Colouring Up ??

[Freddy Finchman]

Hi All,

As i,m new to breeding Gouldians, Ive just bred my first Yellow headed babies, The first one that fledged has orange specks starting to appear on its head and it hasn't been out of the nest 3 weeks !! The other babies dont appear to be colouring up at all !!
I wasn't expecting for them to colour up until August / September,
Can anyone advise me on this ??

Cheers Freddy.

[spanna]

i've often had young guilds show spots of colour quite early, but they don't get full adult plumage until later in the year, as you say. young birds can (sometimes) be sexed early on with these initial colours. also, if a few feathers are plucked when they are young they can re-grow with adult colouration, perhaps this young one just strayed too close to someone else's nest and got told to nick off!! it may just have lost a few feathers that are now re-growing with adult colour.

not sure, but nothing to panic about

[Freddy Finchman]

Thanks for the advise Spanna, The main thing is that they are all very healthy birds !!!

Cheers Freddy

[matcho]

Freddy,

I have pretty much the same happening to me with 2 of the three chicks showing head and chest colours. They are also singing so I pretty well know that they are all cocks. Its is nothing to worry about. Well, done.

[colorin]

Mine also showed "spots" of colour around their faces two or three weeks after fledging, and a few more spots kept on showing for a few more weeks, but for some weeks now that "coloring" has stopped and I guess they will remain like that until they start the "real" moult.

[flap]

like the others, we also have young gouldians at the moment with spots of colour, and others with none. I love waiting to see how they will turn out and trying to sex them from early on. I think amout of sunlight also helps with the colour. and from what I read, birds who colour up more quickly are more desirable than those who take a long time.

[Diane]

I noticed some difference in the way the different head colours moulted into the adult colours here
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[Tiaris]

With my normal Gouldian young they can be sexed at fledging before any adult feathers show at all. At this stage young hens are a much greyer appearance overall especially front-on. Young males are much greener on the back & from the front you can see very faint yellowish hue on the belly (most noticeable on the flanks) and slightly (very slight) purplish hue on the chest. All of these differences are only subtle but still very obvious once you get your eye in.

[Diane]

I know what you mean.
Ive noticed less of a colour change between the chest and belly feathers on potential hens, more of a defined change of colour line on the potential cocks.

[Tiaris]

Yep. Spot on. Young males, even at that early stage, also seem to have a more upright posture too.