Been a bad couple of months

[cranberry]

After the breeding season started off with a bang, the last couple of months have been woeful! I've had about 15 Gouldians fledge and only 6 have survived. What's worse, I have found others dead in the nest, one week shy of fledging. One day they're fine, next day all dead with full crops. I've found others on the floor of the aviary as well, well before they are ready to fledge. Not sure what's happening with these and why they are leaving the nest so early.

I'm convinced it's the cold weather. Been bloody freezing here in Adelaide lately. Between the cold and ants I reckon I've lost 25 young this year. I still have 16 healthy young but I was hoping for much more than this. Does anyone have any clues as to what could be happening? Who else is having a bad breeding season?

I'm convinced that Gouldians are prolific breeders but to ensure all the young remain fit and healthy is taking it to another level in terms of bird keeping. Maybe I should stick to something less demanding.

Cheers

[jusdeb]

No suggestions from me but I will give my usual " chin up " mate it will get better .

If there is a common denominator causing the deaths I hope you find it very soon .

[Buzzard-1]

Tis the cold I used to remove boxes and put back in a couple of weeks before spring. Only 2 breedings a year but a higher survival rate. They can be heart breaking. If you modify your breeding you'll find it a lot more enjoyable.(you will still have losses,but that's the nature of the game)

[Tintola]

Gouldians!!!!!!!!!!!!! In their natural habitat in nth Qld and NT they are winter breeders. The temp's there rarely get below 20 deg c.(usually 25 to 30ish in winter) and they have evolved to not have to brood the young at around late pin feather stage. I have the same problem with Hooded Parrots which can only be solved ,for me, with a heated nest box.

With the Goulds I allow them to breed from early Jan up until about April or early May, take all nest boxes out and return them around early Aug. so that when young are about two weeks old, and not being brooded, the weather has warmed enough to give them a chance. This way you don't tire the parents out by building, laying and half rearing chicks with no young to show for all their trouble.

My climate is subtropical but nights can get down to 0 or 1deg at night, but sunny days can usually get up to 18 or 20deg or more. You might have to tweak these times for your climate, take the boxes out earlier and put them back in later. As Buzz said It gives them two shorter breeding seasons, with a rest in between, with much better results in the end.
Rarely some pairs will brood the young right until the end, these birds and their young should be kept to try to establish a strain that is reliable in doing so, but for now I think we are stuck with thousands of years of evolution.

[cranberry]

Thanks Tintola. Very good suggestion that. I will definitely try to implement a different breeding regime from next year. Actually there is no reason why I can't do it this year as I currently have no young or eggs in the nest. Maybe I can take the boxes out and put them back in next month for 1 final clutch and see how they go. In Adelaide, I can see Jan-Apr and August-October working. Does that leave enough time for the end of year moult?

[Mickp]

The only downside to this is if you have a mixed aviary.
I've had gouldians use the abandoned nests of other species

[Tintola]

Can be a problem, mine are in gouldian only finch aviaries, I have had them try to nest in a nest box on the ground, facing the wall and nothing in it or in a deep noephema parrot nest box because there was nothing else. Do your best to make them rest during the coldest period as it is then that they sometimes stop feeding the young, forcing the chicks to move to the front of the nest to be fed and eventually end up on the floor starving and cold, which usually does 'em in.

[E Orix]

I gave up trying to keep young alive during our winter so boxes go infirst week of Jan.
But this season I have decided to try them the 1st week of Dec(maybe Nov) because the season is too short before the cold hits

[cranberry]

I just heard it got down to -1 at Parafield this morning, just north of Adelaide. Coldest day in 12 months. Might explain why I found 6 dead this morning.

[Nathan Morleyy]

I have had a terribal breedng season aswell Cranberry.