Gouldian - what color mutation is he?

[Animalzoo]

Hi,

I was lucky enough to swap one of my normal green female Gouldians with a white male via a local person my boyfriend knows. He was after a girl and I had plenty and I've been after a blue version for a while now.

Anyway swap done, I have received a male with a deformed leg (that we were not told about! Typical Spanish ) although this is not my concern, he is fine. The deformity looks to be a birth defect and the bird has learnt to perch ok and hops around perfectly. The stump has no damaged or swollen or painful at all.

So my question is what is his true colour mutation called and does he carry blue. I want to breed him and have yellow back females. Can you let me know what I may get.

Here are some photos....

[MariusStegmann]

It is a blue gouldian, although they call it a silver. It has 2 of the blue genes and is a genetically a blue.

[Animalzoo]

Thanks MariusStegmann

Why has he come silver? Do I need to breed him with a yellow hen to replicate blue babies?

[MariusStegmann]

The problem is that you might not be able to breed with him. I have not had good luck breeding where the males didn't have 2 healthy legs. If the female has 1 leg, it is quite ok.

[MariusStegmann]

No, you have to breed him with a blue or a blue split hen to get blue babies. A blue split hen, will not be visually blue, but has one blue gene. If you breed it to a yellow you won't get blue babies, unless if the yellow to split to blue. Your chicks will be split to blue if the hen is a normal yellow.

[MariusStegmann]

The reason why it is silver is because the yellow gene suppresses the expression of black coloration and because the blue genes suppress the expression of red and yellow, the entire body of the bird appears white or off-white in color. The purple of the chest is not affected, however, and red or yellow headed birds will have salmon colored (not white) heads.

[Animalzoo]

MariusStegmann

ok, i'm getting there then. If i find a blue hen i can (try) to get them together and they would produce blue babies.

I had a 1 legged zebra who successfully fathered many clutches so I'm optimistic.

What would I get with a green back hen?

[debbie276]

So my question is what is his true colour mutation called and does he carry blue. I want to breed him and have yellow back females. Can you let me know what I may get.

He is a Red Head (possibly Yellow Head, you can't tell in this mutation) Purple Breast Pastel Blue
He has 2 Blue genes and 2 Pastel genes which is why he is white bodied.

If you breed him to a Pastel (Yellow) hen you will get Pastel split to Blue males and females.

[debbie276]

ok, i'm getting there then. If i find a blue hen i can (try) to get them together and they would produce blue babies.

It is not recommended to breed Blue to Blue till the gene pool is much larger. You would be better off breeding to a split to Blue hen.

What would I get with a green back hen?

You could get Single Factor Pastel males which will have a lighter green body and all black areas will be grey. You could also get Pastel hens, visually yellow body.

[finchandlovebird]

Beautiful bird !! My first male Gouldian had a foot like that (named him Stubby) & he was a wonderful Father Looks like yours is finishing a molt, so may not be in breeding mode yet

[Animalzoo]

He has 2 Blue genes and 2 Pastel genes which is why he is white bodied.

So at a guess what do you think his parents might have been?



So with a green hen, I may get pastel males and yellow females.
With a yellow hen I'll get mostly yellow males and females.
Is that right?

I'll avoid blue to blue, I recall reading about this. However finding a split to blue hen will be a trial. I'm still working on finding a good breeder so it's down to patience.....plus as finchandlovebird has mentioned he's still molting so theres no rush.

Thanks for your help

[debbie276]

Quote:
What would I get with a green back hen?

You could get Single Factor Pastel males which will have a lighter green body and all black areas will be grey. You could also get Pastel hens, visually yellow body.

You will ONLY get SF Pastel males and Pastel hens

If you breed him to a Pastel (Yellow) hen you will get Pastel split to Blue males and females.

ALL chick's will be Pastel split to Blue

[Jen]

WOW, what a beautiful bird. All this genetic talk has me dizzy... Have never seen a silver back with so much color....what a handsome bird.....all I can say is breed him with somebody! He's gorgeous!

[Animalzoo]

debbie276
Thanks. Ooooh, decisions decisions

@Jen Hehe, I'm certainly going to try and do something with him thats for sure! Just get that molt done and I'm on it

[MariusStegmann]

If it was my bird, and I could not get hold of a split hen, I would take the long view and breed him to a black head green back hen. I would get strong splits and would then breed my own blues from that.