breeding Pastel Gouldian with a silver female

exoticgouldian · Post by **exoticgouldian** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 3:54 pm

I know its not recommended to pair up a two blues or two silvers together, but i was told by a well known breeder that breeding a Pastel with a silver female is ok.

have you guys tried that before ? if so, were the babies strong and healthy ?

genetic forecast says :
25% Male >> Red (Head) - Purple (Chest) - DF Yellow Blue (Body)
25% Male >> Red (Head) - Purple (Chest) - SF Yellow Blue (Body)
25% Female >> Red (Head) - Purple (Chest) - Yellow Blue (Body)
25% Female >> Red (Head) - Purple (Chest) - Blue (Body)

atarasi · Post by **atarasi** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 4:08 pm

What a coincidence. The breeder I purchased some of my birds from mentioned the same thing to me last night.

chrischris · Post by **chrischris** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 9:38 pm

I think it's ok also but just make sure the Pastel male and the silver hen is coming from a good blood line.

chris

fairestfinches · Post by **fairestfinches** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 10:54 pm

There are two schools of thought on this. . .

There are a few breeders that say it is fine to do, and there are the rest of us breeders that say not to do it.

To put it very simply, breeding two blues weakens the blue blood line mutation. There are many people that have bred blue to blue and claim to have had no problems, but there have been far many more that have. Some of those problems inlclude: dead in shell babies, infertile eggs, deformed babies, and offspring that are just weak. The end result is a weak blood line added to the Gouldian gene puddle.

We have a reputation for breeding very strong healthy robust blue mutation Gouldians, and I can assure that none of our lines have never been bred blue to blue. We are very careful about our pairings and would not have the solid reputation for our blue line mutations had we practiced breeding blue to blue.

We have several customers that have purchased blue Goulds that are from blue to blue pairings, and after facing many of the problems I mention in the first paragraph a couple also have birds that have very serious troubles getting through the molt and simply don't have the energy or good health to breed for them.

Please do not pair blue to blue. I don't care what you have heard. It weakens the blue mutation.

Sean

exoticgouldian · Post by **exoticgouldian** » Thu Apr 03, 2008 9:27 am

thanks for the replies.

What i thought that it might be ok to pair up a pastel to a silver was because both were not totally blue although they carried the blue gene. Both pastel and the silver has yellow genes.

Just my thought, i am new to this gouldian breeding thing anyways

fairestfinches · Post by **fairestfinches** » Thu Apr 03, 2008 11:15 am

Actually, both "pastels" and "silvers" have inherited the mutation of two alleles which creates the blue body.

Genetically, a "pastel" is a male gould that has inherited one gene that produces the yellow body and the mutation of both alleles that causes the blue body. I've seen pastels also called Blue Dilutes and Blue SF Yellows -- to describe the genetics.

A silver hen also has inherited one gene for the yellow body and the mutation of both alleles for the blue body.

As such, pairing a pastel with a silver hen IS pairing two goulds that both have the blue body mutation.

Hope that helps!

Michele

exoticgouldian · Post by **exoticgouldian** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 1:31 pm

Thank you,

So i guess its not a good idea........after-all then. I have seen only 1 breeder saying that he has bred blue-to-blue and the babies came out well. But he also said that he bred two different and strong blood lines. All other breeders have suggested not to breed blue to blue or similar pairings.

So i guess i will breed my pastel with a yellow or green split to blue, i already have one pastel on eggs with a yellow split to blue.

i just wanted to experiment.....but now, I guess not

Thank you for the input Fairest Finches