New birds!

[nixity]

Very pretty!

[DVBourassa]

Did a bit of reading, the yellow head can only be expressed if the bird is genetically a red head, not black. Black is dominant and will express as the head color and leave a yellow tipped beak even though it is DFR. The RTB you have on the YH means you have a SFY split to R or vice versa, a SFR/ split to Y (same difference). The pairing of this with your RH male means you will have 37.5% orange heads SFY and 62.5% red heads if male or black heads if female. Pretty sweet combo of offspring you have in those 2 to be honest.

This is the link that discusses yellow head birds having yellow tip beaks.
http://www.finchforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=5793

She obviously has a red gene and no black gene since these two are sex-linked and she can only have one or the other. If she only has one yellow gene out of two possible (the yellow genes are autosomal) I would think I wouldn't be able to see any orange coloring at all.

I googled images on yellow headed gouldians and they all appear to have an orange/yellow tipped beak.

The YTB (yellow-tip-beak) phenotype occurs when the bird shows a black head and has two yellow head genes.

So, as with the other link, why do the heads look orange but the tips look red?

[nixity]

Did a bit of reading, the yellow head can only be expressed if the bird is genetically a red head, not black. Black is dominant and will express as the head color and leave a yellow tipped beak even though it is DFR.

I think you may have misunderstood...
Orange will only be expressed if the bird possesses at least one Red Head allele. So - the male has to be at least SF Red Head, and the hen must be red head (hens can only be SF for Red, or SF for Black, as they only possess one sex chromosome).
Black is not dominant, it is recessive, this is why a male that is SF Red will appear visually red, not black. (A SF Red Head male is inherently Red split for Black Head).

A bird that does not possess at least one red head allele, but is genetically Orange Headed (possessive both recessive copies of the orange head gene), will appear black headed, but with an orange/yellow tipped beak - indicating that the ability to produce the orange head color is there genetically, but the bird is unable to visually produce the orange head due to lacking a red head allele.

The RTB you have on the YH means you have a SFY split to R or vice versa, a SFR/ split to Y (same difference)....

No ANY red tipped beak bird indicates the bird is at the very least SF for Red Head. If it is a hen, it means beyond a shadow of a doubt that she is genetically red head. It doesn't discount the bird being SPLIT for Orange Head, but a genetically orange headed bird will always have a yellow/orange tipped beak. Orange overrides the red allele in all areas (head and beak) when both copies are present.

e.g. Genetically Orange Head birds can be any of the following (Genotypically):

R R o o = DF Red Head, DF Orange (Visually Orange) Male

R r o o = SF Red (Red/Black), DF Orange (Visually Orange) Male

r r o o = Black Head, DF Orange (Visually Black, Orange Tip Beak) Male

R o o = Red Head, DF Orange (Visually Orange) Hen

r o o = Black Head, DF Orange (Visually Black, Orange Tip Beak) Hen

[nixity]

So, as with the other link, why do the heads look orange but the tips look red?

I think everyone would need to see a picture to really see what is going on here.

With females (especially yellow back) the pigment thing can be tricky because sometimes RHs just look a little confusing.

But with photos, too, sometimes saturating the photos will make the colors more brilliant, but thins the line between orange and red to where a bird who is really red head might look more orange due to the editing/adjustments made to the photo.
Or sometimes even just the light reflecting off will give off a different color depending on the angle..

Again, seeing the birds really would help.. but it's probably just an example of a bird displaying a varying degree of pigment.

[Finch Fry]

check out this link, it got a load of info and does example pairings to explain head combinations. Also check out the definition of terms link...rock solid info here. After reading all of this info, i was able to sit down and do punnett squares for gould genetics.

www.gouldianfinch.info/genetics/head.htm

*link may not be clickable since i am posting from my cell phone....just copy paste to browser address bar*

[nixity]

Here is a good (albeit possibly confusing) example.

This is my male, Romeo.

This male is BH/OH, Lilac/White, DF Yellow/Blue




Notice his beak is RED TIPPED, even though we know he is genetically split for Orange Head.
If this bird was genetically orange headed (not just split), his beak would show as ORANGE TIPPED instead, like this bird below, a male named Stuck belonging to my good friend Lainey Alexander:



The red tipped beak on my DF Yellow male indicates that the bird is capable of producing red pigment, but is unable to due to being genetically Black Head (r r)..
Being Orange Headed genetically (o o) means the bird is unable to produce red pigment in the head, and this is why the beak turns orange.

Make sense??

[dfcauley]

woah..... my head is spinning now.....

This is why I don't worry too much about the genetics. I like surprise and always seems to get them.

[lovemyfinch]

woah..... my head is spinning now.....

This is why I don't worry too much about the genetics. I like surprise and always seems to get them.

I'm with Donna

I tried to look up what my 2 gouldians would produce and believe that I am just not smart enough to figure it out. If they have babies it will all be a surprise to me.

[nixity]

woah..... my head is spinning now.....

This is why I don't worry too much about the genetics. I like surprise and always seems to get them.

I'm with Donna

I tried to look up what my 2 gouldians would produce and believe that I am just not smart enough to figure it out. If they have babies it will all be a surprise to me.

What are your two Goulds?

[MLaRue]

woah..... my head is spinning now.....

This is why I don't worry too much about the genetics. I like surprise and always seems to get them.

I'm with Donna

I tried to look up what my 2 gouldians would produce and believe that I am just not smart enough to figure it out. If they have babies it will all be a surprise to me.

What are your two Goulds?

I knew that was coming!

[lovemyfinch]

woah..... my head is spinning now.....

This is why I don't worry too much about the genetics. I like surprise and always seems to get them.

I'm with Donna

I tried to look up what my 2 gouldians would produce and believe that I am just not smart enough to figure it out. If they have babies it will all be a surprise to me.

What are your two Goulds?

I don't know anymore, here are thier pictures. I believe RH WB GB and BH PB GB

[nixity]

Well I see a RH WB Normal Cock and a BH PB Normal Hen.

Barring there are no splits we are unaware of, you will get the following babies from them:

RH Purple/White Normal Hens (50%)

RH/BH, Purple/White, Normal Cocks (50%)


If you get any White Breasted babies, you know your hen is Purple/White.
If you get any Black Head hens or males, you know your male is RH/BH

[lovemyfinch]

Oops I meant to say RH WB GB normal cock. Obviously he's not purple breasted.

[nixity]

I figured that's what you meant

[Finch Fry]

Yah... what nixity said. I read a bunch more today about goulds and also talked to nixity about it. Listen to her, not me. HAHAHA. I thought I had it but... well, i didnt. Now i am ... kinda there in understanding it.