Young Gouldians doing the dance

[natamambo]

There has been lots of threads lately about barely fledged Gouldians "doing the dance" with general comments it's OK to leave them in aviaries. Was re-reading the section on Gouldians in Australian Finches by Klaus Immelman tonight and thought I'd pass on the following info:


Background to the quote is in relation to why some young seem to take along time to moult.

...sexual activity may occur extremely early in this species. Young males usually start with their song as soon as they leave the nest. Courtship behaviour appears a few days later. I have seen young birds courting and copulating while still being fed by their parents....when the young are independent of the parents they may even start breeding straight away - when only about eight weeks old... I have seen several families with parents and young in juvenile plumage.

Seems from this that it's possible that leaving the young in may produce unexpected results (if you'll pardon the pun)!

[colorin]

oh my!
I've seen one of my chicks (fledged a month ago) "dancing" . I am removing nests in a week time or so anyway...

[desertbirds]

Its only us that has said birds should be 12 months old to breed.Im sure some are capable of breeding a lot earlier.In the wild this would ensure they make the most of a good season.Some species do have egg binding problems but if the gouldians were going to have to a go i would personally let them be and see what happens.

[mackstaa]

I house them in large aviary situations and a couple of years ago had a surprise group of fledglings come out which didnt belong to any of my pairs, the mum and dad dad not even coloured up and they had kids who looked not far behind them!
Then there are times you get the best looking adults together and they dont do a thing!