Breeding ratios

27 Oct 2009, 13:08

I thought I would share the breeding results I have from my gouldians so far. Majority of the babies have coloured up. Just waiting for the last five to colour up enough to tell.

The birds chose their own mate. (I didnt know any better then)
There was a spare RH male but no red female wanted him, even though hes a really nice bird.
Also a spare YH male.

*****************************
Pair 1
BH PC GB male
BH PC GB hen

3 clutches
17 babies in total
5 cock birds
8 hens
4 left to colour up
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Pair 2
BH PC GB male
RH PC GB hen

2 clutches
8 babies
3 cock birds
5 hens
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Pair 3
YH PC GB male
RH PC GB hen

3 clutches
10 babies
7 cock birds
1 hen
1 left to colour up
1 died
10th November 2010 Edited to say the RH hen in Pair three, turned out to be R/Y

27 Oct 2009, 14:32

interesting to see that the YH & RH pair gave you the most cock birds. if you keep breeding hens in those numbers your going to be very popular.
my gouldians look to have bred 50/50 this year. wish my ruddies would breed different, 100% hens for the past 2 years.

27 Oct 2009, 14:40

Im close to 50/50 as well at the moment with those that are coloured enough to tell.

15 cock birds
14 hens
5 to colour up
1 death

All I managed to get from my ruddies after 3 clutches was one male

27 Oct 2009, 15:14

Well done, 35 young from 3 pair of birds is a really good effort.
Your management system must be very good as well.

27 Oct 2009, 15:18

If green is the colour you associate with envy then call me a celery stick! Well done to all.

27 Oct 2009, 19:15

well done indeed.much better then mine.Although i seem to have more hens then cocks aswell.

27 Oct 2009, 20:34

Very nice. Mine didn't do as well as that either.
None of mine have coloured up enough to tell yet.
Had 17 from three pair. I'll post as soon as I can tell.

scott · 27 Oct 2009, 23:33

Out of ten baby gouldians, all from last year, I only have one coloured enough to tell and thats a hen. I hope the rest colour soon. I'm outta space!!

Scott.

28 Oct 2009, 08:18

E Orix wrote:Well done, 35 young from 3 pair of birds is a really good effort.
Your management system must be very good as well.

Thanks
Good luck and the fact of a brand new aviary on ground that has never had an aviary before may have helped a lot. Im hoping the information from this forum will help me keep my aviary and birds healthy enough to keep these results up. However Im not naive enough to expect my good results all the time, Im sure there will be times when I feel like throwing in the towel.

Mickp wrote:interesting to see that the YH & RH pair gave you the most cock birds.

Even though this is a very small number to base any figures on regarding the male female ratio, it still shows the lean towards the males in the different head colour pairings while the same head colour pairing is more even.
Will update this when the other young colour up.

If same head colour produces an even split of the sexes, and mixed head colour produces more males, wouldn't it be nice to know what pairings would produce more hens?

28 Oct 2009, 11:06

yeep im noticing ive got more hens out of cocks with the same head colour head