Aussie Finch Forum

Carrying on with a previous thread headed sick Painted but ended up being about goulds. A week ago I found the gould mum dead in the nest with 6 babies about 2 weeks old. Dad has been doing a fantastic job rearing the babies on his own. Constantly feeding them and crops are always full. He is a superbird!! Yesterday and today a hen has been feeding them too!!!! There was another male entering the nest and staying there for a while but not feeding. In fact he was hissing at the hen when she went near. Put him in a cage yesterday. Despite dad having to be so active - almost frantic - he looks to be in good condition so hopefully he and the hen are an item!!! The nest is full of poop and I'm wondering if it would be ok to take all that old stuff out and put in clean material and put the babies back. Also when should I worm the babies? The other nest in another aviary whose babies are the same age babies have fledged although some were too young to fly but are getting there.

I do not clean any nests, you are far better to leave the nest alone. The cockbird is under enough stress already.
Are you sure the chicks have worms!!!! if you are not sure then leave them well alone until they have been feeding
themselves for quite some time.

Thanks E Orix. I don't think any of my birds have worms just didn't have a clue if babies needed to be treated. I'll leave them to it

The behavior of this Cock Bird is most unusual and totally out of Gouldian Character,as a rule Cock Birds that have lost their breeding partner do not rear their offspring by them selfs unless the brood is at least 3 Weeks old and almost fully feathered, then and only then will a single Cock Bird raise his youngsters to independence, in your case a most unusual happening, perhaps another plus that domestication brought along? Please keep us informed, this Dad is worth his weight in Gold many times over.

Oh thank you Kentucky!!! I think he is really special too!!! He rarely rests. Even when his wife was alive, he was the same. Always eating and flying around and feeding the babies. I thought he might have had a thyroid dysfunction The new hen who has taken to helping him rear the babies is a real gem too. Whilst she is eating cuttlebone he picks the excess off her beak. I do hope she stays with him!!! I am fairly new at this and spend a lot of time sitting outside the aviaries just watching the birds' behaviour which is absolutely fascinating to me. I was sooo happy today to find the 5 fledged babies in the other aviary sitting together on a high perch together as 2 have taken ages to learn to fly. I watched as that mother hovered outside the nest and wouldn't feed those babies to make them come out. They are only half as big as the others!! They are actually being helped along by 2 Manikins who share the aviary as the parents don't seem too keen to feed them very often.

Hello again maureen-g
The advice given to you in an earlier post is very sound, leave them be, they will sort them selfs out, that you keep on watching
is a feather in your cap, they will teach you everything you need to know as long as you keep on observing them.
Having six honey buns in one nest, means that the nest is going to get rather dirty, don t be alarmed about their lack of toilet manners its quiet normal,
having a step mum to give a helping hand so to speak is an added bonus,when feeding youngsters, Gouldians will eat copious amounts of soaked and sprouted seeds, I personally use plain Canary seeds only, others use a mixture of different Seeds, it a matter of preference.
Soaked or sprouted seeds will turn starches into sugar, most beneficial for growing bodies and easily digested, I also feed raw eggshell to all my bird for protein(egg white) the eggshell itself contains calcium, lime, minerals and trace elements, another plus for your six youngsters.
Rinse a whole egg under luke warm water, crack the egg into a glass which you keep for yourself and put the egg shell on the aviary floor,they will lick the egg white from inside the shell and gobble up the egg shell itself quick smart and feed it to their brood, I could go on for a lot longer but this will keep your youngsters in good stead, keep us posted, always like to hear a success story

Thanks again Kentucky! I have been sprouting a good quality finch seed but most of it doesn't actually sprout (or some might sprout earlier than the rest) so I will give the Canary a try. I did the egg thing this morning so will check it out tomorrow to see if they've had a go. Advice is hugely appreciated!!

mine really like silver-beet - especially the juicy stalks.

You can also get some egg and biscuit mix, a little of this mixed with some water will be usually be taken. In these circumstances if you have any hand rearing food at home try a drier mix of this. At least it gives the male a chance to feed high value foods to the young with out exhausting himself.
Any port in a storm!

Thanks wildbill and bluebutterfly! I'll try that too. 2 babies fledged this morning!!! Look so strong and healthy!!! The egg shell was popular!!!