Breast Color Inheritance

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Lady gouldians come in three (recognized) breast colors: purple, lilac, and white. Currently, these traits are all understood to be variations of a single gene (alleles of the "breast color gene").



Purple breast (PB) is an autosomal dominant trait (dominant to both white and lilac breast), so both cocks and hens can be double factor (DF) or single factor (SF) purple breast and express it. No gouldian can ever be "split" for purple breast. Purple breast can occur in combination with any head or body color.



Lilac breast (LB) is an autosomal trait which is recessive to purple breast but dominant to white breast. In order for a bird to express lilac breast, it must either be double-factor (DF) for lilac breast, or be single-factor (SF) for lilac breast and single-factor (SF) "split" for white breast. If a bird is single factor for lilac breast and single factor for purple breast, the result is a purple breasted bird which is "split" for lilac breast. Lilac breast can occur in combination with any head or body color, except the dilute and pastel cock body colors since those phenomena are caused by the presence of a purple breast.



White breast (WB) is autosomal recessive to both purple and lilac breast, so both cocks and hens can either be double-factor (DF) and express a white breast or single-factor (SF) and be "split" for white breast (without expressing it). No white breasted bird can ever be split for purple or lilac breast. White breast can occur in combination with any head or body color, except the dilute and pastel cock body colors since those phenomena are caused by the presence of a purple breast.


Note: Because only two copies of the "breast color gene" are present in the genome, a single gouldian can not carry any more than two of the three breast color alleles. Therefore, it is impossible to have a gouldian which is purple breasted and simultaneously split for both lilac and white breast alleles.


Here are some breeding charts which will give you a list of all potential outcomes from a given cock - hen pairing. Please note that for simplification, I have decided to represent the "breast color gene" with the letter "C" for "Chest color" in the charts below.

× PB cock × PB hen
Male Offspring	D a m   S i r e        C C C CC CC C CC CC	Female Offspring
All chicks will be DFPB (purple breasted).

× LB cock × LB hen
Male Offspring	D a m   S i r e        C C C CC CC C CC CC	Female Offspring
All chicks will be DFLB (lilac breasted).

× WB cock × WB hen
Male Offspring	D a m   S i r e        C C C CC CC C CC CC	Female Offspring
All chicks will be DFWB (white breasted).

× PB cock × LB hen (or vise versa)
Male Offspring	D a m   S i r e        C C C CC CC C CC CC	Female Offspring
All chicks will be SFPB SFLB (purple breasted "split" for lilac breast).

× PB cock × WB hen (or vise versa)
Male Offspring	D a m   S i r e        C C C CC CC C CC CC	Female Offspring
All chicks will be SFPB SFWB (purple breasted "split" for white breast).

× PB /WB cock × WB hen (or vise versa)
Male Offspring	D a m   S i r e        C C C CC CC C CC CC	Female Offspring
Half of the chicks will be SFPB SFWB (purple breasted "split" for white breast) and the other half will be DFWB (white breasted).

× LB cock × WB hen (or vise versa)
Male Offspring	D a m   S i r e        C C C CC CC C CC CC	Female Offspring
All chicks will be SFLB SFWB (lilac breasted "split" for white breast).

× LB /WB cock × WB hen (or vise versa)
Male Offspring	D a m   S i r e        C C C CC CC C CC CC	Female Offspring
Half of the chicks will be SFLB SFWB (lilac breasted "split" for white breast) and the other half will be DFWB (white breasted).

× LB /WB cock × LB /WB hen
Male Offspring	D a m   S i r e        C C C CC CC C CC CC	Female Offspring
One quarter of the chicks will be DFLB (lilac breasted), half of the chicks will be SFLB SFWB (lilac breasted "split" for white breast) and remaining quarter will be DFWB (white breasted). There is no way to visually distinguish between those birds which are split for white breast and those birds which are not.

× PB cock × PB /LB hen (or vise versa)
Male Offspring	D a m   S i r e        C C C CC CC C CC CC	Female Offspring
Half of the offspring will be DFPB and the other half will be SFPB SFLB (purple breasted "split" for lilac breast), but there is no way to visually distinguish between those birds carrying the lilac breast gene and those birds which do not have it.

× LB cock × PB /LB hen (or vise versa)
Male Offspring	D a m   S i r e        C C C CC CC C CC CC	Female Offspring
Half of the offspring will be DFLB (lilac breast) and the other half will be SFPB SFLB (purple breasted "split" for lilac breast).

