) but seemed to have jumped in already (never one to just lurk).I've had birds since I was a kid (more than 30 years I suppose) to varying degrees. Started out with budgies and a hand reared magpie and after getting married added grassies (red rumps) and then a variety of other parrots including blue wing parrots and pale headed rosellas. Somewhere in there finches started to arrive, first one long tailed and one red browed as inside pets, then another of each to keep them company and ... well you know how it goes.
We shifted a lot in the 90s for work reasons and there was nearly 10 years with no birds apart from the obligatory pet budgie but the lure was too strong on our return to Melbourne and for the last 8-9 years first the the finch and then the parrot collection has been gradually growing but only ever in small numbers (basically as pets) and breeding hasn't been a priority this time around (apart from the orange breasted turks which we had good results with). The painteds bred but that was their doing entirely, we took no special effort to provide the "right" conditions and the long tailed and red browed finches in with them never bothered.
Just one small week ago (but it feels much longer) all that changed again. A trip to a bird retailer to try and replace a suddenly dead (but quite aged) painted finch cock resulted in a very unexpected decision to buy a BFPB Yellow Back Gouldian cock (although my wife is still confused over how a black faced bird can a white face) and a RFPB normal hen to go with him (based on the theory that you avoid mutants and mutants together). Having seen the YB, no decision to buy was made until I'd researched the genetics using my iphone (while standing outside the shop
). The next day a long distance trip to a breeder to buy the painted (having had not achieved the original objective closer to home the day before) saw me come home with a pair of RFPB Yellow Backs as well (yeah, I know instantly blowing the don't put two mutants together theory). I'd always been scared off Gouldians as in the 80s, when I last seriously had birds for breeding purposes, they were considered virtually impossible to keep alive in Melbourne. Somehow I have discovered myself, for the first time since the mid 80s and budgies, deliberately plotting breedings, genetic pairings and researching care and survival techniques Gouldians simultaneously and all in the space of a few hours.I have a major in genetics (although I've not used it professionally in over 20 years) and it's the lure of the varieties as much as the "prettiness" of the Gouldians which has seen me back in business - oh that and the fact that I can keep 20 genetically different (ie mutants and normals) breeding birds in the space I currently keep 1 pair of red rumps and without the wars we used to get colony breeding budgies
.I'm also active on jeep forums and a photography forum (am now working as a photographer) so it's possible you'll see me around a lot and then not for a while and then for a lot and so on. However I reckon I've consumed heaps about Gouldian genetics already so I'll be more than happy to help out as required (still working on the blue & silver combinations). Just don't expect me to show up as an exhibitor at shows, the budgie breeders put me off those 25+ years ago
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Hi and welcome to the forum
I understand the basics and find the genetic forecasters a life saver and so easy to understand.
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