Gouldian egg sitting behaviour?

[natamambo]

While all 3 cockbirds and 2 of the hens have shown great excitement since the nest boxes went in on Australia Day the weather here has been pretty mild since then and it appeared no one had "gone down". The unpaired cock has shown significant interest in the remaining hen but in mid-Jan she lost the cock she had bonded with and she has shown little interest so far in his replacement.

Checked the aviary today for the first time in a week and lo and behold 1 egg! However while the pair using that nest are in and of the nest all the time there is no evidence they are actually sitting on the egg, with both birds out of the nest most of the time.

I've often had parrots that will lay most / all of the clutch before sitting tight (and as a consequence all the young hatch within a day or so of each other). The painteds are the only finches I've had successfully raise young in recent years and they sat tight from day 1. Years ago we bred lots of zebbies (don't we all ) but there were many pairs in a large planted aviary so I never really got to know who bred whom and how well they sat.

Should I be worried about the Gouldians or is it normal for them to lay then sit?

[Diane]

I've often had parrots that will lay most / all of the clutch before sitting tight (and as a consequence all the young hatch within a day or so of each other).

That seems to be the way my gouldians have worked too.

[Buzzard-1]

Doesn't surprise me they are different birds.Sometimes they won't start and sometimes you can't stop them!!!

[Misso]

Mine generally wait till most of the clutch is laid before sitting tight.

[BENSONSAN]

mine are same as misso.

[FinchFan]

Sounds normal to me from my experience. The male generally sits just inside the L shaped box until the clutch is laid and then its take it in turn to sit on them.

For me this year, as its my second breeding season, im afraid im a bit confused as to whos eggs belong to whom. I have two females and four males in one aviary, and theres three occupied boxes with eggs. I suspect one female has laid in two boxes... Letting nature take its course.