Sky Blue Budgies — My Thoughts on Breeding Quality Birds
Breeding better birds isn't always about what you can see. Sometimes the factors holding a breeding program back are hidden behind the colour or variety of the bird, making them difficult to identify and control.
In this article, I explain why I believe Dark Factor and Grey Factor can make it harder to move the quality of your birds forward, and why I believe keeping these factors visible can make a big difference when planning your breeding.
The Sky Blues are such a strong bird to have in your aviary.
The great advantage of the Sky Blue, in the context I'm talking about here, is that it has no Dark Factor and no Grey Factor modifying or hiding the base colour.
Let's try and explain this concept. Wish me luck! LOL.
Why I Think the Sky Blue Is So Important
Genetically, Sky Blues are probably not quite as easy to breed as, say, Light Greens, Grey Greens or Greys.
The reason being that Blue is a recessive colour. Generally, this means they are not as genetically dominant as some of the other colours.
Another breeding consideration is the Dark Factor — something the Sky Blue does not have.
A Sky Blue is genetically similar to a Light Green in this respect: neither has a Dark Factor in its genetic make-up.
This is important from my observations over many years of breeding birds carrying the Dark Factor.
I believe birds carrying the Dark Factor either visible or hidden can be harder to impart top-quality features onto than birds that don't have the Dark Factor, or modifier, present.
Compounding this even further, a bird with two doses of the Dark Factor — a Double Factor, which produces Mauve — is, in my experience, even harder to push forward.
My contention is that if you've got a good Sky Blue, it has to be very strong genetically for it to exhibit those good-quality features.
As a result of these powerful genetics, they can be a powerhouse in the breeding program.
When I try and explain this concept to people, they look at me as though I've got two heads.
To explain what I mean, imagine you had four birds that were all roughly identical in quality — a Light Green, a Sky Blue, a Grey Green and a Grey.
I know that's not really possible, but just imagine they were.
The bird I would pick to breed with is the Sky Blue.
Why?
Because to get a Sky Blue to be as good visually as the other birds, you're fighting against the recessive genetics of the bird.
For it to be a good-quality visual bird, it's got to have a good strong genetic make-up, as far as I'm concerned.
Because of that, I believe it is probably more likely to throw better birds than the other ones.
This is my opinion based on my experience in my aviary over many years. It could be proven wrong.
Grey Factor
As mentioned above, I believe the Grey Factor is another hindrance to improving your birds.
Not so much in the Single Factor form, but particularly in the Double Factor form.
As a result of this, I use Grey Factor birds very sparingly in my breeding program.
Firstly, Grey Factor modifies the underlying colour of the bird. A Grey is therefore a Sky Blue, Cobalt, Violet or Mauve hidden by the Grey Factor, even though the bird appears grey.
Thus, it can mask the Dark Factor as well, and I have established through my breeding experience that Dark Factor birds are harder to improve.
This is where I think the problem starts to get interesting.
You can be looking at a Grey bird and not necessarily know what is sitting underneath it. The colour you're seeing isn't always telling you the whole story.
Secondly, I think another problem with Grey Factor birds is that they can be Single Factor or Double Factor Greys.
When a Single Factor Grey is paired to a non-Grey, roughly fifty percent of the youngsters would be expected to be Single Factor Grey.
From my experience, I believe they are more dominant than that, but roughly fifty-fifty Greys is what I would expect out of a Single Factor bird.
If you use a Double Factor Grey, then it's passing the Grey Factor on to all the youngsters.
And you can get more Double Factor Greys if you pair them to a Grey partner.
I think an overabundance of Grey Factor birds — and more importantly, Double Factor Greys — certainly limits the quality of birds that can be bred.
That is especially true when you're working with the softer feathering I've been working on for decades.
Whether it's Grey to Grey, Grey Green to Grey Green, or combinations of them — forget about the variety, it doesn't matter what variety it is. I do not like putting Grey Factor birds together, and I have made sure that the Greys produced in my breeding program are always Single Factor Greys.
The Hidden Bird
And this is where the whole hidden-factor problem really comes into play.
Through lack of knowledge, you could produce a Double Factor Grey that's actually masking or modifying the underlying Mauve colour.
I think you have limited possibilities of breeding a good bird out of that combination.
There are many restrictive genetic elements behind that bird, regardless of how good it looks.
Likewise, if you've got a Grey Green that's Double Factor Grey and it's masking or modifying the underlying Olive colour, it would be hard to believe it's going to be a visually good bird, so you're probably not going to use it.
But if you did put that into your birds, you're going to end up with what I believe would be genetically inferior birds.
Even if you fluke a half-decent one out of it, I don't think the genes are strong enough to go on with.
With the above combinations, you've got limiting factors with the Dark Factor, and you've got limiting factors with the Grey Factor.
