The category of albinism in lovebirds we already know is Lutino for green lovebird albinism, a phenotype with a predominance of yellow combined with an orange mask.
While Albino is albinism for blue lovebirds that are completely white. When the blue1blue2 parblue was discovered, some lovebird breeders started planning crosses with the Albino to obtain the creamino as had already happened with the Agapornis roseicollis.
Creamino is the albinism phenotype in parblue lovebirds, which has now been renamed blue1blue2 after the genetic ornithologist did an update last year following the discovery of blue2 in Agapornis Fischer.
The international name of creamino is NSL ino blue1blue2. The way the creamino mutation is inherited is autosomal recessive, requiring a pair of the same allele to get the creamino phenotype in one generation. However, you can shorten the cross with Albino because it is still in the same locus. So no need to work with lutino/blue1blue2.
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Creamino lovebirds characteristics
Like other albinism mutations, creamino is a phenotype that completely loses melanin; the inhibition of the tyrosinase enzyme results in the absence of melanin in the skin and results in the color of the feathers, legs, and eyes. blue1blue2 is also a category of psittacine mutations whose alleles act to reduce red/orange psittacine. Therefore, the base color of this mutation is cream, initially suggested as creamino, as is already the case with Agapornis roseicollis.
The overall reduction of melanin also affects the loss of the basic species pattern, as all color blocks for gray and black feathers have been completely lost. For this reason, only a trained eye can distinguish between creamino fischeri, creamino personatus, creamino lilianae, and creamino nigrigenis.
Standard requirements for Agapornis fischeri Creamino
Color name: NSL ino Blue1Blue2International term: NSL ino Blue1Blue2
Forehead: yellow-orange. Crown, back of the head: light brilliant orange, gradually changing to light yellow towards the back of the head and neck.
Cheeks: Yellow light orange is changing to a light yellow neck.
Chin, throat, and upper chest: yellow light orange.
Eyes: red with unfeathered white eye-ring.
Beak: a shade of lighter red than the wild shape
Lower chest, flanks, belly, and anal region: light yellow.
Mantle and wing feathers: light yellow.
Primary flight feathers: light yellow outer flag and white inner flag.
Wing bends: light yellow
Rump and upper tail coverts: white on a light yellow background.
Under tail coverts: light yellow Legs: pale pink. Nails: horn-coloured. Tail feathers: the tail feathers are predominantly light yellow with a white tip. The secondary tail feathers have a yellow-orange spot drawing in the middle. This spot drawing is partially surrounded by a white zone.
Creamino and albinism difference photos
Agapornis Fischeri Creamino breeding
To start breeding creamino lovebirds, you must understand how autosomal recessives work. This mutation will appear phenotypically if identical alleles or mutant alleles meet. The alleles I am referring to here are NSL ino + NSL ino, which plays a role in melanin reduction, combined with Blue1blue2, which reduces red/orange psittacine.
So you need to have a pair of parents carrying the creamino allele homozygously (visual) or heterozygously (split) this means a lutino phenotype. You should also know that Creamino split only occurs in green series lovebirds, as blue cannot split against blue1blue2.
Creamino (NSL ino blue1blue2) is codominant with blue1 and blue2 in the psittacine mutation category.
So, you can also pair creamino parents or separate creamino parents with the following mutations:
- NSL ino blue (albino phenotype),
- NSL ino blue2 (albino phenotype), - NSL ino green/blue (lutino phenotype), - NSL ino green/blue2 (lutino phenotype)
You don't have to worry about male and female parents because you are not working with sex-linked mutations.
If you buy a /creamino, ensure the seller knows the bird's pedigree. That way, you will have a pair of alleles to get the albinism phenotype, and at the same time, you also have a codominant allele between the creamino and the Bl locus.
So, in the first generation or F1, you already have the Creamino phenotype (NSL ino blue1blue2).
I need your advice to start planning creamino breeding with lutino/blue1blue2. It is not recommended that creamino be paired with Albino (blue) continuously; this will make it paler and paler. A good creamino is cream with a yellow background.
I will discuss distinguishing Creamino from various species in another article.