FINCHforum

i want to breed my silver male to a black head, white breast, greenback, split to blue female. i don't understand a lot of the acronyms when discussing color potentials. what could this pair have?

rancho2
If you go to the Finch Info center, there is a section on gouldian genetics. Under the body genetics, they discuss silver and blues and give examples of potential pairings and possible offspring.

If I understand that page, which I may not understand correctly, the silver male, must have a white breast genetically to be silver. Otherwise, he'd look pastel. In gouldians, the yellow gene suppresses the expression of black; the blue gene suppresses the expression of red and yellow, so the body looks white or off-white. The purple chest does not change. If they are a red head (RH) or a yellow head (YH) they'll look salmon colored on the head, not white.

If your cock is BH.YB.DFBlue, he looks silver if the breast color is a white chest (WC).
So, if you male fits this description, he's likely a Black Head (BH), Yellow Back (YB), Double Factor blue (DFB), with white chest. If paired to a black head, white chest, green back/split to blue hen (BH.WC.GB/blue) hen, the genetics on the gouldian genetics page suggest the following outcomes:
half of offspring will be double factor (DF) blue and half with be split to blue, single factor (SF).

"Silver" AKA Pastel Blue can have a Purple Breast. What color head and breast does your Pastel Blue have?

If I understand that page, which I may not understand correctly, the silver male, must have a white breast genetically to be silver. Otherwise, he'd look pastel.

If the Pastel Blue has a Purple Breast he will be white bodied unless he is a SF Pastel Blue, then he will be visually blue bodied.

rancho2
Can you post pics of the pair? That would help us with the terminology. The terms pastel and silver get used differently by some people as Debbie mentioned. Is he white-ish or pastel blue/grey coloring? Do you know what the cock's parents were? Very interesting question. Have they laid any eggs?

these photos show the silver male and black head female in the back.

silver male is with the purple leg band?(he looks to have a lavender breast)
What is the other silver bird?

that's his baby.

rancho2 wrote: i want to breed my silver male to a black head, white breast, greenback, split to blue female. i don't understand a lot of the acronyms when discussing color potentials. what could this pair have?

Your male is either a RH (Red Head) or a YH (Yellow Head) you can't tell in a Pastel Blue or Blue bird because both are visually tanish in color. If your male is RH all male chicks will be RH/BH (Red Head split to Black Head) and hens RH (hens can not be split to Black Head), if he is YH then all male chicks will be RH/BH/YH (Red Head split to BH split to YH) and hen RH/YH (hens can not be split to Black Head)
If you breed a LB (Lilac Breast) to a WB (White Breast) all chicks will be LB/WB (Lilac Breast split to White Breast)
Because your male is LB it is very hard especially in pictures to tell if he is SF (Single Factor) for Pastel Blue ("silver") or DF (Double Factor). SF means he has one gene for Pastel and 2 genes for Blue and DF would be 2 genes for Pastel and 2 genes for Blue. Males that are LB or WB will be visually different body colors then a PB when SF (Single Factor). I tried to make a note when this would happen, hope I didn't miss any.

If he is SF Pastel Blue your male chicks would be all RH/BH.LB/WB (Red Head split to Black Head.Lilac Breast split to White Breast) the body colors would be:
Males:
SF Pastel Blue - visually white bodied *Note, a PB (Purple Breast) would be visually blue bodied
SF Pastel/Blue (single factor Pastel split to Blue) - visually yellow bodied *Note, a PB would be visually green
Blue
Green/Blue (Green split to Blue)
Females will be RH.LB/WB (Red Head.Lilac Breast split to White Breast) the body colors will be:
Pastel Blue - visually white bodied
Pastel/Blue - visually yellow bodied
Blue
Green/Blue

If he is Pastel Blue your chicks will be:
Males:
SF Pastel Blue - visually white bodied *note, a PB would be visually blue bodied
SF Pastel/Blue - visually yellow bodied *note, a PB would be visually green bodied
Females:
Pastel Blue - visually white bodied
Pastel/Blue - visually yellow bodied

thanks Debbie, I will get the hang of this eventually