FINCHforum

What's the protocol for breeding relatives?????
parent to child I would guess "no"
siblings I would guess "no"
What about cousins, aunts, uncles??????????

Dolly this question will come with different opinions and I believe that you one answer. Well brother to sister is a no in all speices. Mum to son or dad to daughter is ok. Cousin to cousin can work but only if one of the parents from each pair are related not 2 brother and 2 sisters being paired from different parents. Uncle and aunties will also work. Why are you looking at line breeding(in breeding) this may help you with your quest. Most people that line breed gouldians are trying to get mutations.

Also to add that when line breeding (for getting certain traits usually), it should not be done continuously. Getting the trait out and then diversifying genes from there again would be best. Not always possible, but the longer you line breed often the weaker the birds become.

I'm not interested in line breeding so to speak; just wanting to know which birds I can pair up with each other. I would think this is an important thing to know and learn. Right now I have no relatives together; I'm just thinking what I'll be doing in the future.

With established mutations for birds that are commonly available I see no reason for line breeding.

We're not talking about triple crown winning race horses, after all. They're just finches.

In my personal opinion I see no reason to ever line breed a Gouldian finch to the tune of breeding a Father to a Daughter or a Mother to a Son. I was recently considering the implications of breeding two birds together that were distantly related (the Cock's great-great grandmother was the hen's grandmother) and decided it wasn't necessary so why even bother.
BUT - if I was going to do it, I personally would need at least two generations of separation (as in the above case) before really feeling comfortable about it and even in that case, I had enough reservations to pull the plug.

There are other ways to select for a mutation and characteristics/traits without inbreeding the birds - you can always outcross; but it takes time, and unfortunately people are often lazy/impatient.

And that's how you end up with the scrawny, sickly blue and silver Gouldians.

Thanks Tiffany; I hope you didn't misunderstand my motives. I am not interested in line breeding; just want to know who I can put with whom. For instance, when do I need to consider buying new breeding stock? Can I have something simple in laymen's terms?

Not at all! I was just giving my own personal views on it

It really depends on what drives you to breed. If you're not planning to sell the offspring or you're not really looking to show and you're just having fun, I think two generations out you could line breed once, and as Monique mentioned, make sure you always out-cross the resulting offspring to unrelated stock.

Assuming you're not keeping every baby you produce, you can always trade those offspring for unrelated stock to keep your bloodlines fresh.

thanks Tiffany; that's kind of what I was looking for.

Dolly line breeding has its advantages and disadvantages with you not breeding for certain traits then there is no real need for you, but its nice to see that you interested in this kind if breeding. You'll fond that alot of Canary and parrot breeders that show their birds do this breeding alot. As tiffany said staying on the line of caution is always the best way and always out source your line bred young to fresh lines to help reduce any bad qualities that may arise.

IMO, unless you are working for a certain mutation or characteristic, there is no need to line breed with Gouldians. There are enough normal Gouldians out there that you should have no trouble finding birds for outcrossing.

Originally with my Strawberries, I was told to line breed, as I couldn't find breeding age mates for my babies--they were just sitting around, not being used. But before I had to resort to that, I was able to get the wild-caughts, which brought all those fresh bloodlines into my program. Tiffany is right, though, even if someone does line breed, they need to do it for one generation only, and then outcross like crazy.