade of rose (even dark rose), or any shade of pink, but will always have lighter wing edges and red eyes if they are fallow.
Lutino and Rubino are really the same except that to be named Rubino, a Bourke must have rose or pink all the way down its back to the beginning of its tail. Like the bird in your picture, a Lutino can have some pink on its back, but it doesn't reach to the tail. Instead part of the back or rump is yellow. Some Lutinos are all yellow from back of their head to their tail, others like yours have more pink.
A Rosy (my preference for spelling, although maybe I'm being out-numbered by Canada and Europe who write Rosey with an "e") ... A Rosy Bourke always has dark eyes, otherwise it would be a fallow. A Rosy Bourke always has dark-edged wings.
The color of your babies could be normal if the male has a normal parent or grandparent. Odds are better that they will be Rosies. Note that normal babies in the nest develop dark feet, whereas a Rosy will have light colored feet. Occasionally, a Rosy will have feet that are not pink, but slightly between the dark color of a normal and a Rosy. Those, I believe, are Rosies that are split to normal.
Bourkes with dark eyes, cannot be Lutino. However, your hen could produce Lutino males. She can only carry the gene for her own color. She decides the sex off all the offspring, as you may know from raising other birds. Birds are different in this way from mammals. In birds, it is the female that determines the sex, not the male. Your male, however, could possibly be split to another color beside his own. Only male Bourkes can be split for another color. If you know the color of his parents and grandparents, that helps...
With bands, you can use either Budgie or English Budgies sizes. I have only used the smaller Budgie sized bands although the site I get them from (L&M Bird Bands in San Bernardino, CA), says that English Budgie bands work too. My Linnies used Parrotlet or Lovebird sized bands, and those would not have worked for my Bourkes. Although I band at 8 or 9 days, I'd keep checking your babies. That timing works best for clutches of four, five or six. When there is only one or two babies, they grow faster as they get fed more, and might need to be banded earlier. :-)
I highly recommend a copy of my newly published, "Rosie Bird's Guide to Small Exotic Birds." In that book I tried to answer most of the questions I frequently get. It also has a chapter on egg binding and what to do in an emergency. There is also a chapter devoted exclusively to Bourkes, my favorites.
Here is a link to it on Amazon in the USA, but it is also available from Barnes & Noble and other booksellers, as well as Amazon in most other countries. Please do a review ... I will greatly appreciate it. Thanks!
Peace & Blessings,
Gail
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