Silver and Platinum Cockatiels

[Simone]

Hi everyone, I just got my first silver cockatiels, two brothers. Anyone else out there breeding silvers? They are a very pale silvery grey much lighter than the normal grey. They are still not up there yet in size or quality yet because this mutation hasn't been available in NZ for very long. Silver is a recessive gene in cockateils.
I have a friend who is breeding platinums. I think he may be the only one in New Zealand breeding them in fact. He won't sell them in NZ cos he can get $1000US per bird by exporting them over to the States. Is Platinum as rare a mutation there as it is here Down Under? (Platinum is sex-linked like lutino).

[Granny Annie]

(Simone) "I think he may be the only one in New Zealand breeding them in fact. He won't sell them in NZ cos he can get $1000US per bird by exporting them over to the States."

http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/36/36_1_36.gif (http://www.smileycentral.com/?partner=ZSzeb001_ZSxdm477YYUS) Well, that's sure an eye opener. Almost spilled my coffee on that one. hi5

[Betty]

Heard of them but haven't seen pics....so how about it? Would love to see some of your new birds:elefant: So are you going to start breeding the silvers when you find females? What are the back grounds to them, normals, WF, etc.....?

[Simone]

Hi Betty, I am going to breed my two silver brothers to non-silver hens (one is a pearl, the other is a whiteface pearl) and then breed the best split to silver daughter from each couple back to her uncle to create two family lines. I have to do it this way (line-breeding) because there are not enough silvers available and they are still quite expensive to purchase ($250NZ each). Producing splits (a bird that only carries one copy of silver gene and thus appears as a normal) is a better way to improve this variety than breeding visual silver to visual silver. At the moment these two guys are going through a bit of a moult so they don't look their best, but I will get a pic of them posted soon i promise.

[Simone]

You could check out this site for pics of the various mutations in the meantime if you want.

http://www.cockatiel.org/mutations/index.html

[Betty]

Thanks so much for the info! Can't wait to see your pics...Please, keep us informed when you set them up and what goes on along the way...and as aways pics:elefant: When you can, in another thread, give us more info on the birds that NZ has and ones that are pets, care, costs, etc...Thanks again

[Granny Annie]

(Simone) ?He won't sell them in NZ cos he can get $1000US per bird by exporting them over to the States."

So, New Zealand doesn't have the same laws as Australia as far as exporting? hi5

[Nasal_Tufts]

That's great Simone, and to answer you question yes silver and platinum tiles are rare here in the states. I have never seen one in person, only on the internet a long time ago, if I remember right they weren't that attractive to me personally. I really like the pearls and the cinn. tiels the best.

[Simone]

Hi GrannieAnnie, not exactly sure of the laws here but yes export and import is allowed but a license is required. I have never exported myself so i don't know the ins and outs of it sorry. There may be restrictions on certain species.

[HOB]

A 1000 for SILVER is kina hard to beleive to me could just be my area They are few and far between mostly cuz of size and only a certain breeder would be interested in them, but give them time and they wont be.In your breeding make sure that the birds you breed your brothers to are large birds that will help you get some size in your line breeding,and always remeber to outcrosswhen you have both male and female chicks you will have a dominant chick then outcross again before you line breed again in about 5 years you will have nice bigger silvers.and a dominant silver is darker in color compared to a recessive.
here is a ressive link http://www.showbirds.com/tiels/rsilver.html
here is a dominat link http://www.showbirds.com/tiels/dsilver.html

notice there is even a single factor and a double factor there color is also different


Now a question for you what is the color of your silvers eyes?

[Simone]

My silvers have dark eyes but they are the recessive variety. I have dark-eyed lutinos in my aviary too. Thanks for the feedback i will check out those links. Oh, it's $1000 for the platinums, but the silvers are cheaper, I paid $250 each.

[Simone]

Ok here are the pics, finally, and they definitely have dark eyes........

[Nasal_Tufts]

:wow:Those are really pretty, They don't look anything like the ones on the websites. I wouldn't mind having a pair of those. They look like diluted cinnamons.

[Simone]

I wonder if our silvers and American silvers are two different mutations with the same name? or maybe different variations of the same mutation? This variety is not very common here yet (neither is Whiteface). Actually it still costs between $200-400 for a visual whiteface here depending on ehat else it's visual for (same with the silvers).

