Gouldian Genetics

[hfinney]

Hello! I obtained my first pair of gouldians today. They are gorgeous. I have a black-headed female, and the male I have has a black head with an orange-tipped beak.

I'm hoping to breed these two when they get older, but I'm confused about their genetics. What I'm reading says that the male is actually a yellow-headed gouldian. Is this correct? Will the black-headed female still choose to mate with this guy if he's really a yellow? What will their chicks look like (red, yellow, or black)? Someone enlighten me if you know because I'm confused.

[hfinney]

Correction: I meant to say he has a yellow-tipped beak.

[paul-inAZ]

Color differences don't seem to influence acceptance of a mate [in my birds anyway] but may in the wild where hens have a wider choice of mates.
They'll breed.

You should get all visually black heads with males split to yellow and thus a yellow tipped beak.
A useful site:
http://www.gouldianfinches.eu/sk/geneti ... a/english/

And a comment- your photo shows what looks like wooden dowel perches. Go out and get some tree branches with bark on them. Better for their feet and toenails.

[debbie276]

Yes, the male is genetically a YH bird.
http://www.finchinfo.com/genetics/lady_ ... colors.php
"If two yellow head genes are present on a bird that has no red head genes (and instead has black head genes), the bird will have a black head with a yellow tipped beak (YTB). This occurs because the bird is genetically a yellow headed bird, but it cannot express the yellow color because the yellow gene depends on the red head gene for expression, and the red head gene is not there."

With a BH hen all the chicks will be BH/YH (BlackHead split to YellowHead) because the chick would need 2 YH genes to be a YH and only the male would have a YH gene to pass on. BH/YH have red tipped beaks.

If your hen is split to YH then the chicks would either be a BH/YH or BH YTB (BlackHead YellowTippedBeak) because they could get a YH gene from each parent making them genetically YH.

Hope that explained it well without confusing you more.

[hfinney]

Thank you both. I think I understand. It’s fascinating.

I do have branches for them. The dowels are in their temporary travel cage. Thanks!!