Peachface re earlier post

[BigBird]

Hi There

Havent checked board for a few days and saw a few questions re the pic I put up. Soooo thought Id put some more up cause I also would be keen to know the kind of lovebird Bertie is too.

His mum is the orange faced parrot top right and Dad is next to her.

[Monica]

That's quite sad.... I don't agree in breeding hybrids (or even allowing it), though his mother is a lutino peachface, and his father is a fischers. He's still a cutie though, taking mainly after his mothers genes as he looks more peachface than anything else!

[BigBird]

Inherited this aviary from a teenage girl who was leaving town. Birds were already breeding together. All the birds in the aviary were a result of this pair and one other, all seemed fine and healthy. I did not know until I read the above post that this should not be done.

[Monica]

It doesn't sound as if it was your fault, but rather that of the teen for not being educated enough to prevent it from happening in the first place. I'm not against hybrids themselves (there are some really gorgeous ones out there! And besides, it's not their fault they are hybrids) but I'm against the idea of letting two birds breed porposely to create hybrids. Of course there are times when people just don't know it will happen when keeping a mixed flight aviary until a strange chick appears (such as the galatiel, or the princess/scarlet chest hybrids).

I suggest that if you can, separate the birds into 3 aviaries if you can, or split the one they are currently in into 3... Having peachfaces in one, fischers in another, and the hybrids in the third (or better yet splitting the hybrids up by sex if you can, so you'd need at least 4). That way, you can prevent further hybridization and at the same time prevent inbreeding.


If you'd like to do some reading on the opinions of others on hybridization you can read these threads...
Thoughts on Hybrids and Mutations
Hybrids - Cross Breeding
Mutation VS Hybrid (NOTE: Quite Long)

[BigBird]

Not sure of best way to remedy this situation as I already have 6 aviaries and my hubby will walk out if I get anymore and really dont think I could cope with anymore to be honest!

Hybrid or not he is a fantastic little bird, definitely one of my fave house birds that Ive ever had the pleasure of sharing my home with.

[BigBird]

One more question, this pair came with previous babies and there are 2 lutinos in that bunch. Are they hybrid as well or are they normal?

[Monica]

If they came from the same parents then they are hybrids. A hybrid pair can consist of two different species (such as peachface and fischers), it can contain one 'purebred' and one hybrid (peachface and peachface cross) or it can contain two hybrids... though I don't know if hybrid lovebirds can reproduce or not.

[BigBird]

Compared to the other babies I am handrearing, this little guy is much smaller than they are and his mother had abandoned him so I guess this cross breeding section explains why she keeps doing this.

Anyways the aviary consists of the following birds, according to colours I have identified in another web site. Should the top two be separated from the rest?

1 x Wild coloured fischer
1 x blue dilute masked fischer
2 x Seagreen Violet or dutch blue violet
3 x creamino Lutino
2 x normal green

[CrazyBirdLady]

I'd separate any different species lovies from the others. I understand that this is how they came to you, but they will produce hybrids that are sterile and can have health issues. (Note: fischers x masked hybrids are not sterile and will reproduce) Now comes the hard part. If the lutino peahface and fischer are bonded, it can be difficult and heartbreaking to separate them. You have a couple of options, 1) leaving things as is, 2) allowing them to live together, but not produce any further offspring 3) separate them and allow them to live with their own species.

Any offspring will be hybrids, even though they might appear less of a hybird as the others. Again, the hybrids are sterile and cannot reproduce, so they could technically stay with either the peachfaces or fischers, though with Peachfaces being more aggressive, I'd opt for housing them with the fischers.

[BigBird]

Thanks for the tip, however find it amusing that you would say the fischers are less agressive. The Fisher wife gets cranky and is always attacking her partner, in fact has taken several of his toes off and have named him stumpy. poor little guy! Again this happened prior to me getting them, she seems a lot happier now that they are in a bigger aviary and havent noticed her attack him for a long time. The other pair in the aviary is the dutch blue and a normal green. The five chicks in the nest at the moment have all got the dutch blue gene. Is this a bad bond as well? I wouldnt want to separate either pair as they are very bonded even fischer girl with her moods.