Aussie Finch Forum

I wanted to share something I have seen this morning when I was feeding my birds
in some of my aviarys there are still same mealworms on the floor under the sugar cane
mulch I put on the floor, I see a blue hen go down and pick up the mealworm and down
it went, over the years ive been keeping gouldians i could not get them to eat live food
now i know that same will eat live food. your'e never to old to learn or see somthing new!
cheers flavio

Hi Flav,seen them pick them up and play with them but never really serious,but as you say,were never to old,maybe tino but not us ,catch you soon garyh.

ColouredFeathers wrote:I wanted to share something I have seen this morning when I was feeding my birds
in some of my aviarys there are still same mealworms on the floor under the sugar cane
mulch I put on the floor, I see a blue hen go down and pick up the mealworm and down
it went, over the years ive been keeping gouldians i could not get them to eat live food
now i know that same will eat live food. your'e never to old to learn or see somthing new!
cheers flavio

Flavio G'day, when i first started breeding blue gouldians,i had them in mixed collections and mealworms and maggots were fed in those aviaries.The gouldians ate them both but i put it down to a learning process from the other birds in the aviary.It was around the time when not many could keep young blues alive when bred in aviaries but this wasn't the case for me.I put it down to the extra protein they were receiving from the the live food,just a thought.
Cheers Craig

Well I haven't yet seen mine touch live food but they have been sitting on the dish watching others eat it, may be time before one takes the risk to try. I wouldn't matter if they do or don't but the offer is always there if they do.

Just goes to show that all birds are different and there will always be the exceptions that break the "rules"

It also highlights the advantages to exposing young birds to a variety of foods and housing them with species which eat these foods.

Interesting info ColouredFeathers and Crocnshas.

I have mealworms thru the floors of mine aswell havnt seen the Gouldians eat them but have seen the Zebras eat now and then on them.

My zebs were reluctant to eat mealworms until I hacked them up. Then they couldn't get enough.

MadOzzie.

Thats the mealworms I hacked up not the zebs.

MadOzzie.

Remembered this thread from a little while ago and wanted to throw in my 2 cents worth (which as we all know is now worthless )
I had never ever previously seen any gouldians taking mealworms nor any other form of livefood in my aviaries. Recently, with my purchase of button quails, my daily routine has changed to include throwing a bit of livefood (maggots and mealworms) on the floor for them to discover throughout the day. Every single morning, redbrows, diamonds, jacarinis, painteds and many other species are down on the floor taking some of this livefood as soon as it hits the ground. About a week ago I noticed some gouldians (hen and 2 fledglings, almost weaned) looking on. They have now also taken to joining in the fray when I throw out fresh live food. Every day without fail for this past week. Monkey see, monkey do!

Hello Readers,
Gouldians from South Australia have always been known to be Meal worm eaters, they bit off the Worms head and squeezed out the innards of the poor thing just like one would squeeze a tooth paste tube, they never consumed the Skin,
It is an established fact that Gouldians don t need live food but, if they will take to live Food the better, how many Meal Worms is enough, too many may well over heat the Cock Bird and as a consequence may kick out whatever is in the nest and make the Hen go again,could be a fine balancing act.
It would be interesting to find out what live food is successfully eaten by Gouldians and what kind.
Mine wont even look at live food, they shrivel up their Beaks and fly to the furthest perch, perhaps I will need to introduce a Teacher to show them how it is done,
I feed Protein to my Birds in the form of sterilized Blood and Bone, raw Egg shell from which they lick the egg white,
and Gelantin flakes or crystals which comes from the Knuckle joints from either Pigs or calves. Looking forward to the Bird Sale on Sunday.