Mutation combinations are the phenotypes of two or more mutations in a pair that can be observed. There are hundreds of mutation combinations of lovebirds, some of which look good, and of course, many are not good or even bad.
Every time a new mutation is found in lovebirds, breeders always rush to cross with pre-existing mutations to get a variety of combinations of lovebirds' mutations.
Without basic knowledge of mutation combinations, you can cross with high-class mutations such as fallow mutations. However, the essence of lovebird mutation combinations is not necessarily with high-end mutations alone.
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3 key mutations needed in lovebird combination
In this article, I will share my experience about the 3 key mutations needed in a lovebird combination. Knowing this may be important for you before buying many birds.
1. Opaline mutation as a combination
Opaline is a mutation in melanin and psittacine's overall pigment distribution. That is why green appears light green
and blue appears light blue, which is one of the opaline mutation's attractions.
Another attraction of
opaline is the edge pattern; although the dominant edge mutation also has the same thing, opaline looks more elegant.
The brighter edges of the feathers form curves that cover all the feathers on the wings.
Sable is the opaline's greatest attraction, and hobbyists have always favored sable-headed lovebirds, even if they
are hybrids.
Opaline is the only real sable mutation in Fischeri and not a hybrid. Combining the latest
mutation with opaline will also add elegance, as the tail pattern will match the color of the head feathers.
The highlights of opaline, which I have outlined above, make it always the first choice as a combination mutation
when a new mutation is found in lovebirds.
In the recent case of Yellowface fischeri, lovebird breeders
have massively moved towards combining with opaline. And to date, there have been many elegant Opaline yellowface
combinations.
2. Euwing mutation as a combination
Euwing is an incomplete dominant mutation, making it easy to breed for combination purposes. You only need one euwing
phenotype parent to quickly get euwing chicks in the first generation.
The appeal of the euwing mutation is
in its characteristic graded coat feathers (yellow gradation for the green series, white gradation for the blue
series, and cream gradation for parblue and aqua).
Single and double factors are also ready to surprise and create many variations of combination results with other
mutations.
Combinations with SF (single factor) will result in a tight gradation on the coat and a faded
hue on the chest feathers, which is perfect if you want to combine it with Opaline.
The euwing mutation
will always be the first choice in terms of combinations. Even if a new mutation is discovered that is more beautiful,
the euwing combination will be much more complementary.
3. Violet mutation as a combination
Combining the latest mutations aims to address the psittacine violet reduction mutation variations. Like euwing,
violet is also a dominant incomplete mutation type, making combining effortless.
You only need one violet
phenotype parent to quickly get violet chicks in the first generation.
As a side note, to avoid crossing violets with excessive dark factor mutations, the feathers' dark hue will worsen
the violet blue's appearance. It is important to cross blue with non-dark factors selectively.
When parblue
first appeared the base color was turquoise, hobbyists always thought of combinations with violets.
When
opaline was first discovered to be green, hobbyists massively encouraged the move to blue combinations, which resulted
in the elegant opaline violet.
Eventually, you will get a masterpiece by combining the above three mutations with a new mutation. Let's take, for
example, the very elegant Opaline aqua blue2 sf euwing sf violet.
The three mutations above are so
important that you must have them and develop them to a good standard. They also have high selling value.