Ask Lafeber

Two species Hybrids

What about the pairing between mask and fisher ?
This kind of cross breeding is useful

Hi Sebi,

When you breed two different species, such as a Masked with a Fischer’s, this is called hybridizing. Serious breeders and aviculturists frown upon deliberately breeding hybrids. Species should be kept pure. Even though some species can breed with each other, doesn’t mean it produces healthy offspring. Hybrids are much like when you breed related birds – they can have genetic weaknesses that are not visible, but that get passed along to the next generation, making weaker and weaker birds. And that is if they are fertile, since many hybrids can be sterile. Each species has a natural incubation period and rate of development. But when you breed hybrids, this changes and again, results in inferior offspring. While you may find the cross breeding is useful as far as resulting in interesting colors, you do this at the cost of their health. These hybrids do not live as long as a pure species, and can be more prone to illnesses and infections. I personally can’t encourage or condone cross breeding because I have seen many hybrids that have suffered issues or short life spans. It’s not worth it just to get a new color. There are so many gorgeous lovebird color mutations out there, and even some of those are not as robust as the natural color, but overall they are better off than a hybrid.

Thank you for asking Lafeber,

Brenda