# Echo



## Carlyfulford1 (Nov 21, 2021)

Hi there,
I have been away the last two weeks and I have had my family members looking after my budgies. When I returned I have noticed Echo my blue budgie has grown a very dark coloured tail feather. Her tail has just been white in the past. She is about 10 months old now so hoping it’s just a normal thing that comes with maturity. First photo is with flash (she is very iridescent) second photo is without. If it’s not normal for feathers to change like this- what could be the cause?
Thank you 😊


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## StarlingWings (Mar 15, 2013)

Hello and welcome to the forums!

Your girl is beautiful. She is a single factor spangle sky blue violet budgie.

The good news is that her feather isn’t anything to worry about. It is however very cool and can be explained only by a relatively rare phenomenon caused by a defect in gene replication at the keratinocyte, the feather (made of keratin) producing-cell which grew her new feather. Your girl is single factor spangle. This means that at the region of the gene where that mutation is, out of two copies of the gene, one is spangle and one is wild type. It appears that as the DNA replicated during cell division the spangle gene was damaged in that cell. It happens sometimes and leads to a mutation to a nonfunctional gene. This means that out of a wild type copy and a non functioning spangle copy the cell will express wild type. Therefore you get a dark feather which in fact is the color of a wild type blue feather!

Apologies for the long winded and complicated response, but I tried to simplify it as much as possible.

She’s very pretty. You’ve come to a great place to learn even more about the best of budgie care! Please be sure to read through the many budgie articles and “stickies” to ensure you’re up to date on everything. If you have any questions after doing so, please be sure to ask as we’d love to help.

Hope to see you around!

Best wishes!


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## FaeryBee (May 9, 2011)

*The purpose of this forum is to promote the BEST PRACTICES in the care of budgies for their optimal Health and Well-Being*
*Locating an Avian Veterinarian*

*Echo is beautiful! Is your yellow budgie a male or female? What is its name?

If you have a mixed gender pair, you need to do everything necessary to prevent breeding.*
*A Heartfelt Plea to All Members*
*Tips For Discouraging Breeding*
*Before You Ever Consider Breeding Your Budgies*
*Guidance for Breeding Advice Threads*

*A Healthy Diet for your Budgie*
*Quality Seed Mix*
*CuttleBones, Mineral Blocks and Manu Clay Roses*
*Safe Foods for Budgies*
*The Truth about GRIT*

*Please take the time to read through the Site Guidelines, the FAQs, the Budgie Articles and all of the Stickies located at the top of each section of the forum.
Additionally, please be sure to read the thread "Posting on the Forums" which is linked below.

Truly, the very BEST advice anyone can offer you is to take the time to read ALL of the stickies throughout the various Talk Budgie forums as well as the Budgie Articles we have posted.
(Stickies are threads “stuck” at the top of each forum sub-section)
These are great resources for Talk Budgie members and have a wealth of reliable information which will assist you to learn the best practices in caring for your budgies for their optimal health and well-being.*

*SITE GUIDELINES*
*Posting on the Forums*
*Let's Talk Budgies!*
*FAQ*
*Articles*
*Be Prepared for Veterinary Care Expense*
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*Quarantine IS Necessary!*
*Cage sizes.*
*Essentials to a Great Cage*
*Dangers to Pet Birds*
*Resource Directory*


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## Carlyfulford1 (Nov 21, 2021)

StarlingWings said:


> Hello and welcome to the forums!
> 
> Your girl is beautiful. She is a single factor spangle sky blue violet budgie.
> 
> ...


wow this is so interesting!
I have been on the forum since I got my little angels in October and December 2021, but for some reason I got logged out and couldn’t log back in… so I just made a new account. Haha!
It really is a great community and I love how knowledgeable you all are. 
I appreciate your response! 
Thank you,
Carly 😊


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## FaeryBee (May 9, 2011)

*Carly,

Please provide me with your previous User ID so I can merge the two User IDs into one.

Thanks,

FaeryBee
Talk Budgies Administrator*


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