Gouldian Chick Question

[CandoAviary]

I have 11 gouldians that I have seperated from the parents. All chicks came from normal GB or GB/BB. 5 from one clutch and 6 from another.
All the chicks were green back with tanish chest and belly, except for some colors developing. I had this one chick that is green on the back but has had a bright white chest and belly ever since getting feathers. What and Why?



His back


Him with sibling (what most of my normal GB chicks look like)


And then him on the left. He really stands out from the bunch

[nixity]

My guess would be white breasted.. the back is green, right?

[CandoAviary]

Yes his back is green. This one pair of normal RH PB GB has thrown a couple of WB so they have proven to be both split for WB but those chicks started out with the dingy tan also...just like the normal GB chicks. See below, he is from from a previous clutch.

[nixity]

Perhaps a female WB?

Or do you already know it is a male?

This is a WB hen.. see how light she is as well - similar I think, that was the first thing I thought when I saw your photo was that it was likely a WB..

[CandoAviary]

I bet that's it. A female No I don't know the sex yet. Haven't seen any singing from this one. I just seem to call them all he's until I know... bad habit.
I wasn't even thinking that the female WB would be lighter..but that makes perfect sense. You are so brilliant
Thanks once again. I knew you could help me figure this one out.
It fascinates me to see the subtle differences in the chicks colors. The more you breed and observe the more you can see the differences at a very early age. I'm hooked.

BTW, your little WB is precious looking

[nixity]

I agree It is addicting, which is part of the reason I obsessively photograph the babies lol

Thank you

[mickp]

thats one OCD that we could all do with.
dont you dare try to find a cure for your problem Tiffany, the more photo's you take the more the rest of us learn

[nixity]

I thought you would find this photo interesting..

This is one of the first photos I took of the clutch of six..

Can we guess what is what? ;)

[CandoAviary]

I'll take a stab at it...
Top and bottom ones are Yellows
The one on the left and bottom right with the dark mouth markings are Blues
The one on the far right is a Pastel Blue
The one in the center...I can't see the mouth markings but will guess pastel...though it is very light pink...maybe a silver?

[nixity]

My original guess was two dilutes, 2 blues (far left and center bottom), a SF YellowBlue (silver) far right, and a pastel - center.

The two odd balls are actually normals
That is the one mutation I get really tripped up on, it's so much easier to tell them if you have both in the nest (normals and dilutes) and you can get a direct shot of them begging/gaping to compare the mouths.
In this case I couldn't really see both mouths well, but the bottom left looked lighter so at most I thought maybe one normal and one dilute.

The bird on the far right - notice how pale the nodules are, and how light the inner mouth markings are.
The center bird is "pinker" and the head looked lighter, and for some reason in another shot I got the impression his mouth was an "in between" color between the really light baby and the darker, so this is where I supposed Pastel.

Really, I'm wondering if all three aren't blues.
The group shot of the puff balls is them now.. there is one that still looks lighter than the rest but I'm not sure he's truly light enough to qualify as pastel :\

[nixity]

An example from a clutch WAY BACK WHEN in August of 2008 lol

Dilute top right, two normals bottom left


Dilute mouth close up

[CandoAviary]

Thanks once again Tiffany, I do learn a lot from you.