Our experience with breeding the Easley Clearbody

by

Gren and Pat Norris

 We became interested in the Easley Clearbody in 2001 when we were judging in South Africa. Whilst there we visited Reinhard Molkentin and saw them for the first time. All appeared to be of the opaline grey or opaline cinnamon grey variety and were quite heavily flecked.

We arranged to purchase one from Reinhard and in due course transport was sorted and the bird arrived in the U.K. Unfortunately it appeared to have damaged itself during the journey. One leg was at an angle and its wing was also dislocated.

Despite these handicaps the bird survived and on release from quarantine it soon adjusted to its disabilities and was able to fend for itself. It also paired itself up to a very good large dark green cock in the flight.

The pair were put into a breeding cage and three rounds of eggs were forthcoming  but non were ever fertile. The pair were split up and returned to the flight.

A month or so later the hen was showing interest in a smaller cinnamon light green cock, not an ideal partner but by this time we were ready to give anything a go. Again the first round of eggs were clear but in the second there was one fertile egg. This was transferred to another pair which proved to be a sound move as two days later the Easley hen died.

Two weeks later the egg hatched with the foster pair and in due course it began to feather up. To our relief it proved to be an Easley cinnamon light green cock.

The following year the cock was paired to a normal greygreen hen as we wanted to get away from the cinnamon factor as soon as possible. The greygreen hen was used as we have several hens of this colour which were of very good quality and we wanted to improve the exhibition status of the Easleys as quickly as possible.

The cock proved to be very fertile and produced fourteen chicks with the greygreen hen. Of these eight were Easleys in the following colours. 2 cinnamon opaline greygreen hens, 4 greygreen cocks, 1 light green cock and 1 cinnamon light green hen.

The greygreen Easley cocks were a big step forward in terms of exhibition quality as were the 2 cinnamon opaline greygreen hens. The light green cock and cinnamon light green hen were of poor quality. The 2 opaline cinnamon greygreen hens were a most attractive colour being of a golden mustard yellow shade. Several of the Easleys were sold to other fanciers but we retained 2 of the greygreen cocks and both cinnamon opaline greygreen hens.

For the following breeding season we decided to concentrate on the normal greygreen cocks as we wanted to reduce the cinnamon factor in our stock.

The best cock bird was paired to a very good opaline cobalt hen. This was to continue the process of upgrading the quality of the young but also we had not as yet bred any blue series birds and we wanted to see what effect the Easley factor had on such birds.

Again we were lucky in that a total of eleven Easleys were produced as follows. Hens- 1 cinnamon sky, 1 opaline cinnamon sky. 1 cinnamon violet, 1 light green and 1 greygreen. Cocks- 2 skyblues, 2 opaline skyblues, 1 cobalt and 1 greygreen. It was noted that the Easley characteristics were much more evident in the blue series birds. The opaline cinnamon sky hen had a very pale body colour, almost white in fact. Only the rump area showed any skyblue. The other blue series birds showed varying degrees of pale suffusion with perhaps the cinnamon violet being the most attractive.

The green series birds showed much more body suffusion in the 2 hens, the greygreen cock showing least of all.

We decided to keep the greygreen cock, 1 opaline skyblue cock, the opaline cinnamon sky hen, the cinnamon violet hen and the greygreen hen. The rest of the youngsters were sold on.

Our reasons for the birds we retained were threefold, firstly the greygreen cock showed the most advance in so far as its exhibition quality. The light green hen and the greygreen hen meant that we could now eliminate the cinnamon factor in future breeding if we wished. The opaline cinnamon sky hen showed the greatest amount of body suffusion, the cinnamon violet gave us an interesting colour option and the opaline skyblue cock gave us the option of increasing the number of blue series birds.

Over the next year or so various pairings were made to both improve exhibition qualities and breed the Easley in in a greater variety of colours. We also paired Easley to Easley to breed them in double factor. Three Easley clearbodies were produced from this pairing but in appearance they were no different from the single factor birds. We have continued to make progress in the exhibition qualities and this year,2006, produced a very good Easley light green which won best rare for us at the B.S. World Show and with that win became a registered champion. An earlier Easley greygreen, bred in 2004, was also successful in becoming a registered champion for us.

There are now 20 or so people breeding the Easley and the signs are that its future is rosey. Being a dominant mutation it is easy to produce and any pairing to non Easley should produce 50% of Easleys. To become attractive to the fancy as a whole, work needs to be done on breeding birds that appeal.

We believe that this will be achievable by selective breeding. The light or dark green Easley for example have varying degrees of yellow on the body of the bird. It is always most evident on the upper part of the chest from the mask down. By selecting pairs that display the greatest degree of yellow, it should be possible to progressively increase the amount of yellow and in time produce an almost yellow bird with black markings, spots and tail. Something like the birds in Dr Armours book, ”Exhibition Budgerigars” described as a laced yellow. It was in fact that illustration which inspired us to work with the Easley mutation in the first place together with articles provided by Ken Gray on the origins of the Easley mutation.

There are one or two oddities about the Easleys which we have bred, that we have not found mentioned in earlier articles by various authors. Firstly all of our birds have displayed a slight extension of the yellow or white of the mask behind the cheek patches and is similar to opalescence but is yellow or white and not green or blue. The frontal of the birds at their first moult often appear to have fine flecking but as the birds mature it disappears.

There is still much work to be done with these birds. We have so far only produced them in a limited range of colours. Currently we are trying to breed them in darker factors such as cobalt, violet and dark green. We find this mutation to be very fertile and relatively easy to breed. The difficult part as always is improving the quality. For anyone who wants a challenge why not give them a go.