Yellow gouldians

Hope · Post by **Hope** » Fri May 08, 2009 12:01 pm

I've been trying to find a yellow hen for my male SF/GB dilute.

The bird shop by me has just received four young yellows. I went to see them yesterday to see if there was a female. I was stumped

One has a light purple breast but couldn't tell the head color. The others are white breast and just starting to get red head feathers. I forgot to look for differences in belly color. They all have red tip beaks. Is there a difference in beak color for hens or cock that are yellow bodied?

I'm going back today and look again. Usally when I whistle I can get the males to sing, but yesterday they were still to excited. If anyone has any tips for telling the difference in youong yellows...Help

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L in Ontario · Post by **L in Ontario** » Fri May 08, 2009 12:20 pm

I think it's pretty tough if they have not coloured up enough to see the different in the belly colours. Females will get pale yellow stomachs and the males of course will get much brighter/deeper yellow stomachs.

There's no difference in the beak colouration between male and female Gouldians.

Singing would be a very good clue.

Good luck! It's a shame they have the birds so young.

nixity · Post by **nixity** » Fri May 08, 2009 12:23 pm

Hi Hope,

For me the indications between the sexes usually lie in the head color, breast color, and the turquoise band behind the head color mask (besides males singing and females not, of course!).

You will find that yellow males have a much more "filled-in" looking mask, and there is little to no space between the beak and where the mask starts on a male, whereas with a hen you will probably notice a separation between the mask feathers and the beak.

Also, if the birds are purple breasted, the females are generally much lighter in breast color.
I do not particularly notice a difference in belly color in yellow birds because the yellow is just much more pronounced in both the boys and girls.
In terms of the beak - unfortunately, there is no difference. They are red tipped on both sexes!

Hope · Post by **Hope** » Fri May 08, 2009 12:31 pm

On the males they would have a light blue/gray ring. Is it colored or white on a hen?

nixity · Post by **nixity** » Fri May 08, 2009 1:13 pm

White - this is my RH, PB Yellow hen

And this is my BH, Lilac/White, DF Yellow/Blue male. With the DFs the band is a little more opalescent but you should still be able to see it, though it may not show up spectacularly in this photo.

Hope · Post by **Hope** » Fri May 08, 2009 1:27 pm

Thanks for the pictures, that helps alot. Pretty birds

I'm going to go look again now that I have a better picture in my mind.
Then, I'll whistle a few tunes and see if I can make a decision.