microclimates

[essi]

i saw someone had questions similar to my own. i am in eastern us, temps have been around 21-24c (70-74f) but have been suffering a string of dead-in-shell as well. humidity has been around 55%-65%. have tried more ventilated nests, and saw a small improvement (developed for longer before ultimately dying in shell again). could this be an air flow issue, or is this humidity too high for gouldians? or perhaps both? my birds are inside without any sort of air conditioning running. feeling sorry for my little birds, they've been laying eggs on the ground after i've taken out their boxes

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I successfully raise colony Gouldians in highly humid environment. Rainforest at 17 degree South lattitude. This should not be an issue, and the temps you describe should also be OK.

I am outside. Could it be that lack of sunlight is your issue? Sunlight is needed to metabolise calcium. What sources of calcium are you supplying?

You could try adding gentle ventilation/circulation - maybe an extractor fan?

[BrettB]

Agree with Mark, not likely to be humidity or temperature related. I also think it is unlikely to be air flow related, the nest boxes that I use have no ventilation and the parents pack them full of nesting material that would reduce the air flow to a minimum.
Mark is also right about supplimenting birds that are kept indoors, it is not just calcium though you need to suppliment them with Vit D.
Is it possible the birds are getting disturbed at night while thay are sitting?

Cheers'
Brett

[finchbreeder]

Vitamin D and night disturbances are things I would also look at.
If these are birds you have recently aquirred and they are used to being fed greens - are you feeding them greens? Just another thought for consideration.

[essi]

birds get vetafarm calcium + d3 in the water, cuttlefish bone, and mineral grit. these are not new birds. my oldest pair i've had around 2 years now. i give them greens on occasion, but haven't been successful in getting them to actually eat them, unlike with my other finches. this is probably a vitamin issue. i had them on rob marshalls vitamin program when i was originally breeding them, but not this time around. i just wanted to triple check it wouldn't be environment.

as for night disturbances, the pair i was working with are like chickens. not bothered by anything and heavy sitters. they don't move once they're in their nest– i can clean their cage and they won't come out. i often let them out (while not breeding) and they come sit with me on my computer.

thank you for the replies! going to get them back on their regular vitamin schedule.

[finchbreeder]

Getting them to eat greens can be difficult if they were not fed them as chicks.
However, feed them some so that when they have chicks the chicks will learn right from the get go to eat greens.
Much healthier birds in the long run this way.
Good luck with future eggs.

[essi]

Getting them to eat greens can be difficult if they were not fed them as chicks.
However, feed them some so that when they have chicks the chicks will learn right from the get go to eat greens.
Much healthier birds in the long run this way.
Good luck with future eggs.

i'll give it another go ! can be kind of disheartening at times the gouldian who got separated out from the rest because of aggression seemed to figure out the greens from the canaries. i might just try and introduce a few of them to greens with the canaries then maybe put them back in with the flock and see if that doesn't help.

thank you for the feedback and help !!

[finchbreeder]

Canaries are the finch worlds greatest teachers. For those of us who have them - putting new birds in with them for a bit is a slightly easier way of getting the message accross.
Not all finchos keep canaries or realise that they are finches though.