[Betty]

The pics are beautiful "

The Silver Cockatiel

The Silver mutation is a diluted version of the normal grey. The Silver has red eyes, a pink beak, and pink feet. Male Silver cockatiels often have a very deep yellow face and bright orange cheekpatches at maturity. Female Silver cockatiels will retain their immature coloration and the barring of the underside of the tail.
The Cinnamon cockatiel is a mutation which causes the feathers which are normally grey to appear brown. The plumage color can range from a tannish-grey to a chocolate brown.

The male Cinnamon cockatiel, like its normal grey counterpart, develops a bright yellow face and bright orange cheekpatches upon maturity. Immature and female Cinnamon cockatiels retain their dull orange cheekpatches, their faces do not turn yellow, and they have white or yellow barring on the underside of their tails.

http://www.cockatiel.org/pics/cinncock.jpg
And I thought when I first saw picture it was a
The Fallow Cockatiel The Fallow cockatiel has a very similar coloration to that of the Cinnamon cockatiel, but with a slightly diluted depth of color. The fallow has red eyes, a pink beak, and pink feet.


Hope you don't mine me putting in this info but I thought it was interesting after reading the post & seeing the pics

[got_tiels?]

Simone, those are B-E-A-utiful birds, :wow:, they really are if i had 2000 i by platiums but they are really rare, right i have never heard of silvers or platiums.!!

I have a quick ? how rare are cinnamons and albinos??

gotta rundawwg
~BREEANNA~

[Granny Annie]

:wow: Lovely birds. hi5

[Simone]

HI Betty, thanks for the info. I have cinnamons in my flock too and they are a totally different colour to thes guys who are definitely a pale silver-grey, and yes they do in fact have very bright cheek patches, that was one of the first things i noticed.

To answer your question Breeana, cinnamons are pretty common here now (cinnamon-pearls are very popular), you can buy one from a private breeder (avairy-reared for $30-40), but albinos (wf -lutinos) are still very rare and fetch a price of about $600, mainly because the whiteface mutation is still not common. (lutinos are very common about $30) :)
I am planning to breed my own albinos but it would take me about 3 years from scratch, so I will probably buy a lutino cock split to whiteface later this year and put him to a whiteface hen. (that way I can get some albino daughters in the first clutch).

[Simone]

So, New Zealand doesn't have the same laws as Australia as far as exporting? hi5 Spoke to someone about this today... we can export from NZ (with permits) but no imports are allowed to NZ anymore. The last lot of English budgies that was imported (legally) to NZ was about 10 years ago. Hence all our show birds are descended from this original stock (a relatively small gene pool), and also the reason why non-english blood has been mixed into them so much. (Also the reason why some varieties of budgies and cockatiels are not here and never will be). :(

[Betty]

Spoke to someone about this today... we can export from NZ (with permits) but no imports are allowed to NZ anymore. The last lot of English budgies that was imported (legally) to NZ was about 10 years ago. Hence all our show birds are descended from this original stock (a relatively small gene pool), and also the reason why non-english blood has been mixed into them so much. (Also the reason why some varieties of budgies and cockatiels are not here and never will be). :(Isn't it better not to add to the blood line? But if you have a small number understand why you would..Do you have White Faced Tiels?

[Simone]

Hi Betty - we do have whiteface cockatiels here, I just started breeding them myself last year. My first pair (a whiteface -pearl split pied, split cinnamon cock and pearl-pied split whiteface hen) cost $500. So far they have given me two whiteface pearls, one whiteface-pearl-pied, two cinnamon-pearls and a pearl. I am hoping they will give me a whiteface-cinnamon-pearl pied baby one day (about a 1/32 chance I think). The budgie varieties we Don't have here are the crested, the saddleback, the Texas Clearbody , the American Mottled. We only have two types of yellowface not three. (sadly the australian black-eyed yellow no longer seems to exist here either). Cockatiel varieties we Don't have here - the yellowface, and I have never seen a fallow tiel (not sure if they are here or not). Also I don't think we have the dominant silvers here either. As far as I know there is only one stud with platinums. Is there an orangeface mutation? (one that has the orange cheek patch and no yellow?) cos if there is we don't have that either.

