Is there a "young death" gene?

[Shane Gowland]

I had a yellow headed Gouldian cock bird that dropped dead a few weeks after raising his first clutch of young.

From that clutch, I kept one yellow headed male which, at just over a year of age raised a clutch of young then promptly died.

From that clutch (you can see where this is going right?), I kept one yellow headed male which, at just over a year of age raised a clutch of young then promptly died.

Is this just a weird coincidence, or should I be rounding up any birds from this bloodline and removing them from my stock?

[fraudster]

I had a yellow headed Gouldian cock bird that dropped dead a few weeks after raising his first clutch of young.

From that clutch, I kept one yellow headed male which, at just over a year of age raised a clutch of young then promptly died.

From that clutch (you can see where this is going right?), I kept one yellow headed male which, at just over a year of age raised a clutch of young then promptly died.

Is this just a weird coincidence, or should I be rounding up any birds from this bloodline and removing them from my stock?

Hi Shane,
Don't really think there's a 'death gene' - probably just bad genes or purely coincidence. Perhaps these males genetics are such that they aren't 'fit' (physically) and so drop dead after raising a clutch. This is just my opinion, though.
Would be a really interesting case study if you actually kept one of those birds and keep him away from breeding until 2 years of age, and then allow him to raise his own clutch - if he dies then there probably might be a 'death gene'!!

[fraudster]

Was having another thought about it last night - maybe it's a genetic disease in the birds that is only expressed when they are a year old or so, and doesn't have to do anything with it breeding then dropping dead. Again, this is another assumption from my knowledge of genetics.
Cheers.

[finchbreeder]

Only by continuine to do the same thing can you answer your own question. But it must be really irritating. I asume the hens in each case are from different lines? So if there is a problem it is in the male line? Lots of people say this applies to Blue Gouldians, when I talk to them about my birds.
LML

[garyh]

I can remember when people said that the euro yellow had a death gene ,now also the blue mutation,i do not believe in a death gene,when out crossed properly the euro yellow became very strong and the blues just get stronger every year,except when the birds come from the upbringing of the bangalese,in my opinion you birds cannot handle the stress of breeding,this can be a number of things,to close related,ect,ect,but i dont think i would continue with this blood line,garyh

[Craig52]

I agree with all you have said, but the lethal gene in the Euro yellow was produced when they first appeared in Australia by breeders breeding two yellows together. It wasn't the breeding prs that dropped dead it was young failing to hatch and dying in the shell.
Constant out breeding to normals for stamina has rectified the problem and yellow to yellow breeding is now the norm and with all good quality out crossed blues around now it shouldn't be long before blue to blue matings are common with the occasional out cross to normal wild type gouldians.imo
As far as Shane's birds are concerned,I don't believe there is a yellow headed death gene in normal wild type gouldians. They may have been line bred originally to get a better yellow mask and need an out cross to some good quality black heads to strengthen them up a bit maybe. Craig

[Tiaris]

If you do wish to outcross as suggested by Craig, I suggest using a good quality yellow-billed black-headed hen as it is already a YH + BH, so would produce YH progeny straight up (male progeny would be YH split BH & females all pure YH if the father is pure YH).

[BrettB]

I would think coincidence the most likely explanation.

However, given that raising chicks is the most stressful on the birds, it is possible that this increased stress has unmasked a previously unrecognised genetic or non genetic weakness.
Further study would be required to sort this out

Cheers
Brett

[Blue Cuban]

Just a thought maybe there is some thing underlying and with the added stress of breeding it tips them over the edge.

Keeping some of these birds as surgested and experimenting with them at older ages maybe conclude you with your answer but for me personally I would steer away from this blood line in fear.

[GouldianGuy]

Sounds neurologic or cardiac... most likely neurologic/endocrine if they can't handle the hormones?