Temperature for Gouldians

[thewaxbill]

Hope you all have had a merry Christmas down under and may i wish you all a prosperous and wonderful new year.
Regarding Gouldians what do you all think is the ideal temperature for Gouldians? what temperatures are your birds kept at? More importantly what temperatures do the birds do best at? I do not keep Gouldians now but have kept and bred them over many years, i found that my Gouldians were fine and bred well at temperatures between 22-26 C allthough during the summer it could be often much warmer than this in the birdroom however the higher the temperature the Gouldians seemed to thrive and indeed were more active and birds certainly moulted through quicker.In the U.K it seems many keepers of Gouldians are obsessed in how low a temperature they can keep and breed their Gouldians , the lower the temparature the bigger the bragging rights seems to be the order of the day, and i am not just on about low temperatures through the night but throughout the entire day. I know wild Gouldians experience extreme day time temperatures coupled with cold nights, what night time lows do the Gouldians experience?. I know your experiences and answers could be affected by the area you live in due to the vast size of the country and the different local climates so as many answers as possible would be much apprieciated.
Regards Bob

[garyh]

Wow,what a question,climate variants just in Melboune Victoria can change in a matter of minutes,yesterday it was about 32* and this morning its about 10*,in winter during the day it can drop to about 11* and at night drop past 0,you can wake up in the morning to the most glorious day ,only to have hale storms and howling winds a few hours later,we do quiet often have the four seasons in one day,but it makes breeding gouldians all the more interesting,garyh.

[Diane]

Here in Adelaide South Australia in Winter we can get as low as 1 or 2C overnight with daytime highs of 8 and 9C. On really cold, windy, wet days or any combination of those weather conditions I usually leave the blinds on the aviaries down.

Summer is the extreme in the other direction, later this week we will be getting temps of 41C. Overnight temps can be around 26C when the daytime temps are really high.
My solution for the high temps is cover the roof of the aviary, use the blinds to shade against the sun and install frozen drinking water. I have several 10 litre drink bottles that I freeze and the birds congregate around the cooling breeze from that during the day.

[gouldian 06]

Hope you all have had a merry Christmas down under and may i wish you all a prosperous and wonderful nre year.
Regarding Gouldians what do you all think is the ideal temperature for Gouldians? what temperatures are your birds kept at? More importantly what temperatures do the birds do best at? I do not keep Gouldians now but have kept and bred them over many years, i found that my Gouldians were fine and bred well at temperatures between 22-26 C allthough during the summer it could be often much warmer than this in the birdroom however the higher the temperature the Gouldians seemed to thrive and indeed were more active and birds certainly moulted through quicker.In the U.K it seems many keepers of Gouldians are obsessed in how low a temperature they can keep and breed their Gouldians , the lower the temparature the bigger the bragging rights seems to be the order of the day, and i am not just on about low temperatures through the night but throughout the entire day. I know wild Gouldians experience extreme day time temperatures coupled with cold nights, what night time lows do the Gouldians experience?. I know your experiences and answers could be affected by the area you live in due to the vast size of the country and the different local climates so as many answers as possible would be much apprieciated.
Regards Bob

Hi Bob,I have bred Gouldians for 23 years and I live in the southern subs of Adelaide and temps can vary from as low as 2degrees celsius at night, to any where between 8 and 11degrees celsius some days in winter, to highs of 40 degrees during Summer I would say I have bred around the 700 mark I would think global warming is helping us all even though fluctuations in temps may be problem. I do not use any warming device only have half of front of Aviary closed off and it faces east. Gouldians are native to areas where the day time temp reaches mid thirties during the Wet season and night time temps go as low as mid teens during the Dry season, with humidity in the Wet season very high I think your observation is right they do like it warm but they breed here in our winter and I have know problem only give them a basic seed mix and cuttle fish I hope this can be of some help to you regards Dave

[thewaxbill]

What is the average day and night temperatures for Gouldians breeding in the wild?
Regards Bob

[Finches2011]

Bob,

Across northern Australia Gouldians breed during and just after the wet season - usually January to May. Daily average temperatures for Kununurra in the Kimberley of WA, one of the centres where they occur, range from 35 degrees C during the day to 25 degrees C at night. However extreme temperatures can be much hotter - up to 45degrees during February/March. THis is also a very high humidity time of year.

[desertbirds]

I love this topic with Goulds and temps. I live in Alice Springs and experiecnce temps between -6 deg in winter at night and 45 ish deg for summer days, it can actully b more extreme than that. Having spent a few years fishing in the top end (close to Gouldian habitat) it does get cold overnight there too, temps down to, or just above zero. Some may scoff, but thats what happens in some areas of our "tropic" region in the Northern Territory.
Its not the cold that knocks Gouldians or other sub-tropical species, i believe its generally stress related illnesses. I kept some Gouldians for a few years here and they were from Pt Lincoln in SA ( google it, its cold). Those birds bred in a reasonably open aviary and young fledged with temps around -4 deg . Cold overnight but generally very dry with temps rising an hour after sunrise (almost everyday), and that can also be said of the cold overnight temps in northern Australia.There is also the draft factor and im still not convinced about that but most of the experienced keepers on the forum try to keep birds out of cold drafts.
I like this topic because we had a neighbour that had wild caught Gouldians and i believe he lost many young birds by trying to over protect them.
Good diet, lots of sunshine,minimal stress and they will cope with more than they are given credit for. I did hear that minus 6 is pushing the limit and at minus 8 its a bit of disaster. Cold miserable days of 8-9 degrees with some dizzle thrown in probably kill more Gouldians than a few freezing nights with glorious mid morning sun. Hope its all clear as mud.

[thewaxbill]

Would it be fair to say exposing Gouldians to very low day time temperatures would induuce stress and stress related illness.
Regards Bob
P.S During the winter months what is the average day time temperature in the Northern Territories.

[casehulsebosch]

Hi Bob

The link below will give you an accurate temperature for the Wyndham area, where I have been doing the September count for the last few years.You will see that the night time temperatures are quite warm as well.
I always get peeved when I read on European forums about the low temps they keep their G's at. I always relate the ideal temperature to what they live under in their natural habitat.
Here in NZ I have always had my birdroom at a minimum of 18C. When I still bred G's in Holland in the mid 60's I had it a lot warmer than that at around 25C

cheers, Case.

http://www.weatherzone.com.au/climate/s ... te&lc=1013

[thewaxbill]

Hi Bob

The link below will give you an accurate temperature for the Wyndham area, where I have been doing the September count for the last few years.You will see that the night time temperatures are quite warm as well.
I always get peeved when I read on European forums about the low temps they keep their G's at. I always relate the ideal temperature to what they live under in their natural habitat.
Here in NZ I have always had my birdroom at a minimum of 18C. When I still bred G's in Holland in the mid 60's I had it a lot warmer than that at around 25C

cheers, Case.

http://www.weatherzone.com.au/climate/s ... te&lc=1013

Thanks very much for the link Case, i am pretty much the same in thoughts as you regarding the temperature they are subjected too in Europe/U.K i was beginningto think i was an endangered species with my views though.
Regards Bob