[Betty]

HOB would be able to answer that ? about the orange face...I don't know....after I wrote about the white faced & posted, I remembered about your WF...the mind is the first to go! Sorry about that....I really do try but haven't had my coffee this AM...going to get it now....see ya,

[Simone]

Hehehe it's after 11 at night here and my bedtime..........goodnight all.

[Granny Annie]

(Simone) "The budgie varieties we Don't have here are the crested, the saddleback, the Texas Clearbody , the American Mottled."

I've never heard of the last three mutations of Budgies. Think I'm going to join Bets for coffee and breakfast. hi5

[Stacy3684]

There are Pastelface cockatiels that have a pastel orange cheek patch.

[Betty]

Stacy3684 said "There are Pastelface cockatiels that have a pastel orange cheek patch"
Hi! Sounds interesting, I have heard about the Pastelface but have never seen one in person..Do you have any pics or sites we could look at these?

[Granny Annie]

I wouldn't mind seeing them also. hi5

[Stacy3684]

Below is a link to a Pastelface-Pearl-Pied bred by Richard Cusick. I do not know how to post pictures otherwise I would have posted one of my own.

http://www.flatratewebsites.net/sites/outback/photos/cockatiels/pastelfacepearlpied.jpg (http://www.flatratewebsites.net/sites/outback/photos/cockatiels/pastelfacepearlpied.jpg)

We also have Gold Cheek Cockatiels which just as the name sounds, have a gold cheek patch. I do not have any personally but have seen them at the National Cockatiel Society shows, they are very beautiful as well.

Suffused Yellow (aka Emerald, Olive) is also a newer mutation in the US. Whiteface-Suffused Yellows sell for around $300

Roger Brigs of Mutations Unlimited in California owns the newest cockatiel mutation to enter the US. It is a Black Headed cockatiel. I have not seen one yet, but it is said to be stunning.

[Simone]

Hey do you know anything about the "olive" cockatiels?

[Stacy3684]

What would you like you know?

[Betty]

hyst OK, guess we're going to have to "pull" it out of you. First of all, PM Granny A about posting pictures...she will help you or do it for you....Thanks for the link too!

Now, do you have any Olive tiels? How did you get into the "special" part of the tiels...I guess just some around knowledge from you....Thanks

[Nasal_Tufts]

I did a little googling around and I found this great site. www.showbirds.com/tiels/about.html (http://www.showbirds.com/tiels/about.html) This woman has been showing and breeding cockatiels for many years and she has lots of mutations. You can find some great pics on olives and she also have dominate and recessive silvers. She has some great info on each breed and a bunch of pictures.



EDIT: Sorry I had an error in the link, I fixed it and it should work now.

[Simone]

Heyyy the olive cockatiels have a pattern silmilar to spangled budgies! Thanx for the link.

[Simone]

here is a link to a site about platinums. Also he says that pastelface is dominant over whiteface, even though it is recessive to everything else.
http://www.quarrion.com/platino.htm

[HOB]

Just kinda cruising through i found a place with service and seen this so thought I would chime in

I have some pastel cin pearlie pied maybe grannie could find them for me (lol) I posdted them before and dont have the photo with me to repost
but yes the chicks will all appear pastel when bred with a WF

[SunConure]

Some incredible mutations....

[Simone]

Ok, I now know more about the Platinums. They are an allelomorph of lutino, and are co-dominant when together in the same male, meaning the male looks like a platinum-lutino combo - a "platino" which looks like a lutino with a dark silvery-pink overlay (darker than the normal hormonal wash that males get). Also means if you breed a lutino parent with a platinum parent u get all platino sons. It is not possible to have platino females because the two genes occupy the same locus on the x-chromosome so female can only have either one or the other of lutino or platinum. Platinum is sex-linked like lutino. Platinums are not available outside of Australia (not sure how my friend got them), So sorry this will only ever be an academic exercise for most of us. (unless of course a spontaneous mutation occurs again in someone's aviary, - we all live in hope).

[Granny Annie]

Nice seeing you back on the board, Hob. The following thread has pictures of some of Hob's flock. :elefant:

http://www.theperch.net/discussion/showthread.php?t=1951

[HOB]

Thanks Grannie

my pastels are there to hi5