gouldian question

[grant]

just wondering when breeding gouildians should u breed the same head colours together like red with red black with black yellow with yellow.have people breed different head colours togather and do they turn out just as good.

[Mickp]

that would probably be the prefered way to do it. but not to many people seem to bother (am guilty myself).
you may find that even by pairing two rh birds you still get a bh appear from the nest. the only way that I can see you being able to guarantee the head colour would be by taking the time ( a few years) to produce your own clean strains.
or to purchase birds from a breeder who can guarantee the birds lineage

[gomer]

I mostly breed only same head colours together.The only time i dont is if i loose a bird and dont have a spare partner for it in the same head colour.You need a few avairys really to do it.most of mine are one pair per avairy.

[fincher]

yes i prefer breeding the same head colours together. but it gets hard if your trying to breed the more rarer mutations like blues and so on

[Page0044]

It is getting harder to find true strains of gouldians these days.

[fincher]

yes its getting harder to find pure head colour strains.

[Pete Sara]

yes its become to much of a lucky dip with the gouldians these days . try to stick with the same head colours and keep records of all pairings. that way if you get a stray you will know exactly where it came from...pete

[grant]

reason why i ask is i went in a pet shop today looking for red head hen he had one but the head had hardley any red i thought it was a black head untill he got it out and showed me and tryed to tell me it was normal.
when i got home i hade a look thrue that book a guide to gouldian finches and their mutations and found a picture that was the same and it said the eumelanin conversion in the head of hens
any way i thought it might of had something to do with breeding differant head colours together.

[Pete Sara]

it can be from breeding differnt head colours together causing a wash out of colour but its still a red headed one . you just have to wait to see what head colour the babies come out with. but thats one of the best things with goulds seeing what colours your going to get...pete

[framed]

It has recently been discovered that mixing head colours when breeding gouldians will dramaticly increase the ratio of cocks to hens.
This could explain why there is always an excess of cocks for sale.

Framed.