Bush Gouldians

[E Orix]

The birds that were being used by SP at the university were split up, I am not sure where the Red Headed and Yellow Headed
went but Mike moved some Black Headed to my place. To keep them pure I only have that strain of Black Headed here.
They are different in some ways, yes the chicks rarely fledge to the ground, all out and on the perch from day one.
Nest numbers are generally 4/5 but I have one pair bring out a 9 and reared them.
The main thing to watch is because there is constant food available they try to breed all year round and birds not restricted
will generally be burnt out within 2 seasons. They will also breed when just showing adult plumage and rear successfully.
I find they can be very aggressive and territorial and nest box location can be important.
Finally they leave all the mutations for dead and they look great just picking around the aviary floor.

[Blue Cuban]

Surely after so many generations of being bred and kept in captivity these birds must show signs and become more like the rest of the captive Gouldians.

[E Orix]

Small changes start virtually immediately and gradually increase, yet others take generations and generations.
Their defence mechanism is so entrenched that remains for so long.
If a bird is cage bred it changes very quickly because it relies on the keeper to provide every thing and this speeds
up the process.
Gouldians today are virtually totally domesticated, they are basically todays Zebra Finch, infact there are probably
more bred now than Zebra Finches in captivity.

[alvin]

Without the bush Gouldian, we wouldn't have the beautiful mutations we have today. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so each to his own, the bush bred Gouldian is expected to outclass the domesticated Gouldian under 95% of the topics we wish to debate on. We have cage bred and we have aviary bred, which is another topic. I aviary breed, so I can only say what goes on in my aviary. The story of the past the all blues are weak and every blue breeder is a liar needs to change, Today we have some good blue strains out there, I have 2 silver 4 year cocks and a blue 3 year old which are excellent breeders, One silver cock has 2 hens, trio GB/WB normal and YB/PB split, so for now the only thing I know the young SF cocks are split WB and come from the GB, all the hens these cocks started off with, I`ve lost , I also have a blue hen and a split blue hen that are 99% coloured, which were born in the last 5 months. I believe good flight size aviary, greens, Gouldian eating seeds, clean water daily, some sprouted seed during the breeding season produces strong healthy birds.

[Gouldian 3]

So far I've only really talked about the behavioural differences between Bush Gouldians and today's aviary bred version. There is also a visual difference. Over the past 30 or so years, even breeders who are not really into improving their Gouldians have probably naturally kept any that are bigger or better coloured. Plus, nearly every Normal Gouldian would have a mutation in its pedigree somewhere. So, these Bush Gouldians need to be kept together, not outcrossed to today's aviary bred version and culled 100% randomly so not for any quality whatsoever. Their price makes them worth doing that so hopefully a few breeders will be interested in keeping and breeding them because the chance might never come up again.

[Gouldian 3]

As you said Alvin, Blue Gouldians have a major image problem and maybe you should start a new topic about that? The problem in the past has been that the breeders of blues have not been open and honest to their customers about how those birds have been kept and bred. That has resulted in the deaths of probably 10's of thousands of birds unnecessarily which is cruel and inhumane. It has also resulted in their customers losing probably millions of dollars also unnecessarily. What needs to change is for a group of dedicated Blue Gouldian breeders to form a pact and create a code of ethics dealing with the above. If any breeder breaks the code they get sent packing because that would undo all the hard work. If this were to happen, any potential Blue Gouldian customer could confidently buy from any of those breeders knowing that they have been told 100% honestly how that bird was kept and bred. In other words, they could be 100% satisfied they are buying a quality product. That could be something that Paul could start.

[alvin]

Breeding bush Gouldian's will start off great, within a few years they will crossed to so called pure Gouldian's and sold as bush Gouldian's. With regard to the blue Gouldian, in WA there are a few guys I know that aviary breed. They have similar setup to what I have. I have 3 aviaries: 6mx2m, 3mx2m, 4.4mx2m all wire on the front only, some sheets on the top to let more light in. They breed healthy birds.

[Craig52]

I tend to agree with Alvin, these wild type gouldians will eventually disappear into the domesticated gouldians unless there are dedicated breeders like E Orix to keep them pure.
Imo, when these dedicated breeders sell their young on, they are relying on those purchasers to honestly pure breed them. It only takes one glitch and you can say goodbye to your wild pure birds.
I can't understand why a pr of normal looking wild gouldians would cost $100 a pr and also your remark about domesticated gouldians not brooding their young after 10 days at night, this is not true. It was the early day trapped gouldians that leave their young in the nest at 10 days at night when gouldian breeders would lose the young due to our cold conditions.
Wild gouldians brood their young to around 10 days at night in the nest and then roost outside the nest due to the top ends high night temperatures and humidity so there is no need to brood the young at night. Domestication has seen this instinct removed in most individuals and they will brood till there's no room left in the nest and the young produce their own body heat to survive.
Craig

[Gouldian 3]

I think $100.00 pair is very fair for what maybe the only Bush Gouldians available in Australia. I can only talk about this strain of Bush Gouldians and they brood at night for as long as is necessary depending on the weather. In all my years I've never heard of domesticated Gouldians brooding at night much past the 10 day mark. I was only talking to Graham Bull a few weeks ago and he had one pair this year brood at night to about day 12 or 13 from memory. So he is going to keep a few of the offspring to see if that quality can be hereditary. So you're totally blessed with your strain of Gouldians Craig!

[Blue Cuban]

in WA there are a few guys I know that aviary breed (blues). They have similar setup to what I have. I have 3 aviaries: 6mx2m, 3mx2m, 4.4mx2m all wire on the front only, some sheets on the top to let more light in. They breed healthy birds.

As Paul said this is for another topic which I plan on starting in the near future but I wanted to quickly state among these breeders in WA there are people that don't put any protection up on the front of their aviaries (only inclosing the roof, sides and back), don't medicate, don't use heaters/lights, don't use Bengalese and only see to their birds 6 days out of 14 with great success and I welcome them to WA to see for themselves whenever they are passing through.
Rich.