Lovebirds

Rare Mutation Peachface, Fischer and Masked Lovebirds

Lovebirds are energetic little Parrots that are fun to keep as pets and to breed. There are a great number of very beautiful color mutations and the combining of these mutations to create even more color varieties make breeding these little beauties both interesting and fun. Come along and visit my Lovebirds and learn a little about the different colors availible.

Peachface Lovebirds

The Peachface Lovebird species have the most color mutations of all the Lovebird species. These color mutations can be combined with each other to make a wide variety of color combinations. In the picture above the yellow bird is a Lutino, The light yellow is called a Creamino which is the combination of the Lutino and the Blue mutations. The bird in flight is a white-faced Blue. The rest are Opalines. The picture below is a clutch of babies from one of my pairs, they produced Lutinos, Creaminos and White-faced.

Opaline Peachface Lovebirds

One of the newest mutations

This mutation causes a redistribution of pigment in the feathers of the bird. In the Peachface Lovebird there is a reduction of melanin distribution on the back of the head and in the tail and psittacin is increased and enhanced. This causes the face color to be spread over the head, red to be increased in the tail and yellow is spread through the rump causing a color change from blue to green. Pictures above are 1.Normal Green Opaline 2. Green Opaline split to Orangeface 3. Normal Green Opaline 4. Seagreen Opaline 5.group of young Opalines the color hasn't quite spread over all the head.

Lutino Fischer Lovebirds

The Lutino color mutation in the Fischer Lovebird is to me one of the most beautiful of all the Lovebird colors. In most Lovebirds this mutation is genetically sex linked, but in the Fischer Lovebird it is a simple recessive. This means that to be a visible mutation the bird must carry two genes for the mutation, if it only carries one it is considered split. We breed a visible Lutino to a Dilute Green, which produces Dilute Green split to Lutino. These split birds are very close in appearance to the Lutino. We also breed the Dilute Green split to Lutino to visible Lutinos to produce more visible Lutinos. Pictures above are 1. A Lutino with a normal Green 2. Two Dilute Greens 3. A Dilute Green split to Lutino 4. One of our pairs Dilute Green split Lutino male and Lutino female

Masked Lovebirds

The Masked Lovebird has several nice looking color mutation. The Albino is one of my favorites, this is a solid white bird with red eyes and a flesh colored beak. This mutation is also simple recessive. To get an Albino we breed the Lutino Masked Lovebird to a Blue series Masked Lovebird. In this mutation there is a total loss of melanin. In picture 1 above we see a Dilute Blue Masked Lovebird with 2 dark factors split to Albino, picture 2 is a Dilute Blue single dark factor split to Albino, picture 3 is an Albino, picture 4 is one of my pairs the female is Violet with one dark factor and the male is dilute blue with one dark factor, picture 5 is a normal Green Masked Lovebird. The picture below shows two 8 week old babies from the pair in picture 4 above. Both these babies have 2 dark factors, the darkest bird is a blue and the lighter bird is a dilute blue. They both might be Violet, the the double dark factor covers it up, only test breeding will show if they carry the Violet factor. You need one dark factor with a Violet factor for the Violet to show well. This difficulty in breeding visible Violets is one reason that they are one of the higher priced mutations.

Reader Feedback

Lensmaster

larry wrote

can love birds thrive in an outside aviary or do they need to be inside and whats the best way to sex them

Posted June 11, 2009

Lensmaster

jdhighland wrote...

in reply to larry I would not use air fresheners in the same room, or strong cleaners. Teflon is dangerous to all birds, the problem is if you over heat the pan. If you don't over heat the pan and keep your birds out of the kitchen you will be fine.

Posted June 10, 2009

Lensmaster

larry wrote

thinking about getting lovebirds but been reading about a lot that can kill them. is household sprays and teflon as bad as they make it out to be or can you have these things and be careful. almost every house has something that can kill a bird. i hate to buy them and accidentally kill them. what is a safe distance if you spray something or use air fresheners. and is it just parrots or all birds because you do not here of dangers with finches or parakeets just parrots.

Posted June 05, 2009

Lensmaster

lovebirdlover wrote

i knew mine was a female as she had laid (or layed, can't remember grammar) about 22 eggs in one year. i had a heck of a time with her getting egg binding, lots of vet visits. the last one got to her tho, rip. they are wonderful cuddly birds, but she was also aggressive when she wanted to be. you just had to know how to read her body language to know when she would strike. but she used to also preen my eye lashes. had her for about 13 years

Posted May 08, 2009

Lensmaster

tonys247@sbcglobal.net wrote

have a lutino lovebird and am having a hard time trying t determine is sex. raised lovebirds in the past and remember a book that said male lutinos were very rare. now went to bird fair and seems 75% all lutinos were MALE. so who's right??

Posted April 29, 2009

Inviting the American Willow Goldfinch0 points

Available Lovebirds

I usually have hand-fed baby Lovebirds available and often will have Adults and breeding pairs. Currently I have some young Opaline pairs available. Visit my website for more information, Here is a link to my for sale page Parrots for Sale

Lovebirds

Rare Mutation Peachface, Fischer and Masked Lovebirds

Peachface Lovebirds

Opaline Peachface Lovebirds

One of the newest mutations

Lutino Fischer Lovebirds

Masked Lovebirds

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