Breeding Fallows is a challenge, not everyone is able to do this because it takes years of breeding to obtain a better bird.

Fallows are made up of three different mutations; English Fallows , German Fallows and Scottish Fallows .

If you want to breed Fallows you must understand the differences between  the three mutations. In appearance they are all very similar, only genetically are they very different.

The most common Fallows are English Fallows and German Fallows, Scottish Fallow is very near to the English Fallow and in 10 years of breeding Fallows I have never seen one.

English Fallows are claimed to have no white iris ring so the eye seems to be red. In fact there is an iris ring but is is deep pink in colour. German Fallows on the other hand have a white iris ring, in body and wing colour there is not mutch difference between the different mutations.

Pairing German and English fallows together is not a good thing to do because the youngsters are all “black eyed” and split for German and English fallow. The Fallow mutation is recessive .

Most fallows are small birds so when you are breeding this mutation you have to use your better normal birds.

I prefer not to use cinnamon or opaline because I found it didn’t improve the fallow mutation .

Fallows appears in the green and blue series and I avoid pairing green to green or blue to blue, it is better to pair a blue series bird to a green series bird. The best thing is using a split cock or hen and pair it to a Fallow .

In my breedingroom I have only English Fallows and after 10 years they have not the format you would expect.

Starting with Fallow is a long job and the best thing to do is pair a fallow to a normal to obtain some quality split Fallows. If possible, the normal must be a super bird as that’s the only way to have split birds with some quality. You can then cross the splits back to Fallows or split Fallows and if you are lucky you will posses a “quality Fallow” . Take these Fallow and pair them back to a superb Normal and off you go upgrading again . 

The Fallow is a very attractive Budgerigar but it is a bird for the specialist .

The only thing I want is to keep the mutation and not to let them die out.

Expectations

© Didier Mervilde 2000/2001/2002/2003/2004
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