Fallow

Origin:  Fallow is the sixth established mutation. The Fallow mutation originated in1971 in the aviary of Mrs. Irma Vowels

The Fallow is a red eyed bird. At hatch the eyes appear pale pink and the pupils will look like they glow from within. As they age the eye color can darken slightly, though the eyes will still appear a lighter shade of red/pink than a lutino pied. If the Fallow is also pied the eyes tend to remain a brighter pinkish red color. The eye will appear to be a solid pink-red with vary little variance in color of the pupil and iris, whereas a Lutino will have a darker ruby pupil with a slightly lighter red/ruby iris. The body plumage can vary from a Lutino appearing bird with very pale warm beige wash to a soft light milk chocolate shade, with a deep yellow suffusion to the face and chest of both sexes.

Contrary to most other color mutations the hen is more attractive than the cock. Her colors are lighter. The hen will have a subtle yellow face/head, with a lighter chest with a yellow suffusion/wash. The cocks may be lighter toned when young, but will usually darken slightly as they age. The beak and feet are light toned, lacking melanin pigments, with the toenails appearing a pale tan.

Fallow is prone to balding. Many breeders of the rarer mutations, through communicating with each other, have learned to avoid introducing Pearl to Fallow when breeding because pearl tends to enhance an existing problem with balding. Even so, the fallow pearl is an attractive bird, and the pearl does help in increasing size to this mutation. Once this is obtained a breeder can breed the pearl out from the mutation. Good quality Fallows with no splits are uncommon and hard to find..

A Lutino cinnamon (cinnamon Lutino) can also be mistaken for a Fallow.  When in doubt of the mutation always test breed.  Fallow is recessive and both birds must carry the gene. Lutino Cinnamon is sex-linked, and if the cock is a visual he will produce Lutino Cinnamon daughters.


When a Fallow is crossed with a Cinnamon the Cinnamon will mask the Fallow color of the offspring. This results in a bird that looks like a Lutino. The color can range from a pale cream with a beige wash to a bright yellow bird. Cinnamon Fallow or Lutino Fallow are names used descriptively, but genetically the bird is a Fallow. Visually a Cinnamon Fallow (Lutino Fallow) can be mistaken for a Lutino Cinnamon, or if the bird is bright yellow, a Lutino Pied. It can be hard to determine visually which mutation you are looking at. As a result, there are many cockatiels sold as Fallows, by inexperienced breeders.

NOTE: If you pair a visual Cinnamon Fallow hen to a Normal that is not split to cinnamon. Any female offspring will be split to fallow, and no cinnamon.  Hold back just the females. When the bird matures pair her with a visual Fallow. This how you regain the beautiful Fallow coloration that was lost when cinnamon was bred into this mutation.

Note:  Interestingly in Europe and the Netherlands the Cinnamon Fallow is referred to as a Non Sex-Linked Lutino (NSL).

The reason why it is called a Non Sex-Linked Lutino is because the lutino mutation is sex-linked, and  a Cinnamon Fallow is a recessive mutation.

IF you pair a visual Cinnamon Fallow (NSL) cock to any mutation hen the offspring will be normal. IF you pair a visual Cinnamon Fallow hen to a Lutino cock, like a sex-linked pairing only the females will be lutino. There will never be any males because the hen was not lutino.

In order to reproduce this mutation, both birds must carry the gene, either visually or carry the recessive split.  For example: A visual Cinnamon Fallow hen, paired with a cock that is split to Cinnamon and Fallow.

As previously mentioned, when working with this mutation it advisable to not cross breed with Cinnamon or Pearl, because both mutations will enhance faults or greatly alter the visual color. It is best to try to breed back to the basic mutation. The first step is to start with a visual Fallow hen with few to no faults paired with a normal cock with no splits to Cinnamon and Pearl. Hold back all the offspring, which will be splits to fallow. Pair these birds with splits to Fallow or visual Fallows, taking care not to reintroduce Cinnamon and/or Pearl. Never breed visual Fallows together. This will bring out recessive faults such as balding, the size of the mutation is smaller, and there could be a higher loss of chicks in the nest.