27/05/2024
Dear fellow lovebird breeders. I am the original breeder of the so called "Sapphire" mutation in Agapornis Fischeri. (The actual Turquoise) The first Sapphires were bred from Green/Sapphire x Green/Sapphire. This discovery simultaneously gave rise to the discovery of the Blue2 as documented in my article and facebook posts on the subject, supported by knowledgeable breeders and authors on books of genetics . The author of the articles of Ornitho Genetics originally disputed the existence of the Blue2 mutation but later had to renage due to an overwhelming flood of evidence from breeders. This discovery of the Blue2 also proved that the "Turquoise" lovebird previously incorrectly identified by this author as documented in his book "Lovebirds Compendium" (and stil not corrected to this date) is actually a combination of Blue1 and Blue2.
In February 2019 I published my breeding results for the Sapphire on this page. This consisted of 70 Sapphires that was in my possession at that date. The breeding records show clearly that multiple Sapphire were bred from the same clutch. As correctly mentioned in the question response below, "crossing over" is a very rare event and therefore a very few of these birds should be bred if crossing over was the reason for the phenotype. This is not however the actual breeding result in reality. Breeding results show that Sapphires are very easy to breed and results are 100% as would be expected from an autosomal recessive mutation, which it is.
Each year I breed hundreds of Sapphires and never has there been any unexpected or explainable breeding results or any results that could be explained by or construed as crossing over or crossing back. (It is very simple to breed a Green/Sapphire: just pair a pure Green to a Sapphire and all offspring would be Green/Sapphire.)
It is also impossible that the Sapphire could be a result of crossing over between Blue1 and Blue2 because I initially never owned any Blue2 birds and never bred any "Turquoise" (Blue1Blue2) at the time. It is therefoe impossible that the Sapphire be a phenotype originating from a crossing over between Blue1 and Blue1. I only ackuired the Blue2 mutation at a later stage and carefully bred it separately according to strict breeding control and breeding records. I also test bred Blue2 X Sapphire, which gives an intermediate phenotype. Breeding results and photographic evidence was published on this page. Again no crossing over or crossing back takes place. None of the "reported" variations or different breeding results as "reported" to the author of Ornitho Genetics, who is not a breeder, is ever published. No breeder names is ever disclosed or supporting evidence is ever published for peer review or public comment in order to support the theories put forward by Ornitho Genetics. Unlike my own breeding results and findings which are reported openly and is transparent with enough evidence to stand up to scrutiny, but ignored .
FAQ: can a green bird be split for “sapphire”? For a start, it is good to realize that *sapphire* is NOT a basic mutation (SNP – mutation created by a single-nucleotide polymorphi…
