Head Color Inheritance

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Lady gouldians come in three head colors: red, yellow (orange), and black. (Please note that it is normal for hens to have a lot of black feathering in their masks, even if they are not black-headed.)



Red head (RH) is a sex-linked dominant trait, so cocks can be double factor (DF) or single factor (SF) red heads and express it while hens can only ever be single factor (SF) and express it. No cock or hen can ever be split for red head.



Black head (BH) is a sex-linked recessive trait, so cocks can be double factor (DF) (and express a black head) or single factor (SF) (and be "split" for black head) while hens can only ever be single factor (SF) and express it. No hen can ever be split for black head.



Yellow head (YH) is an autosomal recessive trait, but also requires at least one red head gene to be present in order to be expressed. If two yellow head genes are present on a bird that has no red head genes (and instead has black head genes), the bird will have a black head with a yellow tipped beak (YTB). This occurs because the bird is genetically a yellow headed bird, but it cannot express the yellow color because the yellow gene depends on the red head gene for expression, and the red head gene is not there. Both cocks and hens can be "split" for yellow head.


Here are some breeding charts which will give you a list of all potential outcomes from a given cock - hen pairing. Recall that Z and W denote the sex chromosomes of avian species (whereas X and Y denote the sex chromosomes of mammalian species), and that unlike mammals, the male finch is the homogametic sex (ZZ) and the female is the heterogametic sex (ZW).

× DFRH cock × RH hen
Male Offspring	D a m   S i r e        Z Z Z ZZ ZZ W ZW ZW	Female Offspring
All cocks produced will be DFRH & all hens will be RH.

× SFRH cock × RH hen
Male Offspring	D a m   S i r e        Z Z Z ZZ ZZ W ZW ZW	Female Offspring
Theoretically, half of the cocks produced will be DFRH and the other half will be SFRH (/BH); half of the hens will be RH and half will be BH.

× BH cock × RH hen
Male Offspring	D a m   S i r e        Z Z Z ZZ ZZ W ZW ZW	Female Offspring
All of the cocks produced will be SFRH, all of the hens will be BH.

× DFRH cock × BH hen
Male Offspring	D a m   S i r e        Z Z Z ZZ ZZ W ZW ZW	Female Offspring
All cocks produced will be SFRH & all hens will be RH.

× SFRH cock × BH hen
Male Offspring	D a m   S i r e        Z Z Z ZZ ZZ W ZW ZW	Female Offspring
Theoretically, half of the cocks produced will be SFRH and the other half will be BH; half of the hens will be RH and half will be BH.

× BH cock × BH hen
Male Offspring	D a m   S i r e        Z Z Z ZZ ZZ W ZW ZW	Female Offspring
All cocks produced will be BH & all hens will be BH.

YH cock × YH hen
	D a m   S i r e        O O O OO OO O OO OO
All birds produced will be DFYH (Note: the head will only appear yellow if the bird is also a genetic red head; if the bird is DFYH and genetically black head, the bird will be black-headed with a yellow tipped beak [BH YTB]).

YH cock × SFYH (/YH) hen (or visa versa)
	D a m   S i r e        O O O OO OO O OO OO
Half of the birds produced will be DFYH, half will be /YH.

SFYH (/YH) cock × SFYH (/YH) hen
	D a m   S i r e        O O O OO OO O OO OO
A quarter of the birds will be DFYH, a quarter will not carry any YH at all; the other 50% of the birds will be SFYH (/YH), but there is no visual way to distinguish between /YH and birds not carrying any YH at all.

SFYH (/YH) cock × non-yellow head hen (or visa versa)
	D a m   S i r e        O O O OO OO O OO OO
Half of the birds will be SFYH (/YH) & half will not carry any YH at all, but there is no visual way to distinguish between /YH and birds not carrying any YH at all.

YH cock × non-yellow head hen (or visa versa)
	D a m   S i r e        O O O OO OO O OO OO
All birds produced will be SFYH (/YH).

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