One of my biggest questions when I began breeding revolved around the babies themselves.
What can I expect? What will they look like? How big are they? How fast do they grow?

And - the monumentally difficult question - "How can I identify different mutations in the nest?"

My search online to locate pictures that identify gouldian chicks came up rather sparse, to say the least. I can't say whether this is simply because most breeders don't photograph their youngsters or if I just was not looking in the right place.

So I decided the simplest solution would be to photograph my babies to help other people identify Gouldian mutations in the nest.

First, let's answer some common questions regarding Gouldian babies:

How big are baby gouldians when they first hatch?
Baby gouldians are teeny tiny when they are mere hours old. They measure approximately an inch or so in length from tip to tail.

How fast do Gouldian chicks grow?
Gouldians grow at an amazing rate. Consider that in merely three weeks time from the day they hatch, they will be leaving the nest - this means they virtually double in size each week!

For reference - the following image shows one chick that hatched 2/13, next to a chick that hatched 2/21. Notice the incredible difference in size - in just 8 days how much the baby will grow!

What do baby gouldians look like?
Well short of trying to explain outside of saying they look like naked baby mice with beaks - use the descriptions and photo albums below to help answer this question!

As Gouldian chicks mature, much like other birds, they begin to develop feathers (shocking, right?!). This is going to be the first step to learning how to distinguish the mutations apart. Suffice it to say it's not always that easy; but you will get a good idea of the adult colors simply by looking at the babies as they begin to feather.
It should be noted that for the most part - head and breast color is not determinable until moulting begins unless you have a pair that can only produce a particular head or breast color (e.g., BH male x BH hen produces all BH babies, WB x WB produces all WB babies).

Sometimes, subtle differences in the breast feathers can help indicate the difference between a purple breasted and white or lilac breasted baby, but this can be tricky especially when you are dealing with different sexes.

Normal Gouldians
Normal babies at hatch with be a pink color with grey eyes. They have dark black inner mouth markings and the out nodules are a pearly blue color outlined by black. The center nodules are yellow. When they begin to feather, they will have an all-over olive green/grey appearance.
The following photo album shows pictures of normal gouldian hatchlings, nestlings, and fledglings
Normal Gouldian Babies

Dilute Gouldians
Dilute babies are for me the hardest to identify unless I know can easily identify normal babies simultaneously. The inner mouth markings would be slightly (you guessed it) diluted, and the black around the outer nodules is not as stark. The easiest way to identify dilute babies is when the feathers begin breaking from the quills.
Dilutes will usually have primaries that are light grey tipped, whereas normals look more dark grey. The color of the feathers between the shoulders is usually a key give away because it is a very pale grey/green and easily distinguished from the dark olive green of a normal nestling.
The following photo album shows pictures of normal gouldian hatchlings, nestlings, and fledglings
Dilute Gouldian Babies

Yellow Gouldians
Yellow babies are when things start to get really tricky. The good news is yellow females and males that are DF Yellow are really easy to spot (thought if your pair can produce both you won't know which are which until the babies are mature).

Yellow babies that are female or DF Yellow will be very pink looking with red/pink eyes under the lids. The black that usually exists around the outer nodules will be an iridescent opal color instead and the blue will be diluted to a very pale/light blue color. The middle nodules will still be yellow, and the markings inside of the mouth are very pale. As the babies turn older, the skin takes on a noticeable yellow hue. If you look at the skin color of the wings on young normals, you will see it start to turn dark before the pins start breaking through. On all yellows, this skin will remain pink.

All yellows are pretty easy to spot once they begin feathering, because they are yellow/white in color when they begin to feather out. And easy way to tell if your bird is yellow vs dilute is by looking at the primary wing tip feathers.

Things get tricky if/when you start producing Lilac or White Breast SF Yellow Males. These look very similar to Dilute hatchings and can "trick" you into thinking you have Dilutes (or even Normals). If you are an astute picture taker of your babies and you can get a good shot of all babies gaping to compare the mouth markings, you can usually get a sense of birds that may be SF Yellow (and visually yellow), but it is really difficult to differentiate them between SF Yellow DILUTES because visually as hatchlings they are very similar. The biggest way to distinguish these is when the babies are old enough to where the skin color on the wings begins to change. Again - on a visual Dilute the wings will show darker skin before the primary pins erupt, but if they are visually yellow SFs, the skin on the wings (and the pins that erupt) will stay pink/white.
One last tip I recently learned which can help you identify visually SF Yellow males from DF Yellow ones at fledge is males that are SF Yellow will generally have a dark beak. Yellow hens and DF Yellow males at fledge will have pink beaks.

The following photo album shows pictures of yellow gouldian hatchlings, nestlings, and fledglings
Yellow Gouldian Babies

Blue Gouldians
Blue babies are a very pale bluish pink color when hatched. In a clutch containing normals, they are automatically noticeable as "different" and can be identified immediately if you have normals for comparison.

The eyes are still dark, and the only difference in the nodules is that genetic blues will always have white middle nodules. This goes for blues, pastels, and silvers.
In a single instance, I had a baby with seemingly white center nodules that turned out yellow. But this pair had a history of producing very strange chicks (and only produced three total babies, only one of which survived, so I believe there may have been a genetic defect occurring in this pairing).

Once feathered, blues will have an all over blue-gray body coloration that is significantly different when feathered compared to a normal backed bird. You may also notice their legs are light pink whereas normal babies will have a darker (sometimes yellowish) leg color instead.

The following photo album shows pictures of blue gouldian hatchlings, nestlings, and fledglings.
Blue Gouldian Babies

Pastel Gouldians
Pastel babies when feathered will differ from blue babies in that their color will be a lighter, pale-blue grey all over. As babies - they will be virtually the same as blue chicks. You may be able to distinguish them from blues my looking at the outer two mouth nodules. The yellow gene will affect the darker bluish-black nodules on the outside so that they are lighter in color (similar to a dilutes). Another clue is that you will see the white nodules, which indicates the baby is a genetic blue, and when the primary feathers start to pin out, they will look a lot lighter than that of a blue.

The following photo album shows pictures of pastel gouldian hatchlings, nestlings, and fledgling.
Pastel Blue Gouldian Babies

Silver Gouldians
Silver babies (hens and silver cocks that are genetically DF) will be very pink skinned when they hatch. The outer nodules are virtually white, along with having white middle nodules which makes them easy to distinguish between yellows. Though, a clutch with Silvers and Yellows you will generally be able to see an obvious difference because with Silvers next to Yellows, you can see just how pink the Silvers are. Yellows look pink on their own, but you can really see the difference if you have a clutch with both.
Some yellows can confuse individuals into thinking they have a silver because the primaries and other feather tips breaking out of the quills looks/are white. If you have trouble seeing the nodule different, what you can look for at this time is the feathers coming in between the shoulders. On a yellow, these will always be yellow or have a yellow hue. Whereas on Silvers they will always only be white or greyish white/silver.

Similar to SF Yellow WB or LB hatchlings, SF Yellow White or LB genetically blue cocks at hatch will probably confuse you into thinking they are blue or even pastel. As with yellows, you will generally catch these guys when they should start developing color on the skin of wings (in a blue or pastel, the skin will be turning dark, in silvers, as with yellows, it is pink).

The following photo album shows pictures of silver gouldian hatchlings, nestlings, and fledglings.
Silver Gouldian Babies