AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |
Back to Blog
Gouldian finch12/21/2023 However, the cock bird should be darker, leaning more to a very orange yellow colour that can be created by selective breeding, as you are not going to create a blood line from pale yellow but you will from red and yellow mixed to a yellow orange colour. Maybe on hens I would agree, because hens don’t have a blood line and are much paler in colour than a cock bird. I have read that the colour on the belly should be yellow on all Gouldians. Why? My guess – lack of selective breeding. The Fusion Bar, or Blood Line, as I have always known it, has done a disappearing act. Without this area being full and rounded, you will never breed a bird that looks of good size and quality and possesses that special look. This area from the legs to the tail should be full and tapered well down to the tail, as if it is an extension of the body behind the legs. What also helps to rid the bird of long thighs and bad position is the fullness of the area behind the legs (the Draw or Vent area). The Cock bird can then do his best ‘displaying’ to the hen to bring her into breeding condition, after impressing her with his display of confidence. Where as with short thighs or no thigh showing, the bird will stand more upright on the perch. This long-legged look has a tendency to make the bird lean forward when standing or perching so it looks like it is on stilts. This fault is very destructive to the correct position of a bird when sitting (perching). One very noticeable fault, is a bird with too much ‘thigh’ showing or ‘long thighs’. When you see a bird with big round black eyes, it is a very nice feature to the appearance of a quality standout bird. The correct eye should be large and round of a blackish colour. Inbreeding is a probable cause of this fault, and should not be allowed in your breeding package. Small beady eyes is another noticeable fault related to the head. This rounded shape of the beak is very important to the correct shaped head. This rounded flow should also have a similar appearance at the front of the head, with the beak (Upper Mandible) looking like it is following the rounded shape of the head, say from the centre of the head (Crown) to the tip of the beak. Gouldians should have a nicely rounded head with a continuous flow over the head and a nice smooth line down the neck across the back, all the way to the tail. Heads that are flat on the top are not a good overall look to the Gouldians appearance, as this fault will normally feature a beak that is also flat, as if the beak has followed the continuous shape in line with top of the birds head, also making the head appear smaller because it is flat. When looking for a quality Gouldian the first thing that you notice is the Head, which is the standout feature of a good bird. So lets visit these obvious inherited faults. There are some small breeding faults starting to show in the Gouldians of late, which maybe a newcomer to the hobby would not be aware of. Are they from good parenting stock, which is all related to genetic inheritance? Also while in the selection process, consider their self-rearing ability. Things as simple as NOT putting two obvious faults together, not breeding with inferior or weak individuals. When selecting potential breeders from your stock birds for the breeding season, breeding principles of selection should be critically followed. I believe it would be an advantage for us as Gouldian breeders, to copy some of their successful breeding principles. They also have an understanding of genetics and a knowledge of how to reproduce champions from their stock birds. They breed for perfection and all want to be known as breeders of quality, not quantity. They have specialist clubs – WE HAVE NOT. Maybe it is time to create a Gouldian model of excellence, like the Zebra finch breeders did many years ago. My conclusion was there is no Gouldian standard, only a basic outline of what we have all become accustomed to reading, like colour, length, and the overall description of the Gouldian. In my research for a correct Gouldian standard, I could not find anything written that satisfied what I was looking for. But more importantly for the continuous quality of the Gouldian in the future. What should a captive Gouldian look like? Should there be specific cosmetic requirements that as breeders we aspire to? Should we create a standard that all breeders can work towards, like an improvement in their size, colour, and type, helping us all to become more knowledgeable on how we view a good bird.
0 Comments
Read More
Leave a Reply. |