Pied Budgies ( Complete Guide)
Last Updated on April 27, 2022 by Ali Shahid
Pied Budgies refer to various variations of budgies with distinct pied markings as opposed to a pure breed. Piedness can be caused by three different mutations that influence in different ways the appearance of white and yellow spots.
A budgie with one of these mutations will become a dominant or Australian pied, recessive, or a clearflight variant. It is known that in Pied mutations, parts of the body, wing markings, and barring are not present. As a result, there is a stripe consisting of either white or yellow.
There are a variety of sizes and shapes for clear patches; sometimes the clear patches are just one or a couple of patches of white or yellow, while sometimes the white/yellow is almost all of it with tiny markings or colorations on it.
Interesting to note is that these three mutations are independent, meaning that budgies can combine all three mutations at the same time. Pied Budgies do not seem to be that rare, despite their complicated coloration. Two of the three genes are dominant, which makes them easy to breed with the right combination of genes.
Pied Budgie Meaning
Often, when we refer to piedness, we are referring to two or more color variants on an animal. Usually, this is seen in the form of black and white in most animal species. The pied mutation is not a prerequisite to being described as having two or more colors in budgies with that mutation.
Piedness, on the contrary, is a mutation that turns off certain colors of an animal on certain parts of its body. There are spots on the skin that are non-pigmented, which means that they are losing their color. The cell has reported that a budgie can look yellow or white. The unpigmented spots on animals with black skin appear white in animals with black skin.
Three types of Pied Budgies Variation
- Recessive Pied
In addition to the Recessive pieds, they are also known as Harlequins or Danish pieds. It is usually the base color that determines the clarity (yellow or white) and not the body color (blue, gray, green).
On the other hand, most often, the body color appears as patches on the bottom half of the body. There are large areas of yellow or white on the wings and barring of Recessive Pieds, but there is a patch of white or yellow markings on the sides of their heads, also near their eyes.
The most distinctive feature of the recessive pied is its solid dark eyes that do not have an iris ring at their center, its pink feet, and legs, and the males have a flesh-colored cere while the females have the usual brown cere.
It is extremely attractive that the color of these Pied Recessives is brighter than the normal color of a Pied. Depending on the degree of body coloration and markings that are present, the color of the body can range from almost none to appearing fairly normal, but there will nonetheless always be spots of the base color.
- Clearflight
This variety of pied can resemble the standard variety almost exactly. Two distinct features distinguish this species from others: a clear primary wing feather and a long tail feather.
The budgie can have either white or yellow feathers based on its coloration. The back of the head of the budgie is also usually covered with a clear patch. There are times when the base color extends from the head onto the breast of the bird, but there should not be patches of color anywhere else on the bird.
On the other hand, the pied markings are sometimes reduced down to just a few feathers being white or yellow. Those with clear flight feathers and tail feathers, as well as a clear head patch are what I consider to be the best clearflights.
The Clearflight has dark eyes where the iris ring is white. their feet and legs can be gray or pink, and their normal cere color is brownish white. There are many similarities between them and Dominant Pieds, which are more widespread.
The two types of pieds are distinguished by the fact that dominant pieds tend to have pied patches independent of their masks while clearflights have pied patches attached to their masks.
- Dominant
Pied Pieds like these is also known as Australian Pieds and Banded Pieds. The varieties are genetically identical but have been selectively bred for differences in markings. It is a small, elongated bird with wings and body marked with a pied pattern, and sometimes its back is dotted with a clear patch.
This might explain why they also have a clear flight feather and tail feather. The color of their eyes is normal, and they have gray or flesh-colored feet, legs, and cranial coloration is normal.
A pied patch in the Australian type is irregular in shape and is distributed over the body as well as the wings. The Banded Pied is mainly normally colored, but there is a white or yellow band that runs around the center of the bird.
A similar band is usually found covering the lower part of the wings, leaving the upper part of the wings untouched. The pied areas may indeed vary from one bird to another and sometimes it is difficult to tell the difference between a Pied and a heavily marked Clearflight.
A dominant Pied can be distinguished from a heavily marked Clearflight by the placement of the pied patches that distinguish them from it. The mask color of the Clearflight may leak down a little bit into the chest area.
Pieds belonging to the dominant species usually have a more defined definition between their mask and body color. Pedicled patches may also appear further down the body. And if that isn’t tricky enough, if you have a double factor Pied, you will also notice an interesting difference!
Usually, they have many yellow or white spots all over their body. This makes them resemble a White Recessive pied but are unusual because they are usually characterized by a white iris ring.
How To Breed A Pied Budgie?
As a general rule, keep the following points in mind:
Breeding Blue and White Pied Budgie
You will need to aim for a blue series of budgies if you want to breed a blue and white pied budgie. The blue series gene is recessive, which means that you need to ensure that both of your parents have this gene. You should then make sure that the genes of the parents are passed down to the offspring.
Breeding Blue Recessive Pied Budgie
There is a need for a blue ground color if you wish to breed a blue recessive pied. If you want to do this, both your parents have to be at least a single factor recessive phenotype. Because the Pedis mutation is a recessive gene, it can only be passed from parent to child if both parents carry it.
Breeding a Yellow Pied
Yellow pied budgies are green series budgies with a yellow patch on the head. The Green Series of the budgie is the dominant variety, so it’s easy to acquire one of the yellow, pied budgies.
Having one parent who is a green budgie will result in you having a green-series bird. It is also important to note that clearflight, as well as dominant piedness, are both dominant mutations.
Both parents should carry the recessive pied gene to cause the recessive pied mutation. To produce a completely yellow budgie, you need to have a recessive pied mutation in a budgie.
Breeding a Green Pied
This is a type of colored budgie whose looks are similar to that of yellow-colored birds. The dominant or the clearflight gene should be used, preferably the clearflight mutation if you want more green than yellow in your plant.
Be careful not to use the recessive pied mutation. The ideal breeder for this particular bird should have at least one green parent in the pair and one dominant or clearflight pied parent in the pair.
In short, even with only one pied parent and just one green parent, the rate of having a green pied offspring that is pied still is 1 in 4.
Are Pied Budgies Rare?
Currently, pied budgies aren’t uncommon due to the breeding effort and the demand. When you compare them to other budgie mutations, it is especially true that their characteristics so far are so different. In addition to the anthracite and lacewing mutations, there are also certain rarer ones.
Although pied budgies are common, a lot of their popularity is responsible for their widespread distribution. Pied budgies have an interesting pattern due to the clear patches on their bodies. As a result, owners and breeders are highly attracted to this pattern. One important reason for the existence of pied mutations is the fact that two of the three are dominant genes.
Having clearflight and dominant pied genes makes it easy for them to be passed on, especially when it comes to passing on the clearflight gene. Getting a mutation suitable for show-budgie standards takes a considerable amount of time and effort. Because of this, breeders generally breed just a handful of different mutations.
