Breeding red head male to black head hen??

Anne73 · Post by **Anne73** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 9:34 am

I have a pair of gouldian finches that I would like to breed. A black head female and a red headed male. I came across the study that shows that breeding gouldians of differerent head colors, would lead to poorer hatchs and more male to female chicks. Have you had these results when breeding your gouldians of different head colors?

Piciorusm · Post by **Piciorusm** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 9:54 am

Ohoo! Why not! My first gouldian chick was the result of the same combination! I trusted them and let them incubate! It's the second clutch now with the same parents and still, again a single chick! I haven't tryed the same head color, but i think you should give them at least a shot! Why buy another two gouldians to fit the head colors you have when you might have results with them as they are!

debbie276 · Post by **debbie276** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 1:38 pm

I don't see it here with my gouldians, though I don't have the hundreds that the study used either.

Anne73 · Post by **Anne73** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 1:57 pm

Thank you for your replies so far. I wondered what others experiences have been when breeding different head colors. After reading this study, I was thinking that maybe I should not try to breed these two.

What have your hatches been like with a red head male and black head female?

farmgirl · Post by **farmgirl** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 2:45 pm

I have the same combo, they had a clutch at the end of April. 6 chicks, 5 boys, 1 girl. However my little girl is turning out to be OH so I am very pleased. They had another clutch recently (7) but they are too young yet to tell sex... They all seem strong and healthy so far!

lovemyfinch · Post by **lovemyfinch** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 2:50 pm

My very best breeding pair is a RH/OH PB/WB GB/BB male and a BH/OH PB/WB BB hen. They love each other very much

None of my babies are weaker than others (ask Liz

), and the ratio of boys/girls is coming out 50/50.

BigBear0007 · Post by **BigBear0007** » Fri Aug 12, 2011 6:49 pm

Piciorusm wrote:Ohoo! Why not! My first gouldian chick was the result of the same combination! I trusted them and let them incubate! It's the second clutch now with the same parents and still, again a single chick! I haven't tryed the same head color, but i think you should give them at least a shot! Why buy another two gouldians to fit the head colors you have when you might have results with them as they are!

I wouldn't worry about it.
My first pair was the same but reverse.
I have read that some hens prefer red headed males?
You will find that some pairs will not like each other,
just like humans.

Mine are all yellows, and I have black head
with orange head, red with red, orange with orange.

Just don't breed blue back to blue back.
Otherwise every thing is fair game.

Jerry

Anne73 · Post by **Anne73** » Sat Aug 13, 2011 2:16 pm

I am glad to hear that your experiences have been different that the study showed. I will go ahead and give them a chance to try and breed then when the time is right.

Piciorusm · Post by **Piciorusm** » Tue Aug 16, 2011 5:31 am

BigBear0007 wrote:
Piciorusm wrote:Ohoo! Why not! My first gouldian chick was the result of the same combination! I trusted them and let them incubate! It's the second clutch now with the same parents and still, again a single chick! I haven't tryed the same head color, but i think you should give them at least a shot! Why buy another two gouldians to fit the head colors you have when you might have results with them as they are!
I wouldn't worry about it.
My first pair was the same but reverse.
I have read that some hens prefer red headed males?
You will find that some pairs will not like each other,
just like humans.

Mine are all yellows, and I have black head
with orange head, red with red, orange with orange.

Just don't breed blue back to blue back.
Otherwise every thing is fair game.

Jerry

Hold on a sec! I had a blue back pair! They mate and had eggs!
Didn't sit on them at all!
Why not blue back with blue back?
I will make some researh as well!

BigBear0007 · Post by **BigBear0007** » Tue Aug 16, 2011 1:35 pm

It apparently causes the chicks to be very weak and or die in the shell.
But, I was also told that about yellow to yellow also.
Anybody else want to jump in on this one?

Ebichua · Post by **Ebichua** » Tue Aug 16, 2011 4:40 pm

To understand why people don't recommend putting blue to blue together or yellow to yellow is because these are both forms of recessive genetics. In order to first develop these recessive traits, breeders often had to do some inbreeding. Inbreeding causes genetic variations to drop as the gene pool keeps staying the same, thus, MAY cause problems as generations go by if you continue to breed birds of low heterozygosity.

With that being said, the statement telling folks to NOT breed Blue on Blue or Yellow on Yellow only holds true if the birds you are breeding have been coming from generations of inbred birds and you are continuing this cycle. This is something very common when that specific strain has just come out, because the number of these birds simply don't exist as much yet so the chances of getting two birds from the same family is much higher as breeders must breed birds of similar genes together to produce the same effect again. Birds of the same family means they have similar gene pool. Mating similar gene pool equates to low heterozygosity. Low heterozygosity creates homozygosity amongst the family line and that's when problems will start to occur after a couple generations.
But there is good news!
As time goes by, people have started to just mix their birds together and the gene pool generally does open up, causing even birds of recessive color traits having a much stronger genetic pool again due to their parents or parent's parents (and so on) giving more heterozygosity into their lineage.

The blue and yellow strain have been out for a couple years now and are quite widespread.
At this day in "bird age", I think it is safe to breed blue with blue and yellow to yellow, as long as you know these birds are not closely related.

Tip: Pick healthy birds. Make sure they come from family lines that are unrelated or as far apart as possible.

BigBear0007 · Post by **BigBear0007** » Tue Aug 16, 2011 10:21 pm

Very good advise!
I put pairs together that are from different breeders.

Jerry

Piciorusm · Post by **Piciorusm** » Wed Aug 17, 2011 2:24 am

Thanks for the explanasions!

Narooke · Post by **Narooke** » Wed Aug 17, 2011 8:55 pm

I have only one breeding pair at the moment and they are red head male and black head hen. I have had them breeding for 2 years and none of my chicks have been weak. I did get 2 male/ 11 female the first year. Males were both black heads females were about 50/50 red to back head. This year I have had 13 more but they haven't colored yet.

Also the older chicks always feed my younger chicks. Allowing the parents to start nesting right after the chicks have left the nest. My female does not feed the chicks once they have left the nest, unless it is the first clutch of the season. The Male feeds the young until they are independent, but he has a lot of helpers. Has anyone else seen this type of family feeding?

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Breeding red head male to black head hen??

Breeding red head male to black head hen??

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