Additionally, the Grey Factor hides what the bird really is.
And that's the problem.
If you can't see what you're dealing with, how do you know what you're putting into your breeding program?
In many aviaries, they are unknowingly doubling up these Double Factors, and I think that's a bit of a nightmare for future breeding success.
Because of all of the above, I put a heavy lean on the Sky Blues when deciding what to breed with.
Adding More Factors
With all these factors potentially slowing or halting breeding progress, some breeders then add something else into the mix, like, say, Spangle.
Spangle! Single Factor or Double Factor. LOL.
Extending this concept, if you had a Double Factor Grey / Double Factor Spangle, with the underlying hidden Mauve colour modified by the Grey Factor — which will basically look white — visually, it would probably be little more than a pet-shop bird.
This could equally apply with Lutinos and Albinos, although the red eyes may help identify them.
NOW what if you happen to end up with one of these that you unknowingly bought from somewhere or even bred it?
Where the hell do you go with it?
How do you identify what the bird actually is?
What do you pair it to?
WOW! What a good question!
And what if you do breed with it????
Personally, the above Double Factor Grey / Double Factor Spangle, with the underlying Mauve colour modified by the Grey Factor and looking white, I wouldn't waste my time with it.
Final Thoughts
I've been breeding birds for many years and, over that time, I've developed these theories by watching, breeding and learning from the birds themselves.
I've also been fortunate enough to spend time with some very good breeders in the UK and Europe, and that has influenced the way I think about breeding.
Some of the things I've talked about here are probably not things you will have heard discussed before. That's one of the reasons I've put them down in writing.
I've spent a long time testing and relying on these ideas in my own breeding program, and I think they're worth sharing for other breeders to consider and perhaps try for themselves.
You don't have to agree with me — that's part of breeding. But I would encourage you to look closely at your own birds and see whether what I've talked about rings true.
The Sky Blue eliminates many of the hidden hindrances I'm talking about because it simply doesn't have the Dark Factor or Grey Factor modifying or hiding the colour.
And that's why I keep coming back to the Sky Blue.
It is a very, very important bird. It doesn't matter what variety you've got them in.
In many instances, that's the way to go and, most importantly, they can be paired into a breeding program without introducing the Dark Factor or Grey Factor you're trying to avoid.
"The odd nice bird appears by accident. Lots of nice birds appear through skill and knowledge."
Best wishes and the best of luck with your birds.
© 2026 Robert Manvell — Please do not reproduce without permission.
Breeding better birds isn't always about what you can see. Sometimes the factors holding a breeding program back are hidden behind the colour or variety of the bird, making them difficult to identify and control.
In this article, I explain why I believe Dark Factor and Grey Factor can make it harder to move the quality of your birds forward, and why I believe keeping these factors visible can make a big difference when planning your breeding.
The Sky Blues are such a strong bird to have in your aviary.
The great advantage of the Sky Blue, in the context I'm talking about here, is that it has no Dark Factor and no Grey Factor modifying or hiding the base colour.
Let's try and explain this concept. Wish me luck! LOL.
Why I Think the Sky Blue Is So Important
Genetically, Sky Blues are probably not quite as easy to breed as, say, Light Greens, Grey Greens or Greys.
The reason being that Blue is a recessive colour. Generally, this means they are not as genetically dominant as some of the other colours.
Another breeding consideration is the Dark Factor — something the Sky Blue does not have.
A Sky Blue is genetically similar to a Light Green in this respect: neither has a Dark Factor in its genetic make-up.
This is important from my observations over many years of breeding birds carrying the Dark Factor.
I believe birds carrying the Dark Factor either visible or hidden can be harder to impart top-quality features onto than birds that don't have the Dark Factor, or modifier, present.
Compounding this even further, a bird with two doses of the Dark Factor — a Double Factor, which produces Mauve — is, in my experience, even harder to push forward.
My contention is that if you've got a good Sky Blue, it has to be very strong genetically for it to exhibit those good-quality features.
As a result of these powerful genetics, they can be a powerhouse in the breeding program.
When I try and explain this concept to people, they look at me as though I've got two heads.
To explain what I mean, imagine you had four birds that were all roughly identical in quality — a Light Green, a Sky Blue, a Grey Green and a Grey.
I know that's not really possible, but just imagine they were.
The bird I would pick to breed with is the Sky Blue.
Why?
Because to get a Sky Blue to be as good visually as the other birds, you're fighting against the recessive genetics of the bird.
For it to be a good-quality visual bird, it's got to have a good strong genetic make-up, as far as I'm concerned.
Because of that, I believe it is probably more likely to throw better birds than the other ones.
This is my opinion based on my experience in my aviary over many years. It could be proven wrong.
Grey Factor
As mentioned above, I believe the Grey Factor is another hindrance to improving your birds.
