Breeding Lutinos Together

hi not long moved over to keeping pacific parrotlets . my question is having produced lutino babies from unrelated sources is a lutino to lutino a viable pairing or is there a promlem with rearing chicks from this pairing .would lutino to spilt for lutino be a better pairing thanks mick

Dear Michael:

Thank you for your email. As someone that has kept parrotlets for almost 30 years, I am in this for the long-haul. I have always thought about and planned for the future of the captive-bred population in the US. I don’t really care about pretty new colors but health, vigor, conformation and the vitality of the species including keeping mutations from destroying them. After all, mutations are genetically abnormal and can have very deleterious affects on captive-bred populations especially when no normal or wild-type birds can be imported with which to outcross and keep them healthy and strong. It is for that reason and the fact that color mutation parrotlets, unlike budgies, cockatiels and lovebirds which have been bred for hundreds of generations, have only been around about 15 years, I never breed two of the same visual colors together. This is certainly not enough time to breed out genetic flaws. Perhaps in a hundred years or so but even then, I would never breed two red-eyed visual birds together. Even cockatiels, budgies and lovebirds have problems when you breed red-eyed to red-eyed so, in my opinion it is not a good thing. I’ve seen birds develop cataracts, been born blind or even one woman had some birds born without any eyes at all. So no, in my opinion it is much better to breed a visual red-eyed bird, whether it is a lutino, fallow, cinnamon, etc., to a split.

Sincerely yours,

Sandee L. Molenda, C.A.S.
The Parrotlet Ranch, Owner, www.parrotletranch.com
Join the International Parrotlet Society, – the World’s Largest and Oldest Parrotlet Organization www.internationalparrotletsociety.org
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