parents must be split for something...

[colorin]

One of my pairs of gouldians are like this:
cock: red head, white chest, green body
hen: red head, purple chest, green body

but 3 of their chicks have just fledged and one is clearly lighter in colour that the other two, as you can see in this pic:



parents are these:

and


the gouldian genetic forecast that I downloaded said that only red head, purple chest, green bodied chicks could come out of this pair, so I guess either the cock or the hen is split to something, but when I try to change the body colour in the program, it only lets me split them for blue (without altering the physical appearance of the birds)

Is that right? what are the other chances?

[debbie276]

That's correct.
Being split to blue does not change the physical appearance of a bird. If they are both split to blue then you have a chance of getting a blue chick which at fledging will be a charcoal gray color. It's very hard to see the backs of your chicks from the picture so I can't really help you there.
Good looking chicks
good luck with them

[ikhom]

-If your male is split to Black Head (BH), you can get BH females;
-If your hen is split to White Chest (WC), you can get WC chicks (males or females);
-If your both the hen and the male split to blue you can get blue chicks ( males or females);

[Pass]

Hi,
I don't see any blue babies. Actually a better shot of their backs would be helpful.

[nixity]

Are you colony breeding? (Are you breeding more than one pair in a cage/flight together)?

If so - that could account for the strange chick. I agree though, without seeing the back it's hard to tell what color the chick is. Looks almost dilute or yellow but it could be the lighting.

Could also be that this bird is WB. Without seeing a clearer photo I can't be sure.

[annague]

Thanks for sharing pictures of your babies, Colorin. They are looking beautiful and so are the parents -- it will be interesting to see what your other baby turns out to be!

[colorin]

here are the chicks a few days after fledging. The 4th chick fledged and was also a paler green. In this pic you can see the difference in the backs and beaks colour:


and here is one of the "darker" chicks today. It's the only one that has started to colour up!

[colorin]

update on these chicks...
I can clearly see tiny red feathers in one of these chicks (darker green back) but one of the lighter-green-back chicks is also showing some coloured feathers in his head, and unless age is affecting my sight... I'd swear they are orange rather than red!
Which means that either he'll have a very pale and yelowish-red head colour or both parents are split to orange.
I'll keep an eye on the other light-green-back...

[debbie276]

Wow, they look very nice!
congrats!!

[L in Ontario]

Feather colour can be difficult to "read" when they first come in. Congratulations on all of them - they're beautiful!

[monotwine]

Lovely youngsters. I'm not experienced with the Gouldians, but I would hazard a guess of them all being green backs. Could it be that there is a subtle difference in colour of sexes i.e. females perhaps lighter green?

[colorin]

At least one of the lighter ones is definitely a male. I've seen him doing the "dance" as well as singing.

[CandoAviary]

Looks like you have at least 2 dilutes. The hen must of bred with a yellow or a silver..... do you have those in the mix?
Or another hen laid an egg in their nest, or this pair took over someone elses nest that had eggs already.....or....
If you are colony breeding you can never, ever be sure who the real parents are

[colorin]

well, the two pairs breeding were already paired up before I placed them in the aviary, and both pairs have been very protective about their nests, not letting the other pair get too close to their respectives nests. Even now, with nests removed, pair1 roost close to each other, and pair 2 in the other side of the aviary.
I guess I'll have to wait until they colour up...

I have no yellow cocks nor silvers (pair 2 is a diluted cock -SF yellow) but the other three are normals, and there were just those 2 nests

[CandoAviary]

I have no yellow cocks nor silvers (pair 2 is a diluted cock -SF yellow) but the other three are normals, and there were just those 2 nests

The dilute, sf yellow, could pass the single factor on to the offspring and you could get more dilutes males (sf yellow) and yellow hens (hens are always single factor). It is always fun watching the colors develope and you just may be surprized how the hens play around with other males...even though they appear to your eyes to be bonded. Monogomous relationships in animals are rare. If they are dilutes...then you know for sure that the hen was fooling around

Also, like Tiffany stated, could be white breast ..though they look very light back for that. This would also mean that the hen must be split to WB. Could just be that the entire photo is developed light and what I am seeing isn't accurate on my monitor.
All colors are fab though, no matter what they are