Albino... lutino... strange gouldian chick in the nest.

[Jossi]

Hi all!

I sneaked a peek in one of the nests today and found only one chick. I would say he/she is about 14-16 days old. This pair usually have quite big clutches so it surprised me to find only one chick this time. But this is not why I'm writing. The chick seems to be albino or at least very light in color. The parents are a yellow hen with black head, puple chest and yellow tiped beak and the male a single factor yellow with purple chest and black head. Im quite familiar with the basic genetics but a bit lost when it comes to albinos and lutinos and would really apreciate if some one could help me out a bit

I didn't get any pictures of the chick, but will try tomorrow. At first I thought the chick was a regular yellow just a lighter shade, but when I looked closer the eyes seem to be redish or at least lighter then all of the other yellow chicks I have seen and the feathers seem almost white or light yellowish. I have never actually seen a albino or lutino before, quite rare here in sweeden, so its a bit hard to know what Im looking at

Have you guys had any albinos in your clutches? Is it common?

[Jossi]

Might ad that I'm trying to comunity breed two couples this year so I supose the father could be a blue male with black head and purple chest, its one of the two, how ever I doubt it, this pair seems very loyal, but you never know

[DanteD716]

Well, it is very rare, but not unheard of!

[nixity]

Yellows even tend to have pink eyes that turn darker as they get older. Without a photo it's impossible to really help, though.

[Jossi]

Hi, thank you for your replies!

Here is a picture of the little one. I know its a bit dark, but I hope it's good enough. I took a look at him/her this evening again and there is a bit more feathers on the body now, but still quite pale. The eyes dont seem that red in the photo, but appers more so in real life. It might very well be a yellow back, but if you compare it to my previous yellows it sure is lighter
Had a hard time to get it to open his/hers mouth to clearly see the color of the nodles, I guess it just wasn´t supper time

[nixity]

Looks like a little yellow to me
The eye sockets and nodules are too dark to fall into a Lutino category.

You can see here how bright pink the eyes are, how light the eye sockets (the part of the eye hidden below the lid) and nodules are:

http://www.gouldianfinchplanet.com/wp-c ... babies.jpg

(May be a Silver.. in this lighting and without being able to see the mouth and inner nodules properly it's too hard to tell)

[Jossi]

Thanks!

You are right, It's definetly not a lutino I'm so lost when it comes to those mutations, hehe.

I guess its a pale yellow... patiens is a virtue... I'll just have to wait and see.

What color are the nodules in silver, white like the blue ones? Ill keep a close eye on the nodules next time I sneak a peak.

[nixity]

This is a (rather poor) example of yellows vs silvers.
The babies gaping in the center, on left is a yellow, next to it on the right are two silvers, one gaping.



This is the same clutch, older, with a better camera - you can see the distinct difference in the skin color of the silvers, SUPER pink, almost translucent skin, compared to the noticeable yellow color of the skin on the yellow babies.



Here's another good shot - the baby in the front right gaping is a silver; The large one in the back under "copyright" is a yellow:


Different angle - two babies on the right gaping are silvers, again under copyright is a yellow:


Same clutch just before fledging:
Left to Right: Silver Hen, Two Yellow Hens, Back right corner Silver hen; Front right SF Yellow Male (note the dark beak - this is indicative of SF Yellow males vs Yellow Hens)

[Jossi]

Thank you so much, very informative!

It's a lot easier to tell diferences when there is something to compare to It's just this single baby in the nest and I guess everything seems different then I bet it's a yellow, maby a hen due to the lighter coloring so far...

Thanks for the help and have a nice weekend!