How to Breed the Rarest
Lovebird Mutations

These are the rarest lovebird mutation combinations being chased right now, birds like Aqua Homo YellowFace Dun Fallow that breeders are working toward but almost nobody has produced yet. The problem is not the pairing idea, it is knowing the exact route from the birds you actually own. That is what this guide gives you: every route is generated by the Lovebird Genetics Calculator engine, starting from common birds and building up to the rarest target, with the real percentage and a button to open each one live.

Jump to: Base: Aqua YF & Parblue YF · Dun Fallow · Pale Fallow · Bronze Fallow · Dilute · Ino

Step 1: Produce the base, Aqua YF and Parblue YF

Before stacking fallows, you need the YellowFace base. These are the entry routes most breeders start from.

Aqua YellowFace, from the ground up

Step A, make the split parent. Pair a YellowFace Blue 1 with a plain Aqua B1 to create the Aqua B1 split YellowFace birds you need:

Step B, pair two of those Aqua B1 / YellowFace birds together:

Parblue YellowFace, the guaranteed route

Dun Fallow: the rarest target, Aqua Homo YF Dun Fallow

Aqua Homo YellowFace Dun Fallow is arguably the single most sought-after Fischer's lovebird in the world right now, and very few (if any) have been produced. Here are three routes, from the birds most breeders already have, up to the fastest route once you hold better stock.

Dun Fallow is autosomal recessive on its own df locus and shows bright red eyes on a darker laurel-green body. It is a separate, non-allelic mutation from Pale Fallow and Bronze Fallow: Van den Abeele advises never combining the three, because all of them are weak. Like every fallow it should be carried forward through split birds rather than visual to visual.

Step 1, start from the ground: introduce the Dun Fallow gene

Almost nobody owns a bird that is already split for Dun Fallow. You create that split yourself by crossing a visual Parblue Dun Fallow to your Aqua B2 YellowFace. Every chick carries both Dun Fallow and YellowFace, and the blue locus splits four ways:

Keep the Aqua B2 / Dun Fallow / Yellow Face chicks. Pair two of them (or back to an Aqua YellowFace) for one generation to fix YellowFace to visual, then move up the routes below.

Route 1, once you hold the Aqua YellowFace splits

Route 2, once both parents are Aqua YF split Dun Fallow

Route 3, fastest, once you hold Aqua Homo YF split Dun Fallow

Parblue YellowFace Dun Fallow

Pale Fallow: Aqua Homo YF Pale Fallow

Pale Fallow reduces eumelanin by 90 to 95 percent and gives clear ruby-red eyes, so Aqua Homo YellowFace Pale Fallow is a soft, washed pastel bird with red eyes, one of the cleanest looking rare combinations. Like every fallow it is autosomal recessive, so you build it through split carriers. Here are three routes from the birds most breeders already keep.

Step 1, start from the ground: introduce the Pale Fallow gene

Almost nobody owns a bird that is already split for Pale Fallow. You create that split yourself by crossing a visual Parblue Pale Fallow to your Aqua B2 YellowFace. Every chick carries both Pale Fallow and YellowFace, and the blue locus splits four ways:

Keep the Aqua B2 / Pale Fallow / Yellow Face chicks. Pair two of them (or back to an Aqua YellowFace) for one generation to fix YellowFace to visual, then move up the routes below.

Route 1, once you hold the Aqua YellowFace splits

Route 2, once both parents are Aqua YF split Pale Fallow

Route 3, fastest, once you hold Aqua Homo YF split Pale Fallow

Parblue YellowFace Pale Fallow

Bronze Fallow: Aqua Homo YF Bronze Fallow

Bronze Fallow gives a warm brownish bronze cast over the body with greyish-brown flights and dark burgundy eyes, the darkest eye of the three fallows. It is autosomal recessive and it is not allelic with Pale Fallow or Dun Fallow, but it does not have a private locus either: Van den Abeele places it on the a-locus (symbol a-bz), allelic with NSL ino, dark eyed clear and pastel. It also carries a serious viability problem that the others do not, so read the warning before you pair.

Step 1, start from the ground: introduce the Bronze Fallow gene

Almost nobody owns a bird that is already split for Bronze Fallow. You create that split yourself by crossing a visual Parblue Bronze Fallow to your Aqua B2 YellowFace. Every chick carries both Bronze Fallow and YellowFace, and the blue locus splits four ways:

Keep the Aqua B2 / Bronze Fallow / Yellow Face chicks. Pair two of them (or back to an Aqua YellowFace) for one generation to fix YellowFace to visual, then move up the routes below.

Route 1, once you hold the Aqua YellowFace splits

Route 2, once both parents are Aqua YF split Bronze Fallow

Route 3, fastest, once you hold Aqua Homo YF split Bronze Fallow

Parblue YellowFace Bronze Fallow

Dilute: Aqua Homo YF Dilute

Dilute pastels the whole bird while leaving the eyes and feet normal, producing a muted, lighter version of the base colour. Aqua Homo YellowFace Dilute is notably paler than standard Aqua Homo. It is autosomal recessive and built through splits, same as the fallows.

Step 1, start from the ground: introduce the Dilute gene

Almost nobody owns a bird that is already split for Dilute. You create that split yourself by crossing a visual Parblue Dilute to your Aqua B2 YellowFace. Every chick carries both Dilute and YellowFace, and the blue locus splits four ways:

Keep the Aqua B2 / Dilute / Yellow Face chicks. Pair two of them (or back to an Aqua YellowFace) for one generation to fix YellowFace to visual, then move up the routes below.

Route 1, once you hold the Aqua YellowFace splits

Route 2, once both parents are Aqua YF split Dilute

Route 3, fastest, once you hold Aqua Homo YF split Dilute

Parblue YellowFace Dilute

Ino: Aqua Homo Ino Yellow Face and Creamino

Ino removes almost all melanin, so Aqua Homo Ino Yellow Face is a near-white to cream bird with red eyes, one of the rarest and most striking visuals in the hobby. On the Parblue base the same cross gives a Creamino, the engine names it that automatically. Ino in Agapornis fischeri is NSL ino, an autosomal recessive at the a-locus and allelic with DEC and Pastel, which is how the calculator models it, so it follows the same split-carrier routes as the fallows and cocks and hens alike can carry it hidden. Note the offspring names: visual Ino reads as "Ino Yellow Face", while a split bird reads as "Yellow Face // Ino".

Step 1, start from the ground: introduce the Ino gene

Almost nobody owns a bird that is already split for Ino. You create that split yourself by crossing a visual Creamino (a Parblue Ino) to your Aqua B2 YellowFace. Every chick carries both Ino and YellowFace, and the blue locus splits four ways:

Keep the Aqua B2 / Ino / Yellow Face chicks. Pair two of them (or back to an Aqua YellowFace) for one generation to fix YellowFace to visual, then move up the routes below.

Route 1, once you hold the Aqua YellowFace splits

Route 2, once both parents are Aqua YF split Ino

Route 3, fastest, once you hold Aqua Homo YF split Ino

Creamino, the Parblue YellowFace Ino