Young Gouldian Behavior

Includes Species Profile.
Post Reply
User avatar
essi
...............................
...............................
Posts: 20
Joined: 29 Jun 2022, 05:05
Location: United States

I have a few questions regarding recently weaned babies.

Hatched 6/24/22, they weaned July 28th and are avid eaters and flyers.

They live in a space with their parents, who have just begun a second clutch (last for the season).

I have a few questions regarding people with experience with newly weaned birds. I've noticed my eldest green dancing and took this as a sign that he was a boy. However, my younger silver female was spotted dancing just earlier today with the tell-tale hopping. The parents aren't capable of making a female silver as mum is a DF Blue and dad is a Dilute/Blue. My question is whether the young females may also dance, or perhaps whether her color as 'she' grows older may turn out to not be a 'silver'. As a baby, she had the skin tone of a DF blue, but the feathers that came in were pure white, unlike the silver we lost originally who was very pale in coloration. She is still pure white now, especially as compared to the youngest boy who appears to be a pastel Blue.

Second question was regarding the young birds. The eldest green, as well as the others, have found mum and dads nest very interesting. The eldest green has gone so far as to go on in and sit with her. I have heard that the elder birds will help feed fledglings, but I'm in doubt that they actively enter the nest to help feed hatchlings (not that there are any just yet). Does anyone else have experience with this? Dad only seems moderately bothered, and mum doesn't seem to mind at all. They could just be being annoying baby birds, just piqued my curiosity !

Attached photos of the babies from a week or two ago and the tail-end of a video of the silver dancing. (video may take a little to process, but it's unmistakeable.)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1f2n6-C ... p=drivesdk
IMG_20220721_161923_883.jpg
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
User avatar
finchbreeder
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Posts: 11489
Joined: 27 Jun 2009, 20:00
Location: Midwest of West. Aust. Coast
Location: Midwest of West.Aust.Coast

Well that video sure looks like a bouncing hormonal boy to me. No hen I know bounces like that.
Others are better with the colour mutations and will no doubt comment later.
LML
User avatar
essi
...............................
...............................
Posts: 20
Joined: 29 Jun 2022, 05:05
Location: United States

finchbreeder wrote: 13 Aug 2022, 19:50 Well that video sure looks like a bouncing hormonal boy to me. No hen I know bounces like that.
Others are better with the colour mutations and will no doubt comment later.
i actually feel as though i may have figured it out. if the one i thought was a ‘pastel’ is simply a blue, then the ‘silver’ could be a pastel blue. which would make sense, as their colors as a baby made them seem more like they were going to be a regular blue.

i think there are likely some variances in the pastel blue fledgling plumage, so it’s possible this one just has lighter feathers. i had been comparing to a blue i had in the nest previously, but lost. but it seems as though the online consensus is that the regular blues can also range in feather color. i was used to them being fairly dark from the ones i had seen previously.

none of this really matters either way. just a curiosity and wanted to see input.
User avatar
Craig52
...............................
...............................
Posts: 4979
Joined: 11 Nov 2011, 19:26
Location: victoria

It is very hard to comment without seeing the parents so a pic would be good. In your comments you mentioned a DF blue hen what does DF mean. If it means double factor Euro blue, then you can't get a DF hen only cock birds
User avatar
essi
...............................
...............................
Posts: 20
Joined: 29 Jun 2022, 05:05
Location: United States

Craig52 wrote: 14 Aug 2022, 20:02 It is very hard to comment without seeing the parents so a pic would be good. In your comments you mentioned a DF blue hen what does DF mean. If it means double factor Euro blue, then you can't get a DF hen only cock birds
She's a blue back. I'm fairly certain that Blue is a recessive gene in both males and females, as they can be split to blue. Unless there's some other blue coloration I'm missing ? "Blue body is an autosomal recessive gene, so both cocks and hens can be double-factor (DF) and express the color blue or single-factor (SF) and be "split" for blue body." According to this source.

But again, I'm not sure that I'm not just wrong about the 'type' of blue that she is, however I'm unfamiliar with there being any other type. I can only assume that she's a european blue because of that ? Photos attached of mom and dad. Sorry photo of mom is terrible for verifying back color, but she's just a dark/steely blue exactly like this.

A link to the babies that they're capable of making. (Skipping the fact that poirot is also split for blackhead, as it just makes things a mess to look at.)
Screen Shot 2022-08-14 at 8.59.39 PM.png
Screen Shot 2022-08-14 at 8.59.31 PM.png
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
User avatar
Craig52
...............................
...............................
Posts: 4979
Joined: 11 Nov 2011, 19:26
Location: victoria

No keep it simple, you have a SFEY split to blue cock bird. The blue hen is just that a blue mutation hen. So you can breed pastel blue hens as the EY mutation is a sexlinked mutation. You can breed blue backs and all young will be split for blue.
The three young are from L to R Normal split to blue, Pastel blue hen and a Euro yellow hen split to blue.
User avatar
essi
...............................
...............................
Posts: 20
Joined: 29 Jun 2022, 05:05
Location: United States

Craig52 wrote: 15 Aug 2022, 13:57 No keep it simple, you have a SFEY split to blue cock bird. The blue hen is just that a blue mutation hen. So you can breed pastel blue hens as the EY mutation is a sexlinked mutation. You can breed blue backs and all young will be split for blue.
The three young are from L to R Normal split to blue, Pastel blue hen and a Euro yellow hen split to blue.
so they are hens even despite them all practicing their dancing then ? That's mostly what my curiosity was about. I didn't think young gouldian females would dance, but I was unsure if they were potentially copying the eldest sibling, who has been dancing.

edit: ALSO thank you very much for taking your time here to help me out !
User avatar
Craig52
...............................
...............................
Posts: 4979
Joined: 11 Nov 2011, 19:26
Location: victoria

You're welcome, but answer the will be known when they moult into adult plumage. Cheers
User avatar
essi
...............................
...............................
Posts: 20
Joined: 29 Jun 2022, 05:05
Location: United States

Craig52 wrote: 16 Aug 2022, 13:42 You're welcome, but answer the will be known when they moult into adult plumage. Cheers
well, the white's started singing 😂 and a few light grey-ish feathers have started popping up on his face and some random darker colors on his back. i'd be curious to see what color he ends up. i guess i'll make a post at some point in the distant future when he's done molting. he's got a while to go.
User avatar
finchbreeder
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Posts: 11489
Joined: 27 Jun 2009, 20:00
Location: Midwest of West. Aust. Coast
Location: Midwest of West.Aust.Coast

Look forward to seeing them in several months time in adult plumage. In the meantime enjoy.
LML
Post Reply

Return to “Gouldian”