Post
by gattman » Sun May 04, 2014 6:31 am
Hi everyone,
A few days ago I was urged to check out this site as it would make some interesting reading, so I did and must admit it was entertaining. I thought I would take the time to clarify some things about Deeps and share some information that hopefully everyone can use to benefit their breeding programs. I have been breeding Deeps for over 10 years now, and have been ridiculed by fellow aviculturalists since I purchased them. I was constantly told that they weren't real cobalts, no different to normal Blues, would never double factor, and couldn't be anything worth breeding as they were originally bred from Green birds. Luckily, I didn't listen to uneducated opinionated aviculturalists and continued to do my own thing.
Over the years I have bred many Deeps, admittedly not as many as what I would have liked. Majority of my Deeps in the first 5 years were paired to straight Blue birds, producing on average 3 or 4 Blues to every Deep bird bred, much to my frustration. Each season I changed the matings of each pair in order to improve the genetics of the offspring. Over the years, I have bred varying shades of blue in the Deep birds. Some have been a shade or two lighter than my original Deeps, and some darker, even darker than the typical European Cobalt (Dark). I have been unable to figure out a reasonable explanation for this colour variation.
There has been much discussion about whether or not there are 2 types/variants of Deeps here in Australia, based on where or who they were purchased from. I can say with 100% confidence that there is NOT 2 types of Deeps in Australia as they all came from the 1 source. The first Deep bred came from Green birds that looked "a little different" by an old aviculturalist in far western Victoria many years ago. That first bird, a cock, is pictured in a photo I sent Willy, which Ben subsequently posted on this site on 29th March (2nd bird from left). That breeder obtained a colony of green birds which contained what we now know as Deep Greens from the Smith brothers, who had received them from a deceased estate and not knowing their history. The Smith brothers thought they may be different, but were not fully convinced as the birds looked virtually like normal Green ringnecks with only a subtle difference. When they sold the entire colony, the new owner agreed that if he bred something special from the Greens, he would give the Smiths 1. Several years later, the first Deep cock was bred. To my knowledge, no other Deeps were produced from the colony of Green looking birds. When that Deep cock matured, he was paired to a Blue hen and produced 3 Deep hens in the nest, 1 with a leg deformity. The following season, the pair produced 2 Deep cocks and 2 Deep hens. True to his word, the breeder gave 1 of the young cocks to the Smith brothers, and sold its siblings, a cock and 2 hens along with the 2 x 1 year old hens to a breeder in Melbourne, whilst keeping the hen with the leg deformity. Within a year, the breeder with the 5 Deeps decided to sell them off. I purchased the 2 younger hens, and the young cock and 2 hens that were rising 2 year old were sold to Ron. I saw these 5 birds on many occasions as I purchased many birds off this breeder, and he wanted me to purchase all 5 but it exceeded my finances at the time. The history of the Deeps was confirmed by the original breeder from far western Victoria, when I contacted him and went to visit him. I expressed my intent to learn more about this colour and the desire to put 2 Deeps together in the hope of breeding a double factor. This excited him as he felt he was too old to experiment, so he was happy to supply me with birds, both young and reaching maturity which I purchased. We formed a friendship, and I visited him several times a year for the next few years until his sudden death. It was after his death that his widow contacted me and offered me his collection of birds which I happily purchased.
As I started with hens and only bred Deep hens for the first 3 seasons it took me many years to breed my first double factor bird, which unfortunately died in the nest. It was then another 2 seasons later until I bred my next one. They have since matured and bred true to a DF, so I am able to prove to the sceptics that they will double factor. On the topic of colour variation from before, I have bred a typical Deep DF which is an intense dark blue bird, and from the same parents in the second clutch of the same year bred a Deep DF that was a Violet looking bird (will post some comparison pics soon). The parents of these 2 DFs were a Turquoise Deep cock that I bought off Jack Smith and a Deep hen that I bred myself. It is interesting to note that the following year I bred 3 Blues and 4 Turquoise Blues from the same pair.
As you can see from the pics that Snake posted on my behalf of my Deep Green hen, the subtle blue haze on the wing can be easily overlooked to the unsuspecting eye, and is indicative of the phenotype of the birds that produced the original Deep Blue cock, which is now in my possession. I have also found in every occasion that I have produced a Deep Violet from mating a Deep to a Violet, the Deep Violets have always been visibly darker birds with stronger colour depth than European Violet Cobalt birds.
Hopefully, I have clarified some myths and previously unanswered questions for you guys to enable you to make educated decisions on your future pairings and breeding programs. Breeding Deeps over the years has been both exciting and frustrating in my experience, but well worth it in the long run as we venture into colour combinations different to Cobalt and not seen in Australia before.
Cheers,
Martin