White face Gouldian

[mezcalbean]

Hi,

I wanted to know how common white face gouldians are as I have two from one pair of gouldians. One is a pure white and looks like a canary and the other has a charcoal head, never really seen a pure white face / head before

Thanks

Philippe

[finchbreeder]

Which parent is Black headed? As this is what happens to Black heads when combined with the yellow back gene. And Black head is sex linked so you can sex your young easier.
LML

[Craig52]

I think you will find that you have a clear bodied Australian Yellow mutation where the black headed birds mask is pure white or may contain some remnants of the black mask imo. Craig

[Tiaris]

This is the effect of both the Australian yellow and euro yellow-backed mutations on black-headed birds.

[Blue Cuban]

Hello Philippe and Congrats on your success.
If you could tell us the colour of the parents first this will help aid the claims of previous posts and also help identifying of what mutation you have, any photos of the young in question while in the the nest will also help.

Rich.

[mezcalbean]

So sorry I never signed up to receive notifications....

Both parents are a red face yellow back

Photo attached - as I said in first post the face is pure white which looks very nice while the other one is a charcoal colour. The breeder I bought them off only has yellow finches read face, so it makes it strange that "it could be" black - I have no idea though. All other babies have turned out like mum and dad except for a couple who had a green back but unfortunately have recently died for some reason. They have had about 4-5 babies and 2 passed.

I attached another photo a little clearer of white faced

Thanks

Philippe

[finchbreeder]

Not really. I have had a black faced hen turn up from a Red faced cock I had got from my mother. Neither of us had black faced in the avairys the parents were in and tracing back showed it was several generations since this gene could have come into the line. So Dad is carrying a black gene and can only pass it on to his daughters, and it may or may not turn up so you can also get red heads in both sexes. The joys of sex linked and recessive gene are yours to learn all about.
LML

[Blue Cuban]

As Finchbreeder said the fathering cock bird is split to black head which means all black (white) heads will be hens but im a little puzzled because one of the young looks to be a male.

Also as said before it does sound very fishy, it sounds like you have Australian yellows (autosomal recessive) mixed with European yellows (sex-linked).

If the green young was definitely offspring of the parents
Mentioned above I would say it's possible for the father to be a Australian yellow but its base genetics is a single factor and the mother hen could be a European yellow split to Australian yellow and these green birds would of been likely to be hens, this is just a possible scenario.

Next time they have young have a real good look at the nodules (white and yellow dots) and if they look like the picture I've attached then we are half way their explaining what's going on in your aviary.

image.jpeg

Rich.

[Tiaris]

Also if they are kept in a colony of several pairs, as the photo implies, you cannot be certain of which male is the father irrespective of what you may observe.

[Blue Cuban]

Also if they are kept in a colony of several pairs, as the photo implies, you cannot be certain of which male is the father irrespective of what you may observe.

Good point there Tiaris, I forgot to establish the obvious. Thanks..