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Gouldian back colouring - probability of blue back?
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 1:22 pm
by Jasmin
Hi everyone,
I have a question regarding the probability of having blue back chicks if the parents are split to blue. I'm wondering if there's a formula or if nature just does what it pleases!
My Gouldian pair had their first clutch ever in March: 3 chicks total - 2 of them Blue back.
They had another clutch end of April, 5 chicks total - ALL green back.
Is it common for split-to-blue parents to have entire green-back clutches?
(It does not matter to me at all what colour they are as long as they are healthy

I'm just curious.
Thanks!
Re: Gouldian back colouring - probability of blue back?
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 1:29 pm
by L in Ontario
It's not uncommon for a pair of normal (green) split to blue Gouldians to have several clutches of normal chicks. I had a pair that it took them 5 clutches before I could prove they were both split. It certainly seems to be a game of Russian roulette!
Re: Gouldian back colouring - probability of blue back?
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 2:47 pm
by Jasmin
That's what I thought...
They teased me with the first blue-back babies!
Re: Gouldian back colouring - probability of blue back?
Posted: Wed May 23, 2012 4:58 pm
by ac12
I use this to figure what offspring I might get.
http://www.amadinagouldove.cz/gouldian- ... /index.php
The % probability is for EACH chick, not for the clutch in total.
However, I have had chicks that were not according to the predictions.
I had 6 chicks from my BB and /BB pair, 5 were BB 1 was /BB, but I also had 3 males and 3 females. So you don't really know. The forecaster gives you an indication of what you might get.
Re: Gouldian back colouring - probability of blue back?
Posted: Thu May 24, 2012 10:12 am
by Jasmin
Thanks for the site Gary!
It's better than any other "predictor" sites I found!
Re: Gouldian back colouring - probability of blue back?
Posted: Thu May 24, 2012 10:45 am
by nixity
Well, unfortunately, the accuracy of statistics depends on a rather large data set.
So, when you're only working with a single pair you can't really expect to depend on genetic statistics.
That's why when someone asks me what a pair can produce I simply give the possible mutations and don't bother trying to calculate the percentages because it's really a crap shoot.
Re: Gouldian back colouring - probability of blue back?
Posted: Thu May 31, 2012 12:15 pm
by Meagan83
I traded a split to blue male offspring to a friend. She paired him to a blue hen and they had 3 clutches before she saw any blue babies!!!! She nearly accused me of wrongly informing her. But I knew he was a split because the mother had never been kept with males prior to me pairing her and they were in a breeder cage to themselves when they gave me those darling babies.
You'd think that if a split was paired to a blue, you'd get predominantly blues. Sometimes it just cannot be explained
