Aussie Finch Forum

hi
just a quick question i have a young gouldian around 8 - 9 months old maybe a little older and he didnt complete his moult. his cheast is 80% complete his head looks gray so that didnt even get started. can goulds in this state still breed? he is kept with 3 other young females of the same age but he has different parents totally. im short on cages so i cant house him anywhere yet and i'd rather him not breed although he does sing at the ladys while sometimes bobbing up n down. there are places in the cage he could choose as nesting sites if he was desperate but no nesting boxes are in there. thanks

Yes they can breed at that age, coloured or not from what I have heard. The reason behind not letting them breed before being fully coloured would the the moulting combined with the breeding/raising of chicks would put a strain on a young birds system.

thanks, even though ive only been keeping gouldians for about 18 months now i feel i still know nothing about them. i did read somewhere that breeding them too early can result in their offspring being too small or have other health issues but not sure if this is true since ive never breed them when they are so young. im not sure why it is stuck in the moult as it is how i got him, i dont even know what colour head he has since not one feather has moulted on his face lol

It could just be a case of being hatched out late in the season and he didnt have time to complete the moult. Ive had a bird like that and he stayed that way till the following moult and moulted out to a normal colouring.

ahhh great, he looks like a nice bird and he looks pretty healthy, always singing and flying about so its a good start i might wait til he has moulted through properly before letting him breed so if i have to wait til next year then so be it i can wait there is no rush.
its a real shame they are an endangered species in the wild now, i think more could be done if people made a real effort

HI Meepmeep,

Birds breed as late as October often do not fully color up before the next breeding season...I wouldn't refer to this as stuck in the moult, but just a late breed bird that I would hold back until they are 18 months old. However I don't think it would hurt to be breeding a bird (preferably a Cock bird) at 8 months of age....but not at this time of the year as you will just be repeating the problem with his offspring...This is the reason why I try and stop my pairs from breeding any later than July/Aug so that the birds are 6+ months old at the right time of the year (Summer).

Cheers
Paul

i was told here in the uk its best to breed them later in the year since our climte is different here? what time of year do you think we should be breeding them her in the uk? im kind of lost really. most of my goulds have not long finnished their main moult and have already begun breeding.

Autumn/Winter is when Gouldians are breed mainly down here.

Hi Meepmeep,

Personally I aim to have my birds paired up mid Feb....depending how hot our summer is. They breed until July, go through their moult around Aug/Sept/Oct and are allowed to rest for 2-3 months. Obvously the season is the opposite to your part of the world but the principle is the same. To me (here in Melbourne) the late Autumn/early Winter period is when we have the ideal level of humidity to replicate their natural breeding environment...so this is why they breed best during this period.

The following link may also assist (remembering it is based on Aussie seasons).

http://savethegouldian.org/articles/mik ... ticle.html

Hope this helps...cheers, Paul

Hi MeepMeep,

A great starting point for understanding the gouldian finch is reading "The Gouldian Finch" by Mike Fidler and Stewart Evans.
You should be able to buy it locally in the UK but if not look up www.birdkeeper.com.au/abk-bird-books and you can buy it online.