Our Thoughts on Clearwings

By George and Keith Jones

The building of a stud of exhibition quality Clearwings to win major specials is one which takes time and patience to achieve. In this article we will explain our likes and dislikes in pairing Clearwings to hopefully breed the "stormer" that everyone hopes for at the start of every breeding season.

Pairing

When selecting Clearwings for our breeding programme, our main priority is to look at the quality of the bird first. Although breeding for the variety has a major part, we feel the overall quality of the bird must come first. On the odd occasion, we will pair two light or two dark factor birds together if we feel the pair are right for each other, but we prefer to pair dark factor (Dk Green and Cobalt) to light factor (Lt Green and Skyblue) in order to retain the contrast, colour and size.

Each year we will always breed with several pairs of Whitewings in order to produce sufficient quantities of Whitewings, as any chicks produced will all be of the Blue series. We believe the most difficult thing to introduce to any Budgerigar is width of face and depth of mask. These are the features we have worked on in our own stud and to date have been quite successful. The theoretical expectations play an important role when we are pairing up. As a Clearwing breeder our aim should be to breed as many Clearwings as possible and not to produce dilutes. Below is a basic list of expectations when pairing single factor and double factor Clearwings also with the use of a dilute.

Theoretical Expectations

Pairing

Expectation

Dark Factor × Dark Factor

100% Dark Factor

Dark Factor × Single Factor

50% DarkFactor
50% Single Factor

Single Factor × Single Factor

50% Single Factor
25% Dark Factor
25% Dilute

Single Factor × Dilute

50% Single Factor
50% Dilute

Dark Factor × Dilute

100% Single Factor

NB: The Double Factor Clearwing is pure and the Single Factor is Clearwing split for Dilute

With these expectations in mind any Yellow or White (Dilute) used is preferably paired to a Dark Factor Clearwing. The Dark Factor birds are invariably the birds in the stud with dirty wings. Some fanciers discard them thinking that because of the poor contrast, they have no part to play in the breeding team. Yet another telltale sign is the colour of the tail feather, it is always a much darker blue. The body colour also tends to be of good colour, but to be ,100% certain these birds should be to the dilute. If all the chicks produced from this pairing are Clearwings your suspicions will have been confirmed. The use of a dilute, providing it has relatively clear wings and free from dirty flights, will produce youngsters with better contrast than the Dark Factor parent. When using dilutes, the fancier must also monitor their use - if they are used excessively then the stud could start to lose colour. The Dark Factor is of little use in the show team, but is an invaluable member of the breeding team.

The Single Factor Clearwings are usually the show birds which have the contrast required to be good enough to be the show bird.

Outcrosses

When introducing outcrosses we prefer if possible to use hens, this way we can see exactly what we are about to introduce into our stud. If this is not possible and we have to use a cock, then we will always ask the breeder if they have any knowledge of Cinnamon or Opaline in the bird. Even so, the undesirable factors can still be there as they can be hidden for many generations, so as a precaution, we will only introduce the hens from such a pairing into the main line. The introduction of the grey factor is not a good idea. When using dilutes avoid pairing Grey Yellows and White Greys into Clearwings, any youngsters produced with the grey factor will have very poor contrast. By using a cock we feel it is wasteful and will only do it if there is no other option available to us.

Cinnamon Clearwings

As we have, the Cinnamon Clearwing in our opinion, is not a good idea to introduce into the stud. The Cinnamon Clearwing as with any other variety, will be diluted in every aspect, the body colour will be very pale, cheek flash pale violet and the feet will have a general pink appearance, although the wings will at first sight be a lot cleaner but on closer inspection there will be faint brown markings present. From an exhibition point of view this will result in very little contrast between body and wings. If the cinnamon factor is introduced and not culled or closely monitored, it will very quickly ruin the whole stud. With the introduction of the BS Colour Standards in 1994 all Cinnamon Clearwings will now have to be shown in the AOC classes at our shows.

Opaline Clearwings

The introduction of the opaline factor into a normal Clearwing stud is not a good idea. Although Opaline Clearwings are an attractive bird, they have little to contribute to the normal Clearwing stud.

Normals

The use of Normals into Clearwings is something which has been tried by ourselves but was unsuccessful, but we know of several prominent Clearwing breeders who use them, with a lot of success, and have done for many years. If a Normal is to be used, a hen would be the best option as it cannot be split for Opaline or Cinnamon as explained earlier.

Over the years many fanciers have tried to improve their Clearwings by introducing many different varieties usually with very little success. Most recently the Spangle has been tried also with very little success. We prefer to use dilutes as our source of bird to improve our stud-up to now with great success.

To conclude, we would recommend to anybody who is serious about breeding Clearwings and is not already a member, to join The Clearwing Budgerigar Breeders Association, from where you can tap into a good source of information from a lot of very experienced Clearwing fanciers.