Aussie Finch Forum

Hi Numi,
I am not far from you.
I put my boxes in on Jan 22. The birds got off to a slow start this season. The boxes are now about half occupied, but nothing has fledged yet. Some of the younger pairs are just starting to show some interest . Last year my last clutch fledged on June 23, so there is still plenty of time. Be sure to provide plenty of seeding grass heads and, if they go to nest, also some sprouted seed mix.

To be honest, I wouldn't buy any birds from a "shop".They could be somebody"s old rejects and might never breed, even it seems like you are doing the right thing. I'd sell them off and buy an unrelated pair from a breeder,who will gladly give you the right advice. Then join a club or get to know some people in your area who has birds. This is an excellent forum for you, but talking face to face with a breeder is much better. I wish you all the success with your endeavours. Keep posting, I am very interested

Numi,
A re-read of this thread, and the behaviour you described, has me considering the possibility that you may have two cock birds.
In ambiguous situations, a hen is not a hen until it has laid an egg
However, if things progress for you, here is a link that shows the possible outcome . www.finchinfo.com/genetics/lady_gouldia ... colors.php (Fifth frame down).

starman wrote: ↑01 Apr 2019, 08:31 Numi,
A re-read of this thread, and the behaviour you described, has me considering the possibility that you may have two cock birds.
In ambiguous situations, a hen is not a hen until it has laid an egg
However, if things progress for you, here is a link that shows the possible outcome . www.finchinfo.com/genetics/lady_gouldia ... colors.php (Fifth frame down).

Sorry for such a delayed response, been pretty distracted with uni this semester and completely forgot to reply!

I can't say I'm 100% positive, but I do think the female is a female. Her beak was dark when I got her, lightened when they moulted, and has gone dark again over the past few months. As far as I've seen I believe this only happens to the females right?
Still no luck with the two though unfortunately. I'm not too concerned though, I enjoy watching them regardless and have a pair of zebra finches that seem to be getting along well so might have better luck with them as my first breeding pair of birds lol

White breasteds can be harder to sex than normals. But from the pic I would say a hen. Zebs are usually very easy to breed. Do you have your Gouldians and Zebs together? If so you need three nests, one for each lady and a spare. So neither lady feels she did not get a choice. Good luck with your studies.
LML

finchbreeder wrote: ↑14 May 2019, 10:48 White breasteds can be harder to sex than normals. But from the pic I would say a hen. Zebs are usually very easy to breed. Do you have your Gouldians and Zebs together? If so you need three nests, one for each lady and a spare. So neither lady feels she did not get a choice. Good luck with your studies.
LML

I was worried they wouldn't like sharing the space or would interfere with each other so the zebs are housed separately to the gouldians ^_^ And thankyou!

Numi,

Yes, the cycling of the beak colour would indicate a hen..... good luck with her.

If you have the space to do so, housing them seperately is the go. And your results should be better too. They can be housed together, but your assumption that they may bug each other is one that can and does happen with some pairs. While you get well behaved birds that get on in both types, but definately not always.
LML