IndianRingNeck.com

hi i seem to have a rare bird here...well rare as in no one else sems to have an indian ringneck with a jet black beak at 4 years old...because of this the Durrel wildlife society took interest as they thought i had the only echo parakeet in the world outside mauritius, (hens have jet black beaks, males are exactly like normal male ringnecks but slightly stockier and larger) but after 3 months of determining facts we now know, due to her calls crys & whistles that she is in fact a black beaked ringneck hen...does anyone else in the world have one?

i basically rescued this bird from a small cage in a pet shop..they told me it was from a clutch of 4 ringnecks the owner bred in 2011...i was convinced it was a conure..in the end i was sick of seeing it quiet ans shoved into the corner behind the more popular macaws so i bought it...such a softie, but have room in 3 aviaries and it gets on ok with my other ringnecks..still very wired to see its jet black beak every day

the black beaked indian ringneck is not a commonly found bird..often hybrid krameri to manilensis produce black beaked birds..and there are samples of pure manilensis with black beaks in India and in Phillipines..no know mutation has been produced from this..

It will be very interesting to see what its offspring are like won't it.

wow thanks for your reply molusses2 ..i wasnt going to breed with her but use her as a foster hen i think ..i think you are the only person that has heard of them

There are two breeders in SA that I know of with black beaked IRNs. They seem to be able to produce offspring with darker beaks as well, but very little information is available yet.

I am in USA and have a blue Indian Ringneck hen that developed same black beak in breeding season. After season it lightened a little but not much. She was 1 1/2 last year. I am waiting to see if it darkens up more again in the next month or so. As a baby she had a normal dark red indian ringneck beak. She is out of a blue IRN male (strange bird - has black spots on his feathers. I was told he was "special" when I got him) and a creamino IRN hen.

Last year she bred with a violet male - I was told double factor, but I think he was single factor. Threw a strange baby, slightly darker than a blue, not a turquoise, not a violet definitely not a cobalt. Odd.

Michele
Birds Of A Feather Aviary
Texas, USA

Hi Michele,
Could you post some photos of your hen with the black beak, your special blue cock and the odd coloured chick.
Thanks .

Yes, I will get those together and post them.

weird blue male...(father of blue hen with black, she is mom of odd colored baby). other photos to follow
Michele
South Texas

Sorry about photo quality. it is hard to get her to stand still. She is going into moult in this pic.

Michele
South Texas

Here is the offspring of the black-beaked blue hen and a violet male. Maternal Grandfather was the blue male pictured. this baby was 2014s hatch - unsexed so far, but I believe may be male. Is an odd color - not blue, not turquoise (parblue), not violet.

Pic really doesn't do him justice or show the major difference in color next to mother (blue), father (violet), grandfather (blue with black marks) or turquoise.

Any ideas on color?
Michele
South Texas

Hi Michele,

Thank you for posting the photos. You clearly have some very unusual looking birds. I can't exactly comment on what is going on regarding your birds, but suspect this maybe a melanistic mutation, which increases the expresstivity of black, not only in the feathers, but can also affect the skin, nails and beak.

You definitely have an interesting collection of birds, well worth investing the time for further development. You should consider a pairing which has the mutation in both the cock and hen. Line breeding can sometimes make for interesting results.