genotypes

13 Dec 2010, 03:28

I have this pair of gouldians (breeding now) and I was wondering what chicks will look like, as when I read SF, DF, etc I get confused .
How can I know whether they are DF or SF or whatever?

13 Dec 2010, 09:35

Assuming your birds are not split for any other colours you should get
Red heads, purple chest split to white and green backs
If your hen is purple chest split to white you would see some white chested young.
Look forward to seeing the pics of the young.

13 Dec 2010, 19:24

OK, so "split" means "recessive"?
So then, white chest colour is a recessive gene
What does SF and SD mean?

13 Dec 2010, 19:38

Visit this site it will explain away all your questions. Tiffany has made a wonderfully, easy to understand genetic explanation. http://www.gouldiansgalore.net/

I was horribly confused, but after reading the Genetic texts it is so much easier.

WRT breast colour. Purple is dominent over any of the others.

13 Dec 2010, 20:18

hens can only be SF (single factor) cocks can be both. SF and DF (double factor)

13 Dec 2010, 21:55

I think that hens can only be DF in breast colour. All others ie head, body, pastel are SF. That is if I have intepreted it all correctly. I am still trying to get my head around it myself. Once you break down the genes to individual traits it becomes more bearable to understand. Then once you have that under control it seems to start making sense as you put it all together.

13 Dec 2010, 23:12

So, if my purple-chest hen has a DF chest (white-chest) then that's why offspring could be white chested like the cock...
thanks for the link! I will go through it and luckily I will begin to understand this complex world of gouldians genetics

14 Dec 2010, 00:11

Got this link from another forum
http://www.amadinagouldove.cz/gouldian- ... e/english/
Helps too if you don't really understand the genetics yet with all the splits etc. I'm sure you will get there. I'm struggling through trying to see what I would need to purchase to get the offspring I would like to breed. Its mayhem!

14 Dec 2010, 07:25

What is the cause of the hen's head in the above photo to be patchy?

14 Dec 2010, 07:40

With two white chested birds, young would be white chested (they inherit one WC gene from each parent)
Just as with the body colour.
A normal looking bird can carry the blue gene GB/bb
When paired with a normal bird you would never see the blue colouring. Young would appear normal like the parents but some of them would carry the blue gene.

If the GB/bb paired with another GB/bb although the parents look normal the blue colour would, in time show up in the young.
That youngster would have inherited a blue gene from each parent and would show the blue colour.

With a PC and WC pair the young would receive one gene for purple the other for white, purple being the dominant gene would be the colour showing but the young would carry the white gene and the ability to produce the white chest by pairing either with another PC/wc or a visual white chest