Not so much in the Single Factor form, but particularly in the Double Factor form.
As a result of this, I use Grey Factor birds very sparingly in my breeding program.
Firstly, Grey Factor modifies the underlying colour of the bird. A Grey is therefore a Sky Blue, Cobalt, Violet or Mauve hidden by the Grey Factor, even though the bird appears grey.
Thus, it can mask the Dark Factor as well, and I have established through my breeding experience that Dark Factor birds are harder to improve.
This is where I think the problem starts to get interesting.
You can be looking at a Grey bird and not necessarily know what is sitting underneath it. The colour you're seeing isn't always telling you the whole story.
Secondly, I think another problem with Grey Factor birds is that they can be Single Factor or Double Factor Greys.
When a Single Factor Grey is paired to a non-Grey, roughly fifty percent of the youngsters would be expected to be Single Factor Grey.
From my experience, I believe they are more dominant than that, but roughly fifty-fifty Greys is what I would expect out of a Single Factor bird.
If you use a Double Factor Grey, then it's passing the Grey Factor on to all the youngsters.
And you can get more Double Factor Greys if you pair them to a Grey partner.
I think an overabundance of Grey Factor birds — and more importantly, Double Factor Greys — certainly limits the quality of birds that can be bred.
That is especially true when you're working with the softer feathering I've been working on for decades.
Whether it's Grey to Grey, Grey Green to Grey Green, or combinations of them — forget about the variety, it doesn't matter what variety it is. I do not like putting Grey Factor birds together, and I have made sure that the Greys produced in my breeding program are always Single Factor Greys.
The Hidden Bird
And this is where the whole hidden-factor problem really comes into play.
Through lack of knowledge, you could produce a Double Factor Grey that's actually masking or modifying the underlying Mauve colour.
I think you have limited possibilities of breeding a good bird out of that combination.
There are many restrictive genetic elements behind that bird, regardless of how good it looks.
Likewise, if you've got a Grey Green that's Double Factor Grey and it's masking or modifying the underlying Olive colour, it would be hard to believe it's going to be a visually good bird, so you're probably not going to use it.
But if you did put that into your birds, you're going to end up with what I believe would be genetically inferior birds.
Even if you fluke a half-decent one out of it, I don't think the genes are strong enough to go on with.
With the above combinations, you've got limiting factors with the Dark Factor, and you've got limiting factors with the Grey Factor.
Additionally, the Grey Factor hides what the bird really is.
And that's the problem.
If you can't see what you're dealing with, how do you know what you're putting into your breeding program?
In many aviaries, they are unknowingly doubling up these Double Factors, and I think that's a bit of a nightmare for future breeding success.
Because of all of the above, I put a heavy lean on the Sky Blues when deciding what to breed with.
Adding More Factors
With all these factors potentially slowing or halting breeding progress, some breeders then add something else into the mix, like, say, Spangle.
Spangle! Single Factor or Double Factor. LOL.
Extending this concept, if you had a Double Factor Grey / Double Factor Spangle, with the underlying hidden Mauve colour modified by the Grey Factor — which will basically look white — visually, it would probably be little more than a pet-shop bird.
This could equally apply with Lutinos and Albinos, although the red eyes may help identify them.
NOW what if you happen to end up with one of these that you unknowingly bought from somewhere or even bred it?
Where the hell do you go with it?
How do you identify what the bird actually is?
What do you pair it to?
WOW! What a good question!
And what if you do breed with it????
Personally, the above Double Factor Grey / Double Factor Spangle, with the underlying Mauve colour modified by the Grey Factor and looking white, I wouldn't waste my time with it.
Final Thoughts
I've been breeding birds for many years and, over that time, I've developed these theories by watching, breeding and learning from the birds themselves.
I've also been fortunate enough to spend time with some very good breeders in the UK and Europe, and that has influenced the way I think about breeding.
Some of the things I've talked about here are probably not things you will have heard discussed before. That's one of the reasons I've put them down in writing.
I've spent a long time testing and relying on these ideas in my own breeding program, and I think they're worth sharing for other breeders to consider and perhaps try for themselves.
You don't have to agree with me — that's part of breeding. But I would encourage you to look closely at your own birds and see whether what I've talked about rings true.
The Sky Blue eliminates many of the hidden hindrances I'm talking about because it simply doesn't have the Dark Factor or Grey Factor modifying or hiding the colour.
And that's why I keep coming back to the Sky Blue.
It is a very, very important bird. It doesn't matter what variety you've got them in.
In many instances, that's the way to go and, most importantly, they can be paired into a breeding program without introducing the Dark Factor or Grey Factor you're trying to avoid.
"The odd nice bird appears by accident. Lots of nice birds appear through skill and knowledge."
Best wishes and the best of luck with your birds.
© 2026 Robert Manvell — Please do not reproduce without permission.
