Colour variation in Aus yellows

[Bgould]

Hi Glenbarry do you think that this colouration in the chest is due to the sexliked yellow being crossed somewhere down the line with the Australian yellow. The reason I ask is that I acquired a Australian yellow cock with a light purple patching in the white chest from a well known breeder and I put this bird with a normal hen. One of the young produced was a p/b sex linked European yellow hen and its four siblings are normal greenbacks with white bibs. This bird was culled from my breeding program.

[Glenbary]

Hi Glenbarry do you think that this colouration in the chest is due to the sexliked yellow being crossed somewhere down the line with the Australian yellow. The reason I ask is that I acquired a Australian yellow cock with a light purple patching in the white chest from a well known breeder and I put this bird with a normal hen. One of the young produced was a p/b sex linked European yellow hen and its four siblings are normal greenbacks with white bibs. This bird was culled from my breeding program.

Thanks Bgould,
I have noticed some breeders are starting to interbreed AYs with the dominant yellowbacks. I have been careful not to do this.

I started breeding AYs 8 years ago. I got two AYs from a breeder in Rockhampton, Qld and one from a guy in Sydney. These birds were bred with normals at first to get a good lot of splits. All my splits were normals, but a few had white bibs or a yellow feather on the back of the head. None of the offspring from my AY to normal pairings produced (dominant) SF YBs - which are easy to pick. So I do not think the colourations that I am getting on my AYs is caused by the presence of dominant yellowback.

The other issue is that some breeders are crossing AYs with white breasted birds. This would be expected to produce AYs with very white breasts. Could this be happening in AY birds that you have observed with white breasts?

Regards, Barry

[Bgould]

Thanks for your reply Glenbarry. The breeder I sourced this bird from as far as I am aware only used p/b normals to cross back with and I also have only used pb normals. To be honest I dont think I have seen a white breast split. Do they still have the white bib or yellow feathering on the back of the head?

[craigvdl]

My understanding is Australian yellows are only White Fronted so the bird No 15 is a split Australian yellow you can tell by the White under the beak and the Yellow spot on the back of the head.
If i was bying Australian yellows i would only buy the mottled ones.
Garry

Thanks for those comments.
The bird in photo 15 was bred by my friend Kyle. He assures me that it is a true AY not a split. However I think that what has happended over recent years is that some breeders are selecting/breeding for the VERY mottled AYs. One of the outcomes is that the difference between true AYs and split AYs in terms of their colouration is becoming similar for those with a lot of the AY mottling. Most of my splits have the appearance of a normal. But some have white bibs, a few yellow back feathers and pale flight feathers. Some recent photo of splits on the Belgium website are spectacular in terms of the so called mottling.
I can assure you that all AYs are not longer only white fronted - lots with purple/lilac type mottling on the breast.
Cheers and thanks, Barry

The bird in 15 to me is definitely a split, and could not possibly be regarded as an AY. The key charateristic of the AY mutation is the significantly reduced ability to produce the black pigment melanin. There is way too much black on 15 for it to be a pure AY. I also think there may be some other factors at play with the birds, such as a single factor for pastel or a cross with a yellowback/European yellow which could be affecting the mottling. The clear bird in the first photo is representative in my humble opinion of what you expect to see with an AY.

There are so many different mutations and crossings taking place with gouldians now it is difficult to get a pure mutation of any sort, let alone a pure normal which is not carrying a few dodgy genes that pop up down the track.

[Glenbary]

My understanding is Australian yellows are only White Fronted so the bird No 15 is a split Australian yellow you can tell by the White under the beak and the Yellow spot on the back of the head.
If i was bying Australian yellows i would only buy the mottled ones.
Garry

Thanks for those comments.
The bird in photo 15 was bred by my friend Kyle. He assures me that it is a true AY not a split. However I think that what has happended over recent years is that some breeders are selecting/breeding for the VERY mottled AYs. One of the outcomes is that the difference between true AYs and split AYs in terms of their colouration is becoming similar for those with a lot of the AY mottling. Most of my splits have the appearance of a normal. But some have white bibs, a few yellow back feathers and pale flight feathers. Some recent photo of splits on the Belgium website are spectacular in terms of the so called mottling.
I can assure you that all AYs are not longer only white fronted - lots with purple/lilac type mottling on the breast.
Cheers and thanks, Barry

The bird in 15 to me is definitely a split, and could not possibly be regarded as an AY. The key charateristic of the AY mutation is the significantly reduced ability to produce the black pigment melanin. There is way too much black on 15 for it to be a pure AY. I also think there may be some other factors at play with the birds, such as a single factor for pastel or a cross with a yellowback/European yellow which could be affecting the mottling. The clear bird in the first photo is representative in my humble opinion of what you expect to see with an AY.

There are so many different mutations and crossings taking place with gouldians now it is difficult to get a pure mutation of any sort, let alone a pure normal which is not carrying a few dodgy genes that pop up down the track.

Hi Bgould and craigvdl,
I have not seen a white breasted split for AY so I cannot say what they look like. I do not mix the AY with YB or WB colour forms.
On the AY mottling, it is unlikely to be caused by the AY also having the yellowback/pastel mutation because yellowback/pastel is dominant and hence would show out in the offspring, particularly the splits. The splits I breed are all normals except for the small white bib and yellow feather on the back of the head - in some splits. The majority of my AY splits are the same as normals.
You may be interested to know that I also keep breeding colonies/pairs of normals in all head colours. I show my best birds at the Qld Finch Society Gouldian Show in Jan each year - and do pretty well!
This year I won 1st place for a normal cock, normal hen and best pair. Also had the best AY - a highly mottled bird.