The blue Gouldian finch is one of the most prized and attractive colour mutations in aviculture. The mutation first appeared in the 1940s, but it wasn’t until the seventies that anyone had success producing them in good numbers.
Genetics
The blue Gouldian finch mutation is an autosomal recessive trait. From Finch Information Center’s Definitions of Terms:
Autosomal – “Of or relating to any chromosome other than the sex chromosomes,” a characteristic inherited on any gene pair other than the sex chromosomes.”
Recessive – “A genetic character or factor that will only be phenotypically expressed when present on both loci of a homologous pair (homozygous or double factor).”
In order to display the blue colouration, a finch must posses two copies of the blue gene. A bird possessing a single copy cannot express the blue color, but still has the potential to produce blue offspring if its partner can provide a second copy of the blue gene. These finches are referred to as splits and cannot be visually distinguished from a bird that does not carry the blue gene.
Breeding Blue Gouldian Finch
The blue Gouldian mutation was established through poor breeding practices, in highly controlled environments; using medication and inbreeding to quickly produce large numbers. Although significant work has been put into establishing strong, healthy lines of blue Gouldians, these birds are still quite weak compared to normal Gouldians.
Most breeders recommend pairing a blue bird with a “split to blue” bird to produce blue young. Two visibly blue birds should not be paired to avoid further weakening the blue Gouldian gene pool. A blue bird can be paired with a normal bird (not carrying the blue gene) to produce “split to blue” birds to strengthen your bloodlines and provide potential partners for visibly blue birds.
Care Requirements
As mentioned previously, Blue Gouldians are genetically weaker than normal Gouldians; so special care needs to be taken when housing them. An environment with a lot of space, plenty of shelter, excellent food and water and very few stress sources (don’t overcrowd them!) is ideal. A strict worm and disease control regime is also critically important.
I have blue gouldians and I would like to find out what’s the name or brand of the worming and disease control.It is a lot of work even keeping them alive needs plenty of money and time.thank you Tommy
Tommy, you should get S76 and Scatt. Maybe ivermec also.
I use a uvb light for reptiles and all my blue-black gouldians never died on me uvb help them with calcium plus you will never have any problems with babies dying on you.
In addition to a lowered immune system, it has been our experience that the blue mutation has a lowered ability to process pro vitamin A. Vitamin A is essential for growth, healthy skin, mucous membranes, and good vision. Vitamin A deficiency effects the epithelial lining membranes of the respiratory, alimentary, and reproductive tracts. This is why we often see sinus & respiratory infections in birds with a vitamin A deficiency.
Mucous membranes are the bodies first defense against bacteria. When a vitamin A DEFICIENCY is present, the lack of healthy mucous membranes allows infection to gain entry into the body.
Vitamin A is stored in the liver and found only in animal tissue, though carotene is converted by the body into vitamin A from plant sources. Therefore, a diet high in vitamin A goes a long way to keeping them healthy (or healthier depending on genome).
Spirulina is one food that contains relatively high levels of vitamin A along with trace amounts of necessary iodine (which aids the thyroid – the thyroid drives many organs and bodily functions), is easily fed to the birds, and easily recognizable in the fecal samples (to confirm they are getting it into their system). It doesn’t take much to really help so is a cost effective means of delivering the vitamin. Merely sprinkling it over their food as if you were salting your own food is usually enough when starting with relatively healthy birds.
Great information, thank you for sharing.
Thanks a lot!!! This will help a lot!!
Where cant i get these gouldians
I was sold a yellow gouldian and told it was split to blue. If I want a blue offspring. Do I need another split to blue
My take on it is you’re better off finding a split then a yellow because they have more recessive genes and will only weaken the offspring Nicks622@comcast.net
I recently purchased two juvenile females at a bird show. The father is a blueback male w/ a red head. The mother is a yellow back female with a red head. I wonder what the babies will look like at maturity? They were hatched Jan 2018. Very helpful information regarding Vit A and other things necessary to keep them healthy.
Where can you purchase the blue gouldian finches?
Specialist breeders, mostly. Check with local bird clubs or the classified sections for hobbyist magazines in your country.
I have a blue black head hen who days developed a cyst/Timor over her eye. It is nearly as big as a pea. I had a similar situation in the past. Is it a genetic problem?
It is.See Meadowlarkfarmsas report. Don’t breed with them.
My blue back male gouldian gave my six offsprings with a green back(not split to blue) female. The offsprings will be all split to blue, or mixed with green backs?
They should all look green, but be carrying blue unless the green was split to something else also.
Green, to make green you need blue and yellow. So a green bird has both colors. Now a yellow bird has the recessive gene, so by breeding a yellow bird to a green bird you are introducing the gene to eliminate one color. Now how this plays out is a dice toss, what this means is you might get blue or yellow or green babies, the head colors play a part in causing the color mutations as well. I’ve used black head green body with white head or red head yellow back to produce black head blue back babies. I’ve also got grey head yellow backs as well. But the majority of the offspring were green backs and pastel green backs. Hope this helps, just sharing my experience with you.
In order to display the blue colouration, a finch must posses two copies of the blue gene. A bird possessing a single copy cannot express the blue color, but still has the potential to produce blue offspring if its partner can provide a second copy of the blue gene.
This is not correct. Gouldians, like many birds, deposit yellow pigment in their feathers. They also have melanin below the cloudy layer in their feathers, which produces structural blue. Blue and yellow give the green colour. In order to display the blue colouration, the bird must lack both copies of the gene for yellow pigmentation.
Since males have 2 equal sex chromosomes, they can have 2 copies of the sex-linked gene for melanin deposition, males lacking both yellow genes can be either blue (having both wild-type melanin genes), or pastel blue (having one wild-type and one mutated gene for melanin deposition). This demonstrates a gene dosage effect. Females have different sex chromosomes (the opposite of mammals), and can only have a single copy of the gene for melanin deposition. Therefore females can only be blue if they lack both copies of the yellow gene. Or, if their melanin gene is mutated, they will be silver.
As an aside, the salmon colour in the head of either genetically red or yellow head birds is produced by phaelomelanin (ginger hair in humans). This pigment is deposited below the red or yellow pigment in the head feathers and is absent in black head. Red +red = Red. Red + Yellow = orange head.
Phaeomelanin is also deposited in the breast. Red + Structural Blue = Purple.
It’s sort of correct. A bird won’t be blue without two copies of the blue gene (unless there’s anything else at that locus that blue is dominant to), and blue is a recessive that can be inherited from two birds “split” for it, but other genes in other places on the genome may modify the expression of the blue phenotype even if that bird does have double factor blue. There seem to be a lot of complex modifiers involved in this case.
Blue body, to express, apparently requires double factor at its own locus and only green body genes at the sex-linked locus (i.e. the one that can have the yellow body gene). Does that in fact mean that the other (the NOT-blue-body) gene at the blue body locus is essential to the production or transport of yellow pigment? I have to admit I get rather lost at that point. Only yellow and only blue genes are apparently what produces “silver” body, and this can occur in both cocks and hens – though a cock can also be silver if “split” yellow/green with a white breast modifying.
(http://www.finchinfo.com/genetics/lady_gouldian_finch/body_colors.php).
(There is a typo in your third paragraph, I think: it’s the males, not the females, which can have a double copy of the sex link gene for yellow/green (as you say earlier in the paragraph), and which can be dilute or pastel (incomplete dominance) as a result of single copies of each).
Mendel was very lucky to choose a straightforward case for his early research on genetics: if he’d chosen something like this to start with he’d probably never have disentangled it!