Violet
by Doug Bedwell, Revised by Blake Ma
 Without a doubt, one of the
most spectacular mutations to appear in the last
few years has been the Violet. This
mutation was developed in Denmark in the late
1980's.
The presence of
a violet factor creates a strong violet suffusion
throughout the body of the bird. The rump color
shifts from the tourquoise blue of the normal
peach to a vivid purple. Violet is
semi-dominant, meaning that a bird that has
inherited the color from both parents (A
"Double Factor Violet") will
show a deeper, more vivid coloring than a bird
that inherited the color from only one parent (a
"Single Factor violet"). Though Double
factor birds all show a strong violet color, the
intensity of the violet color in Single Factor
birds varies greatly from bird to bird.
Many breeders feel
that the violet color shows best when
combined with the Whitefaced Blue Mutation. Some
Whitefaced Blue Violets are almost
entirely violet bird, with a soft white face and
splendid purple rump. It is a very striking
combination.
 The presence of a single
dark factor can also enhance the strength of the
violet color and the violet throughout the bird's body. In a double dark factor bird,
however, the violet color is overwhelmed by the
dark factor, and is very difficult to detect.
 In the past couple of years more breeders have been focusing on the violet mutation and are now easier to find. Please see our Show Classifications for Violet to see the different classes available for violet birds. As mentioned above, you will find great variation among violet birds with some showing a little peach on the forehead, others showing hints of green and blue. It can also be difficult to distinguish between a single violet with 1 dark factor(Medium) and a double violet with 1 dark factor. A parent bird with a double factor violet if paired with a non-violet bird will produce all single violet babies.
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