gouldian courtship

[venetta]

So one of our beautiful boys is jumping for joy that his hen has chosen him..

I've heard that the female beak turns black when ready to mate, but this girl's beak is nowhere near black but she is doing the head shaking and tail pointing towards him etc...

I think they've chosen a place for their nest too cos they've been hanging around one specific box...

So I'm guessing these signs are meaning they're all good to go? Lol

I can't wait to have babies!

[natamambo]

Only normals (and blues?) turn black, yellow backs stay red. What's the hen?

[venetta]

The hen is a normal possibly split white breast.. the boy is a white breasted green back

[flap]

We are finding that some of ours have also paired off. But the hens' beaks are not coloured yet. The pairs seem to bond regardless of being ready to produce eggs (from what we have observed). I am planning on putting some nestboxes in the aviary this weekend and then let the birds sort themselves out...

[finchbreeder]

If your birds are YH the beak will not get as dark as if they are RH or BH. Lots or pair bonding starting to happen up here too.
Bit concerned about it being too hot through February as we tend to have "cook the eggs on the car bonet" weather through February.
LML

[venetta]

They're both red heads, so will definitely go dark.

Yeah we were discussing the weather the other day because our summer so far has been relatively cool as we seem to heat up more towards the end of summer and into autumn..
Easter will no doubt be a scorcher! No egg hunts in Perth! lol