Champion Budgerigar Breeder Queensland
If you are looking for Budgerigar Breeders in Queensland you are in the right place. I hope you enjoy the photos and articles about the budgerigar birds that I have bred.
My name is Mort, I live on the Sunshine Coast Qld and I breed and show Exhibition Budgerigars.
The Challenge – Preserving the rarer varieties of Budgerigars
Lets now look at the Dark Eye Clears (DEC). It was around the early 1940’s during the occupation of Belgian by the German army that the Dark Eye Clears along with the Clear Flighted Pieds were produced in the aviaries of Mon Raymaeker of Belgian.
It appears that when a Recessive Pied was crossed with a Clearflighted Pied, the Clearflight young from that pairing produced handsome Dark Eye Clears when mated back to a Recessive Pied.
They were named Black Eye Lutinos and sold for a very hight price in the 1940’s. Between 1939 and 1945 in Holland also appeared a new mutation known as the Dutch Pied. This new mutation also paired to a Recessive Pied found that the young of that pairing put back to a Recessive Pied produced Dark Eye Clears.
WHAT are Dark Eye Clears
Dark Eye Clears from their name, are budgerigars of a clear yellow or white, free from any markings and colour pigmentation. They resemble the Lutinos and Albinos except in the eye. Like the Recessive Pied they have the solid black eye without the white iris ring.
My Story
In June of 2003 I obtained 1 pair of Dark Eye Clears (DEC) from my friend Dave Cook, I looked at the little things as they were such poor quality, they were not much bigger than our native bush Budgies. No reflection on COOKIE by the way.
In my first year I was in need of numbers so I paired Dark eye to Dark Eye, as a result of that pairing I produced 100% Dark Eye Clears. All eight chicks were small with no improvement in size.
Second year, 2004 I paired up Dark Eye Clears to Recessive Pied’s. The Recessives were a nice line coming from the SEAGROTT stud, having a percentage of Mannes blood in them. The chicks now were showing a small improvement in size and feather quality.
Third year, 2005 I had come across a letter to UK Budgerigar World by an Italian breeder also attempting to work with the Dark Eye Clears. He found that pairing a Normal Split Recessive Pied to the Dark Eye Clears was by far the best way to improve the size in the rare variety.
ABC Interview with Mort
Mort lives on the Sunshine Coast and is one of the world’s leading breeders of the Dark Eyed Clear budgie.
The hobby is his life and caring for his birds is a great way to clear his head.
Afternoons producer Jen Leake went to meet Mort and his budgies.
Duration: 6min 56sec
Broadcast: Tue 15 Jun 2021, 12:30pm
Pairing Information
This pairing will result in:
1. Dark Eye Clears
2. Recessive Pieds
3. Continental Clearflights
4. Normal Split Recessive Pieds
Genetics of the Dark Eye Clears
The Dark Eye Clears are in fact, birds that carry in their genetical make up, one dominant gene (gene for the Clearflight) and two recessive genes (gene for the Recessive Pied)
The confusion arises when pairing a Dark Eye Clear with a normal bird; we then produce the Clearflights. In this pairing we will not produce DEC’s even though we started with one. In fact, the pairing will produce Clearflights and normals all split for Recessive Pied.
2018 Dark Eye Clear
What happens in this pairing is that the dominant Clearflight gene will act and the pairing is just like a Dominant Pied to a normal. Because the DEC had two recessive genes in hidden form, then these genes will continue to be present in the progeny in a hidden form as well, hence all the progeny will be split for Recessive Pied.
My Pairing
1. Dark Eye Clear to Normal/Rec.Pied
2. Continental Clearflights/Rec. to Normal/Rec. Pied
Good Luck with your hobby
Mort
2023 Dark Eye Clear
1st Place Qld State Titles
White Dark Eye Clear Cock – 15th May 2021
1st Place Qld State Titles
Normal Violet Cock – 15th May 2021
2019 Dark Eye Clears
2019 nest feather. 10 weeks old Dark Eye Clear Cock. Beautiful buttercup yellow. At a very early age showing promise.