Tiaris wrote:Vicious circle isn't it?
To be confident that a bird is not split to a mutation it needs to spend its prime breeding life mated to a mutant bird producing more split mutations of sufficient numbers to increase your confidence that it is not split to that mutation. Even then you cannot be certain as it is entirely possible that a split bird will produce only splits at above the odds for several clutches. Then you have several other recessive mutations to test mate for & with those mutations be confident but never certain that the bird doesn't carry those genes. By the time you've almost convinced yourself the bird is not split to any known recessive mutation the bird has exhausted its productive breeding life producing large quantities of splits and it has contributed nothing to perpetuating pure stocks. Finally, as an aged decrepit bird it mates with another normal bird which you are confident but not certain is pure normal. Poor fertility due to old age results in a clutch of only one young which is very well-fed by its very experienced parents. Alas it is the first ever white-breasted blue dilute Australian yellow to be successfully reared. Congratulations.
Hi All,
Whilst I agree with the centiment that mutation breeders should be honest with possible split birds (when they are selling birds) I think the comments by Tiaris and FB are way out of proportion. To make the statement that it to ensure a bird is not split it needs to produce several clutches being mated to a colored bird to ensure no colored birds are produced just to prove it is not a split. So if it spent 2 years being paired to a colored bird producing 15-20 (on average 5 per clutch) you cannot be sure that with no colored birds being produced that the bird is still not a split. SERIOUSLY!!!!
Yes statistically this is possible but I'd like someone who has actually tried this to put their results up for discussion. If you guys believe this to be the case (in your endeavour to produce pure/clean/natural/uncontaminated Gouldians) then you must be the unluckiest breeders in Australia....either that or you have way to much aviary space available, not to mention too much time on your hands proving something that has less than 1% chance of occurring.
It is commonly accepted that a split bird to a colored bird will produce 50% colored birds....so by the time you have breed 15 birds to test that the possible split is/isn't a split you are down to a 1% chance of no colored birds being produced.
To me it would be more sensible to keep accurate records (which I'm sure Tiaris and FB do) and if it is your desire to keep pure normal gouldians if a colored bird appears, go back through your records and remove all associated birds related to this individual bird from your breeding program.....that would be more sensible than claiming that even if a bird spent the majority of it's productive life (2-3 years) you could not be certain it still wasn't a split.
Lets keep the discussion based on realistic outcomes, not results that are less than 1% likely to occur.
Cheers
Paul
