Aussie Finch Forum

If birds in Finland moult in June/July, that would make sense, as I suspect the trigger is increasing daylight hours.
This would mean your young birds were too young to moult at this time and why they have not completed their moult.
This has happened to me with birds born late in the season.
My birds born too late in the season did not complete the moult until the next moult season, that will be June 2019 for Finland.
I am not aware of anything that will help.

My Gouldians only take soaked seed when they have chicks
My suspicion is that birds from the first clutch of the season are bigger than subsequent clutches.
I let my pairs have two clutches a year, most people allow three.

Cheers
Brett

Ah ok. So it means that its only their feathers that are not perfect. But they are fine overall in health terms.
After the break in June/July, the pair started breeding again and had first clutch infertile. Then there were 4 eggs, 2 infertile and 2 fertile. One got dead in shell and the other was tossed out. So i decided to change the male. Now its been almost a month, pair is in making. Fingers crossed.

I somehow still see few needles or new feather appearing signs on one chick's head. Let's see... Maybe i have to wait until next summer

Feeding the extras in small quantities through the moult is good. But feeding them once the parents hatch the 1st chick on is what matters most, because once they get the taste as younguns they will then continue to take the extras as adults and be healthyer for it.
LML

Makes perfect sense. I must offer them early in their life time.

Trouble is again that if parents don't eat soaked seeds then i need to hand feed the chicks

Fahadmajeed wrote: 15 Nov 2018, 22:08 Trouble is again that if parents don't eat soaked seeds then i need to hand feed the chicks

Easier to get a canary for a few weeks as a teacher bird...then remove canary ...gouldians will carry on eating foodstuffs

Then again the demands of hungary chicks will sometime get parents to feed whatever is easiest and fastest to shut the little darlings up.
LML

hmmm i do have red factor canaries too. But in a separate cage. Just because i need to color feed them. And at the same time don't want to feed colored diet to gouldians. But that's a brilliant idea. Canary teacher.

@finchbreeder, fantastic idea, hungary chicks, only available option to feed them should be soaked seed. I will try this.

Don't make soaked seed the only option, just the main and most plentiful option to go with the seed. Don;t want to risk stupid parents letting their young starve. Most will have the brains to feed the quick easy way, but unfortunately, just like with humans some are stupid.
LML