Fantail Gouldian

[Freddy Finchman]

Hi All,
I recently noticed that 1 of my young gouldians from last year has Fantail.
I'm not sure what to make of it. Anyone know if its common ??
I just havn't noticed it before .

Cheers Freddy

[Craig52]

This happens quite often when the they are preparing the nest and after they are sitting tight in one position for long periods,it is very common with bengalese. Craig

[Freddy Finchman]

Thanks Craig i thought it might of been caused by something like that.

Cheers Freddy

[VR1Ton]

I've noticed it with birds kept in lower light levels, such as birdrooms, with limited access to direct sunlight for long periods of time. They were Bengalese to.

[Alistair]

Hi, color isn't the only thing that mutates, I've never ever seen a Gouldian with a tail like that, I have seen Parrot finches with their tails bent in one direction by sitting but nothing like that, I think its a mutation/deformity, the fact that only one bird is like it doesn't suggest to me a behavioral thing.

How do you think Glouster Canaries evolved?

If you think its attractive try and find out if it can fix it in your birds, if you don't like it, destroy the bird or sell it as a pet.

Alistair

[Tiaris]

Gloster canaries didn't eveolve they were created by combining Borders with crested Rollers and selectively reinforcing their desirable features thereafter.
I seriously doubt a ruffled tail is the result of a mutation. I had a young male Gouldian moult through exactly like this last year. I pulled out all the tail feathers & it moulted through a totally normal tail.

[Freddy Finchman]

He's back to normal now, He must of been sitting in a corner or something !!
For a while there i thought i might have a rare bird

[Alistair]

Hi, my grammar appears to stand corrected, the word "evolved " might be construed that over the eons of time, even before man had appeared on the planet that Glouster Canaries had evolved crests but a less pedantic interpretation given the context the word was used in might realize that the word as applied actually meant that through animal husbandry, a crest mutation had been added and that Darwin's theory of evolution had not actually been evoked.

The criticism of my English appears to me to be that Glouster Crests were developed gradually by introducing Crested Rollers to Border Fancy. That someone had worked out/devised that if you cross a Crested Roller with a Border you could create/develop a new breed of Canary and that it hadent evolved over millions of years comensurate with Darwin's theory.

For every ones benefit I've included a few meanings of the word "evolve" below which to my uneducated eye appear to concur with my original opinion but what would I know when being held to the pedantic opinions of another finch breeder who obviously thinks his command of English to be superior to mine and decided to educate me, NOT.

I mistakenly thought that this was a forum where "friendly" opinion/advice could be found, apparently not, it seems that people feel the burning need to try and correct others grammar even though its found that they have intentionally misconstewed the one interpretation that's was obviously not intended.

Why anyone would feel the "need" to correct my grammar, spelling, punctuation or anything else, God only knows, because I don't.

Finally, I'm at a disadvantage, I've never felt the need to pull a Gouldians tail out and given that this has already been done and this particular birds tail grew back straight its patently obviouse that the bird pictured is exactly the same, it must be glorious to be so certain about things from a picture?

Alistair Walker

e·volve (-vlv)
v. e·volved, e·volv·ing, e·volves
v.tr.
1.
a. To develop or achieve gradually: evolve a style of one's own.
b. To work (something) out; devise: "the schemes he evolved to line his purse" (S.J. Perelman).
2. Biology To develop (a characteristic) by evolutionary processes.
3. To give off; emit.
v.intr.
1. To undergo gradual change; develop: an amateur acting group that evolved into a theatrical company.
2. Biology To develop or arise through evolutionary processes.

[Tiaris]

No criticism intended at all Alistair. Nor do I think I am superior to you (or anyone else) in any way. Just trying to clarify the situation re where Glosters came from and mainly to highlight that a ruffled tail is very unlikely to be a mutation and to offer my recent experience with an identical bird to help the person who asked the original question. I'm not into smily face icons, etc. but I am a friendly person.

[Finchy]

(Oh my, Alistair, that's the most spectacular example of an over-reaction to an innocent response that I have seen in a very long time. It's all good, really. )

Glad to see birdy is back to normal. I have experienced feather deformities in accidentally in-bred Zebras, so I did wonder if it might be a bit of that. Seems that it was just a 'bad feather day' though - and we all get those .

So it's an extra good thing that you did not "destroy" it - though I'm sure you would not have. I really would not encourage anyone to consider doing such a thing to a living breathing creature just because they don't like its particular look. It's cruel and quite unnecessary to take a healthy life for such a trivial subjective reason. The pet shop option is by far the better one!