Abstract
I t all started about 20 years ago when a kakariki breeder in Belgium raised a few babies with white nails from his normal looking breeding stock. (Normally, Red-fronted Kakarikis have black or dark nails and feet} Out of curiosity, he paired the "white nailed" birds together and was able to raise a few youngsters with one or two yellow flight feathers.
Consequently, through years of inbreeding and linebreeding, birds with yellow flight and tail feathers emerged. These birds have several unique characteristics. Besides the typical white nails found in pied birds, their feet are also pied marked. As the birds matured, the pied markings seemed to increase and spread to areas of the nape, belly, and back. However, after the birds reached two years of age no further visible increase in the amount of piedness
was noted.
Unfortunately, the intense inbreeding program generated some undesirable traits. Along with the usual declines in fertility, size, and hatchability of eggs often noticed in many newly developed mutations, the pied kakarikis inherited a serious eye defect. This condition makes the eyes vulnerable to infection and symptoms such as watery eyes, swollen eyes, or conjunctivitis. These ailments were common among the early specimens.
Frustrated with this "fault," the breeder sold the entire collection to another kakariki breeder in Belgium. By then, some of the birds possessed pied marking of up to 15%. After years of outcrossing and culling, promising results began to emerge. Not only the pied markings increased but the incidental eye defect was also sharply reduced.
There is some confusion regarding the mode of inheritance of the pied mutation, primarily because when it is combined with other color mutations, i.e., cinnamon, it does not react like most other pieds of different species.
A very reputable breeder in Belgium had a "lutino looking" kakariki cock bird. He wanted to investigate what genetical traits were behind the mutation, so he paired the yellow, red-eyed cock to a completely normal green hen. All resulting daughters were cinnamon and all sons were green. From further test breeding investigations it was determined that all birds produced from this combination were split pied and all the cocks were split cinnamon as well. Thus when pied and cinnamon are properly combined, a lutino looking yellow mutation can result! Rumors of a dominant pied have been floating around Europe, but this has yet to be substantiated. Most pied kakarikis are recessive and one should expect nor-
mal Mendelian ratios concerning breeding probabilities.
Since then, many years have passed and this dedicated Belgian breeder was able to trade with other breeders of pied kakarikis for unrelated bloodlines to increase the gene pool. (Apparently, he sold a few to friends for outcrossing.) To date, he has raised very many kakarikis with yellow pied markings of up to 90% and many specimens are so yellow that they have a close resemblance to the beautiful but wholly unrelated Queen of Bavaria Conure.
In the last few years or so, many kakariki fanciers have acquired these pieds and introduced them into their own countries including England, the Netherlands, Germany, South Africa, Japan, and here in the United States.
Currently in the U.S., efforts are being made to improve the overall quality of the pied kakarikis _:_especially their size and markings. A heavily pied bird mated with another heavily pied bird does not guarantee heavily pied offspring. Neither does the pied marking of the feet indicate any potential. In general, birds will increase their pied markings roughly 20-40% from birth to two years of age.
When one pairs a pied with a normal kakariki, all of the offspring will be "split" - green with white nails. Pied paired to a split pied produces 50% pied and 50% split pied young. Pied paired with pied produces 1000/o pied. Pied babies can be easily distinguished from normal babies by their mixed patches of gray and white down feathers. Gray down feathers tum into green, and white down turns into yellow. Therefore, it is possible to see from the age of only 2-3 weeks old what a baby's markings will be when it matures.
There are only a handful of breeders in the U.S. who have the good fortune to own some of these birds. Some of them have been quite successful in their breeding attempts thus far. No doubt, more of these beautiful mutation birds will become available in the near future for those who enjoy kakarikis. Much dedicated work, however, is necessary by those who have kakarikis to ensure this mutation becomes well established.