First ever clutch ( Gouldian )

[PinsonBleu]

Update :

One egg didn't hatch ; the embryo was dead in brown juice.

Two chicks hatched and are well fed by the parents, who are dedicated to the point they hush the other out to take their turn in the box.

By now the babies make cute noises and grow very fast.

The parents didn't seem to care I went fishing the dead egg with a tiny spoon. Really chill birds.

Though they ignore the brocoli, eat a bit of fortified egg/fuit food mix and focus on the seeds.

I tried making some of their seeds sprout, maby they will like it more than the brocoli.

Salut.

[BrettB]

Like Finchbreeder, my Gouldians have little interest in green food or egg mixes.
When feeding chicks they really go for green seed, sprouted seed (just as the shoot is visible) and soaked seed (not yet spouted).
Sprouted seed is more nutritious than soaked seed but takes a bit longer to make. I add a bit of vitamen powder to the mix.
Both can be frozen and fed out as required
Millet is their favourite

Cheers
Brett

[PinsonBleu]

Update : The parents keep feeding the two chicks, which are growing nicely. They look cute now that they feathered-up, and I expect them to fledge next week.

I managed to tweak color settings on a picture so the babies are visible. Excuse the poor quality.



Things are looking good for them.

[finchbreeder]

Congratulations to you and the proud parents.

[Stu]

If I understood color inheritence correctly, the male chicks would be orange head, the females black head + orange beak, and chest color depends on possible hidden recessive trait of the purple-chest hen ( if she's double factor purple chest, all chicks would be purple split to white ).

Correct, and resulting cocks will be split blackhead (Yellow/black).

[PinsonBleu]

A round of applause for the parents here :












Now that the babies are out, is it okay to move the family for like 20 minutes to wash the cage / nest, and trim the parent's nails?

The advice and the discussions were appreciated, thanks you.

[finchbreeder]

I find that having differing size wooden perches keeps my birds toenails in trim condition.