Aussie Finch Forum

Try the wbsite of Don Crawfords Gouldians. Some photos on that website.

thanks AMCA for that. I have looked on Dons site but I cannot really tell the difference between the mature birds as he has some splits on there and chicks/ juveniles but no really good shots of any mature birds. The lime young birds look much the same as the dilutes... to my eye anyway. My birds looked the same as them when fledged. Anyway I like them and have them paired this year but not much happenning with them yet...except the parents who are about to lay their second round.

Hi, how did you go did you manage to breed any more offspring looking like the picture you posted?

The parents of these recessive dilutes had 4 young this year all split Aussie Yellows with also the possiibity being split dilute/blues. The hen and cock dilutes I had no luck with. The hen was paired to an infertile cock ( as she had two nests with him and another hen also two nests with him.....all eggs from both were infertile). The recessive cock was fussy and would not take two hens offered to him. I will be pairing him to a blue next year hopefully.

Ok hers a comparison

Thanks for your pics fincher, sorry for the late reply. Is there a mix of limes and recessive dilutes in this pic. Also are the younger birds not far from being fully coloured.

They are not limes from what I have seen. In the lime, there is no dilution of colour around the neck and head as in your photos
David

hi surfartist no theres not a mixture off recessive dilutes nd limesin the pic the pic is off a lime hen top split lime cock, lime young nd a split lime young aswell

Thanks for the info Fincher. I guess the splits would be hard to determine unless you had raised them yourself eg no identifying marks like the Aussie yellows

I do have a huge interest in Australian Dilute Backs and after having a close look at the birds shown, I do believe the Red Hen in Picture 1 and the Red Cock in Picture 3 are ADs.
The Red Cock in Picture 2 is not, to me it is not a true AD, there is another Mutation involved that has snug his way into the system in the past and has expressed itself
in this particular bird. I have come to that conclusion because the Flight feathers of this Bird in Picture 2 are too pale, not characteristic of ADs at all, plus the colouration of the wings is not pronounced enough to call it a true unadulterated Australian Dilute Back.
Although that Bird shows the tell tale sign of a split AY as well, this single Gene in fact is dormant and has no influence over the phenotype (outward appearance) of the Bird in question.
Unfortunatley we will see a lot more BITZERS as time moves on, there is just too much reckless interbreeding out there.