FINCHforum

Ok, so I know nothing about Gouldian breeding or genetics (only know I would like to have Gouldians some day!). What do all the abbreviations of the color viarieties stand for? Is there a book or other resource that gives detailed informa tion on breeding for dthe ifferent color varieties? (I was a bio major in college and find the topic to be quite interested, though at this point highly confusing) I believe I once read that one must mate with another of the same head color in order for the eggs to be viable...is this true? How many different color varieties of Gouldians are there? It seems like an awful lot from what I've been reading here!
Pardon all my questions! Just very curious!

Gina

There are Gouldian breeders on here who can answer your questions much better than I can, but Crystal wrote up an article on Gouldian genetics, which is in the Finch Information Center: http://www.finchinfo.com/genetics/lady_ ... /index.php

And I do know that if you mate different head colors, the eggs will still be viable.

If you want check out this link
http://www.finchinfo.com/birds/finches/ ... _finch.php
It has lots of info.

I have a bunch of information on my site under the Genetics tab:

http://www.gouldiansgalore.net/

Head Colors:
RH - Red Head
BH - Black Head
OH (YH) - Orange Head (aka Yellow Head)

Breast Colors:
PB - Purple Breast
WB - White Breast
LB - Lilac Breast

Most commonly used body colors:

N or G - Normal or Green
Y - Yellow (SF = Single-Factor, DF = Double-Factor; akin to Heterozygous or Homozygous)
B - Blue
And whenever you see "/" it indicates the bird is split for that color.

The recessives are Black and Orange head, Lilac and White breast, and Blue body.
So R/B = RH split for BH
P/W = Purple split for White Breast
N/B = Normal split for Blue Body

etc. etc.

Here is a link to a gouldian genetic/mutation forecastor.
You just select the head color, breast color , and back color of each parent then it will tell you what the possible offspring will be. Playing around with the possible outcomes makes it fun while you learn
http://www.amadinagouldove.cz/gouldian- ... e/english/

Also this site is the greatest! Just click on each color. It gives the abreviation and picture of that mutation.
http://users.skynet.be/fa398872/engoulmm.htm