× PB cock × PB /WB hen (or vise versa)
Male Offspring	D a m   S i r e        C C C CC CC C CC CC	Female Offspring
Half of the offspring will be DFPB and the other half will be SFPB SFWB (purple breasted "split" for white breasted), but there is no way to visually distinguish between those birds carrying the white breast gene and those birds which do not have it.

× PB /WB cock × PB /WB hen
Male Offspring	D a m   S i r e        C C C CC CC C CC CC	Female Offspring
One quarter of the chicks will be DFPB (purple breasted), half will be SFPB SFWB (purple breasted "split" for white breast), and the remaining quarter will be DFWB (white breasted). There is no way to visually distinguish between those birds carrying a single copy of the white breast gene and those birds which do not have it.

× PB /LB cock × PB /WB hen (or vise versa)
Male Offspring	D a m   S i r e        C C C CC CC C CC CC	Female Offspring
Theoretically, one quarter of the chicks produced will be DFPB, one quarter will be SFPB SFLB (purple breasted "split" for lilac breasted), one quarter will be SFPB SFWB (purple breasted "split" for white breasted), and the remaining birds will be SFLB SFWB (lilac breasted "split" for white breasted). Unfortunately, there is no visual way to distinguish between purple breasted birds which are carrying a lilac or white breast gene, and those purple breasted birds which are not.

× PB /LB cock × PB /LB hen
Male Offspring	D a m   S i r e        C C C CC CC C CC CC	Female Offspring
Theoretically, one quarter of the chicks produced will be DFPB (purple breasted), one half will be SFPB SFLB (purple breasted "split" for lilac breasted), and the remaining quarter will be DFLB (lilac breasted). Unfortunately, there is no visual way to distinguish between purple breasted birds which are carrying a lilac breast gene, and those purple breasted birds which are not.

× PB /WB cock × LB /WB hen (or vise versa)
Male Offspring	D a m   S i r e        C C C CC CC C CC CC	Female Offspring
One quarter of the chicks will be SFPB SFLB (purple breasted "split" for lilac breast), one quarter will be SFLB SFWB (lilac breasted "split" for white breast), one quarter will be SFPB SFWB (purple breasted "split" for white breast), and the remaining quarter will be DFWB (white breasted). There is no visual way to distinguish the birds split for lilac breast from the birds split for white breast.

× LB cock × PB /WB hen (or vise versa)
Male Offspring	D a m   S i r e        C C C CC CC C CC CC	Female Offspring
Half of the chicks produced will be SFPB SFLB (purple breasted "split" for lilac breast), and half will be SFLB SFWB (lilac breasted "split" for white breasted).

× PB cock × LB /WB hen (or vise versa)
Male Offspring	D a m   S i r e        C C C CC CC C CC CC	Female Offspring
Half of the chicks will be SFPB SFLB (purple breasted "split" for lilac breasted) and half will be SFPB SFWB (purple breasted "split" for white breasted), but there is no visual way to distinguish between which birds are carrying the white gene and which birds are carrying the lilac gene.

× PB /LB cock × WB hen (or vise versa)
Male Offspring	D a m   S i r e        C C C CC CC C CC CC	Female Offspring
Half of the birds will be SFPB SFWB (purple breasted "split" for white breast), and half will be SFLB SFWB (lilac breasted "split" for white breast).

× PB /LB cock × LB /WB hen (or vise versa)
Male Offspring	D a m   S i r e        C C C CC CC C CC CC	Female Offspring
Theoretically, one quarter of the chicks will be SFPB SFLB (purple breasted "split" for lilac breast), one quarter will be SFPB SFWB (purple breasted "split" for white breast), one quarter will be DFLB (lilac breasted), and the remaining quarter will be SFLB SFWB (lilac breasted "split" for white breast). There is no visual way to distinguish between which birds are split for lilac breast and which birds are split for white breast.

× LB cock × LB /WB hen (or vise versa)
Male Offspring	D a m   S i r e        C C C CC CC C CC CC	Female Offspring
Half of the chicks will be DFLB (lilac breasted), and half will be SFLB SFWB (lilac breasted "split" for white breast). There is no visual way to distinguish between those birds which are carrying the white breast gene and those which are not.

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