Who sits at night?

[matcho]

I just went down to put the shades up because there is a massive thunderstorm coming and noticed all of my gould hens are there, all seated to spend the night outside of nesting boxes. There are no males to be seen. To me this seems quite out of the ordinary. Normally see cock birds during the day in the nest, swapping over during the day with the hens. I just googled about the nesting thingo and it was the hens that brooded overnight. Mine is exactly the opposite. Anybody had similar?

Ken.

[matcho]

Holy sh.t!

Just got a lightning strike that went flash..boom in the space of a second. Lights dimmed and hair on arms stood up because I was outside. Still happening. Bugger all rain but the electric show is a sight to behold. Hope my babies are ok. Listening now the shopping centre and car alarms are all going off. I think the Leichhardt Market Place has been hit

Ken.

[Lachlan1]

That is strange... the closest I have ever come to that was both the male and the hen would sit at night but never male by himself. Who cares as long as it works haha

[werty]

I just went down to put the shades up because there is a massive thunderstorm coming and noticed all of my gould hens are there, all seated to spend the night outside of nesting boxes. There are no males to be seen. To me this seems quite out of the ordinary. Normally see cock birds during the day in the nest, swapping over during the day with the hens. I just googled about the nesting thingo and it was the hens that brooded overnight. Mine is exactly the opposite. Anybody had similar?

Ken.

gouldians are all different

apparently goulds aren't suppose to brood chicks past 10 days

but I have 2 hens that brood chicks all day and all night till babies fledge just like my zebra finches

[Craig52]

That's very true werty regarding the 10/11 day not brooding. That is why you need to have at least 4 plus young in the nest to keep each other warm,and any less depending on how cold it is will succumb to the cold.
If you have a couple of hens that brood all night to fledging,hang on to them and possibly their young. But in saying that are our gouldians so domesticated that they are losing that trait with both cocks and hens and either both brood or one does. Craig

[Tiaris]

Most of mine stop brooding around the 9-10 day stage. I'm a bit concerned as tonight is already shaping up as our coldest this year yet & I have a few clutches just at that stage. The smaller clutches often succumb at this time of year with a cold night due to lack of collective body warmth. Could be our 1st frost for the year in the morning too I reckon - at least it'll sweeten up our mandarins so all is not lost.

[werty]

That's very true werty regarding the 10/11 day not brooding. That is why you need to have at least 4 plus young in the nest to keep each other warm,and any less depending on how cold it is will succumb to the cold.
If you have a couple of hens that brood all night to fledging,hang on to them and possibly their young. But in saying that are our gouldians so domesticated that they are losing that trait with both cocks and hens and either both brood or one does. Craig

My first gouldian hen started brooding all day after her first clutch

Maybe had something to do with all the zebra nests around her

So now one of her daughters is brooding all day

Hopefully in time all my gouldians will brood 24hrs

I think my zebras are great teachers

[arthur]

I've posted before about the '10/10 rule' with regard to BFPF's . .

Young < 10 days . . temp < 10 deg. bring the box inside & replace early am

Gouldians, you would think would be similar and they tolerate interference pretty well . .but perhaps because of habitat difference, Gouldian young may be more tolerant of cold

Best of luck with the frost Tiaris . . BF's left in he aviary at that stage would perish

[Tiaris]

The young Gouldians survived last night ok with a light frost & 3 degrees at 6:30am but tonight may actually be a bit cooler. Strange that my young BFPFs don't perish at all due to cold but my Gouldians do. My BFPFs don't nest in boxes but Gouldians usually do too - maybe that could be significant.

[matcho]

My original post was about brooding on eggs overnight, nothing about chicks. The ten day old thing is common knowledge. All I asked was if some one had seen cocks sitting on eggs overnight as compared to hens which from observations seemed to be the norm.

Ken.