Budgie Mutations

Dilution-
There are four different types of dilution. Either: greywing, full-body-color greywing, clearwing, or dilute. Budgies with the greywing, have grey markings instead of black, and coloring of the body feathers are half diluted.



In the full-body-color greywings, they also have grey markings instead of black. However, the full-body-color greywing's body feathers are bright, and not diluted.



The clearwing budgie has very light, and sometimes no, markings on the head and wings. Like the full-body-color greywings, their body feathers are bright.



Dilute budgies have washed out coloring all over. The head and wing markings are extremely light, and the body color is almost completely diluted.

Normal base colors-
All budgies can be placed into one of two basic color varieties. Either they are yellow-based, or they lack the yellow pigment and are white-based. Generally, the base color is seen in the mask and down through the black markings on the head and wings. Normally, the feathers reflect blue. In yellow-based budgies, the blue of the body feathers mixes with the yellow pigment, which results in the bright green coloring. This is the most common variety. In white-based budgies, where there is no yellow pigment, the result is bright blue coloring. This is the second most common variety. The yellow-base is the dominant coloring, while the white-base is recessive.



Dark factors-
The dark factor darkens the blue of the body feathers. A yellow-based budgie with a single dark factor will be a slightly darker than the normal green. This coloration is called "dark green." A green budgie with two dark factors will be an even darker, olive green color. This coloration is called "olive."



A white-based budgie with a single dark factor will be a slightly darker blue than the normal. This coloration is called "cobalt." A blue budgie with two dark factors will be an even darker, grey-blue color. This coloration is called "mauve."



Grey factors-
The grey is a color-adding factor, therefore, if a budgie has the grey factor, the grey is being added over the original coloring of the body feathers. This is a very strong factor that will dominate the underlying color.
The grey factor on a normal green budgie, turns the feathers a grey-green color.



The grey factor on a normal blue budgie turns the feathers a grey color.



Violet factors-
The violet factor is also a color-adding factor, though, it is not as strong as the grey. Sometimes the violet factor isn't easily visible on the budgie. Yellow-based budgies are very hard to see if they carry the violet factor. The violet factor darkens the body feathers similarly to the way a dark factor does on green budgies. A sky blue budgie with a single violet factor will just have a violet tinge. This will be most noticeable near the feet. As with the green, it is difficult to see the violet factor in a mauve budgie. A cobalt budgie with a violet factor, is the true violet.