Is every one else's gouldians breeding badly

[jusdeb]

Is the infertile bird an old bird ?

[finchbreeder]

Think the lack of rain on this side of the country has led to the late or non existant start to breeding. RH fledged 1 nest not showing much interest in going back. Her not him but she is elderly. OH fledged 1 nest and just hatched a 2nd. OH YB x OH GB have 1st round in the nest. Javas in the nest. Bengos laying eggs and not hatching. But think thats partly my fault. I am now being very controlling with breeding these guys due to don't want too many and trying to colour select. Definate cock don't know how old he is, will let them try again cause she is last years chick. 2nd pair Think I got that wrong in my enthusiasm for the colour. Definate hen with youun. Tooooo many eggs, no singing. Oh well. Back to the drawing board. Now it is raining I hope everyone else gets inspired to nest.
LML

[flap]

We must have beginner's luck then!!! We have 3 pairs of RH, fledged 10 birds between them first round. Now 14 more have fledged. The YH on the other hand not doing so well but have been in breeding cages and affected by mice. One now has two chicks, the other not sure... With the other finches on the other hand, not much luck overall...

[TheFinchMan101]

It's really odd though because my zebras are still breeding like crazy, I plan on selling some tomorrow because my cage is getting really overcrowded, also on top of that I had a dead baby on the floor today

[matcho]

Breeding cages might have a different outcome from free breeding aviaries. I would suspect that they are much more controllable. It would appear that breeding season 2011 hasn't been one of the better ones for those with open aviaries due to the weather that has impacted all parts of good old Oz this year. The west has experienced some horrendous high temps with no rain while we here in the east have experienced extreme heat and then extreme moisture . Birds are barometres of the enviroment as far as I am concerned. If they dont want to breed it is because they KNOW it just aint right. We can give them all the food we like but the weather is the major factor. Even though most of our birds are now many generations from the wild form we still can't get way from the fact they were once wild and still carry the instict for breeding/display etc and weather is the major factor. Did our birds ancestors breed in droughts like we have had for the past ten years or so? I don't thinks so. That is why, even now, that there are major fluctuations in bird and animl numbers due to weather conditions. They adapt. I think that because many of u are trying to get our aviaries as natural as possible we are having to deal with the natural consequences. Inside that little enclave it is all nice and rosy but outside the real world exists. I think they have a 6th sense about what the real position is. Just my thoughts.

Matcho.

[spoton]

Tend to agree with the post above about beginners luck -

Only have 2 pairs of Gouldians at present - well make that 1.5 pairs now I should say. RH's raised 5 babies in only nest from that pair, 4 are now flying happily with their surviving parent, BH's are now raising 3 babies (2 weeks old),

My white zebs, well they have now raised 10 healthy babies (4, 3, 3) this year.

My silver king quail raised 11 babies in one nest and of that 10 survived and are thriving.

Darryl

[TheFinchMan101]

This must be just one of those rollercoaster seasons, you don't know what's going to happen next. Well in my case that's happening with me.
Other than that I'm so excited to finally sell some zebras today I've got about 50 and and I want to sell at least 20 if i can.

[Misso]

HI MIsso..I got back into Gouldians this season...so I got all my birds by late December...all birds were in breeding condition by early March, but those who haven't produced any young have just been laying eggs...cocks displaying, but I have not seen any of these cock birds inside the nests...I agree that Melbourne's winter is not a great time for gouldians to breed....I will also pull the boxes on those who haven't started breeding...what time will you pull your boxes out?...cheers, Paul

Hi Paul, it does depend every yr, but whist i have young in the nest il keep all the boxes in there, i feel if i was to pull all the other boxes besides the ones with nestlings in them, it could spell trouble for the babies, because the non breeding birds may decide to go to nest and they will throw the chicks out of the nest being the only nest sites available.

one thing i noticed this yr which iv never really noticed in previous years was some of my hens were staying in the nest longer then the usual 10 days after babies hatch, and those hens seemed to be ones witch small clutches say 2-3 birds, maybe the hens new it was cold and would hang in there a bit longer plus there was room in the nest box still to accommodate her. i know breeders that leave nest boxes in all yr around for the purpose of allowing the gouldians to sleep in the nest boxes to stay warmer. but iv never tried it.

just had some newly hatched gouldians so fingers crossed they survive.

i have bred with a lot of first yr birds this yr after selling off a few of my mature pairs last yr, im happy with how they have gone and eagerly looking forward to next breeding season.

[Diane]

Not doing as well this time round. Like Misso I have noticed clutch sizes are different. The young I do have are still returning to the nest box each night, first time Ive had gouldians do that.
I agree with matcho, must be the way the weather is as Ive changed nothing in the way they are fed or wormed etc.

[Tintola]

What a complex little species they are! Cutting a very long story short, my gouldians (eleven pairs in segregated,head colour aviaries) have only produced, on the perch, about 20 young out of possible 50 hatchlings. They are notorious for ceasing to feed the young a few days before fledging and they starve to death. Does anyone else have this problem and why do they do it? All other species do as they should.