Aussie Finch Forum

Hi guys
I`m confused with all these differrent names in the colour of gouldians. My understanding is a SF/DILUTE is a PB washed out green back, ( 1gene for yellow, 1 green), grey bib, if the breast was white on that DILUTE the back would be yellow,comonly known as the SF yellow back we have in our aviaries,Hens cannot be DILUTE, Cocks come in single and double factor and all hens are single factors. Read an article on the first dilute mutation, which looks like the yellow backs i have in my aviary ( I`m not talking about the european yellow or the australian yellow), comomly known as the yellow back mutation,Hear guys talking about dilutes and dilutes for sale and it is the yellow back mutation. Why do we have the same name meaning different things.The amount of new mutations i hear about makes me wonder,are we trying to produce new mutation, ( which aready exist, with a new name ) or are we trying to build stronger mutations.

I think most of it is simply people using the 'wrong' descriptions for mutations, based on what they look like superficially rather than what they actually are genetically. That's understandable for casual breeders but it would definitely be preferable if they were better informed before advertising their birds .

It gets even more confusing because most Americans use the word 'dilute' when referring to SF Pastel birds, when there is an actual Dilute mutation that is completely different. It's all over the internet, resulting in a heap of head scratching.

Personally I find it vastly easier to understand Gouldian genetics when I just use the correct genetic names. Then it all suddenly makes sense. Here are the recommended names for the most common colour mutations: http://finchstuff.com/GouldianFinchColourMutations.aspx

Agree with Finchy, that is a top site for explaining which is which and how to tell.
LML