Plum head mutations

[mutationplumheads]

hi rossi. your birds are wild or normal plumheads. iam a breeder of most mutations of plumheads.

 

[Rossi]

Plum heads... See photo...

 

[MonicaMc]

Apparently, a plum head x slaty hybrid male still looks mostly plum head....

Psittacula hybrids


With permission, I could share the photos with some people and get an opinion on what the male could be? May need additional photos as well.

 

[Rossi]

Ok thanks.. Don't sound like what my male looks like..

 

[Mango7218]

Thats a female.I have a Male its great to have a plum head owner to talk to since they are rare.

 

[Mango7218]

Actually no that is a hybrid lol it looked like a female.How old is S/he

 

[Mallory]

I don't know a thing about plum-headed parakeets but I did a little research. The plum-headed parakeet is Psittacula cyanocephela and the slaty-headed parakeet is Psittacula himalayana. If you had a theoretical bird that was a cross of plum-headed and slaty-headed it would be a hybrid, as these are two different species. Hybridization itself can be a can of worms I do not want to open, but in any case I don't think your actual bird is a hybrid.

Your bird seems like it has a much more vividly blue head than the slaty-headed parakeets. I wouldn't say it's definitely not a hybrid but it seems unlikely that combining the two traits would produce such a vivid blue. I have another idea. The Indian ringneck - same genus Psittacula - has thrown a huge variety of color mutations in captivity. The moustached parakeet also seems to be found in a few color mutations. You may have a color mutation of plum-headed parakeet on your hands, if you don't know the bird's origins and parents I would think the best way to "prove out" this mutation would be to retain those babies, track their colors and track their offsprings' colors.

The issue is - and this is simplifying genetics incredibly - if we are looking at a simple recessive color mutation here you would have to breed two of these heterozygous first generation babies to have a chance at a homozygous second generation bird that exhibits the blue-headed color pattern. That's a bit of inbreeding but it may be worth it to you to try and prove out that color mutation. If I were you, before doing anything including taking deposits on the babies I would get into contact with other plum-headed parakeet breeders and get some advice on how to proceed!

 

[Mango7218]

It definitely looks like Plum head and Slaty head.

 

[Mallory]

It definitely looks like Plum head and Slaty head.

Check the link MonicaMC posted. There's a picture of a known hybrid plum-slaty cross. Further, it alluded to a supposed separate species, Psittacula intermedia, and there are seven taxidermied specimens available. Apparently this "new species" of Intermediate Parakeet has not been found in the wild and the specimens are likely mislabeled plum-slaty crosses. So there's a fairly good basis for what a plum-slaty hybrid would look like.

These crosses have rather purplish faces with some grey, not the bright blue face of the OP's bird. The only thing that is suspect to me is that the OP's bird is missing the red patch on the wings that seems normal in plum-headed parakeet males. Oddly, the hybrid picture on MonicaMC's link has the red wing patches and black lower mandible of a plum-headed and has mostly plum-headed characteristics. OP's bird, like some of the so-called "Intermediate Parakeets", has the black lower mandible but no red wing patches. But his bird has a very unique head color that looks vivid turquoise in some of the pictures.

Basically, I don't know if this is a hybrid but from the supposed hybrid photos I've just looked at, none had a vivid turquoise head. There are also no apparent known color mutations that cause that head color. It could be a hybrid, a color mutation, without knowing the bird's parents the only way to learn more would be to continue to breed the offspring and there are ethics that need to be considered in that situation (potential hybrid production, inbreeding). In any case, interesting bird!

 

[Mango7218]

Hmm maybe its a Female.Normal plum females have a blue head and the slaty a grey head combine them it would possibly turn out like his.

 

[MonicaMc]

We know the bird is a male because he has reproduced with a hen. It would be good to know if any of the offspring end up appearing like the male, or perhaps breeding a female offspring back to the male?

There are also chimera birds... birds that can display more than one coloration due to cells from different zygotes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimera_(genetics)


Every once in a while, birds may pop out with the colors of the opposite sex. The most "famous" ones are eclectus, although these birds typically appear half male, half female. These birds can be male/male, female/female, or male/female. Male/female birds might be infertile, unless one sexual organ is dominant, in which case the bird may be fertile. (at least, in theory)

I have heard of a normal grey male cockatiel, had all the right colorations for a male and all the behaviors. Well, since the bird was visually sexed (and seeing a photo, this bird did indeed look like a male cockatiel!), it was quite a surprise that "he" laid an egg.


A similar thing could be going on with this male plum head, or it could be a mutation, or maybe diet related. It's harder without knowing more about the bird's heritage or without doing any test breedings.

 

[Rossi]

Actually no that is a hybrid lol it looked like a female.How old is S/he

no female has gray head, ge has blue head.. He over 3 years now

 

[Rossi]

I have keep one of there babies.. I'll send photo tomorrow... Look like mum, gray head and green body, but only 1year old now, Time frys...

 

[Rossi]

I was told he was split Lutino
.. But I just needed a male for my female

 

[Mallory]

Any chance it's the split lutino genetics causing this unique color? Since plum-headed parakeets are pretty uncommon and slaty-headed parakeets are even more uncommon in captivity I would imagine a breeder of lutino plum-headed parakeets would probably not intentionally create a hybrid bird. Considering that and the fact that the pictures of known hybrids don't look like your bird, I would think we can almost completely rule out hybridization here.

The only thing that still baffles me is the lack of red patches on the wings - I see these on pictures of lutino plum-headeds but I know they are not found on female birds. Is there any chance the female was fertilized by another plum-headed and your bird is actually a female with uniquely vivid markings? I don't know about parrots specifically but some birds can store sperm for weeks or months. If you recently acquired these birds or the known hen had contact with another male in the recent past, maybe they are both hens. Unless these birds have been a solitary pair for a long period of time and you are positive you can rule this out, it might be valuable to DNA test this bird and make sure it's a male. These are all the ideas I can think of - a color mutation, a hybrid or two hens, one of which was previously bred to a male.

 

[MonicaMc]

Being split for lutino would not visually show up. Reposting all the photos so people can take another look at them....

 

[Rossi]

hello guy.. But I had this pair together for 4 months befor I got eggs and yes I do I have dna for this bird, its a male..

 

[Mango7218]

Of course its a Male only Males have a blue tail with white tips so yes it is a Male you didn't need to get DNA test.

 

[Mallory]

These are the two photos that really caught my attention the first time and now. You can see how much more vivid the blue is in comparison to the female's markings. That's what makes me feel that a hybrid situation is a bit unlikely and you may have a sort of color mutation. If that's true though, and if like someone just posted the split lutino is not a visual trait, then this is something new in plum-headed parakeets. Interesting!

Mango, normally I would agree that visual confirmation of a male in this species would be enough...but since this bird lacks red wing patches and otherwise has unusual coloring we can't assume that the tail feathers would follow the normal gender distinctions. Since this bird is a male, that rules out female colors although I think these pictures show that his colors are quite different than the hen's anyway.

 

[Mango7218]

Did you do the DNA yourself or was it done before you got them? He doesn't have a black ring around his neck its yellow like the female.