Hello All

31 May 2009, 10:03

Hi, I'm from Sydney....I have only just been keeping gouldians since January, although I have a 8 year old red collar lorri that I raised from three weeks old, is a pet and has an aviary to himself ( he talks his head off and would not be happy to share it with any other bird except a pair of quail).
I started with two pairs of gouldians, and have three babies from one of the pairs which are now three months old. I have bought two more pair from my sons friend who decided to change to conures.
My finch aviary is only small....about 5x4 feet by 6 high.
I love the gouldians, they are such pretty, friendly little birds, but I am worried that as the first pair are nesting again, I am going to run out of room, also there are 14 eggs in the nesting box, and I am sure that another female is sharing the box. This female is one of the original pairs and has nested before in another box, laying 9 eggs, but she didnt sit.
Its going to be a real learning process for me lol.
Cheers, Brenda

31 May 2009, 11:26

hi seadancer welcome to the forum and about the eggs it does sound like that there is another gouldian laying in there. yer you dont want to over stock your avairy because then there could be fighting and you dont want that and also it can be hard to fly around when there are a lot of birds flying in your way. as i say big is better the bigger your avairy the better your birds will be and the healthyer your birds will be.
thanks toddles

31 May 2009, 12:14

Thanks Toddles.......yep, I figured I would need a bigger aviary soon. Could you tell me how long does it take for the babies to colour up enough to see what their colour will be?
Cheers, Brenda

31 May 2009, 13:08

Hi Seadancer and welcome to the forum, I look forward to seeing some pics of your birds. It definately sounds like your going to have to get yourself a larger aviary.
You really cant be sure of the colours of your young gouldians until the 1st moult around october/november. Although the colour of the parents should give you a good indication.

Cheers
Framed.

31 May 2009, 14:20

are it takes a long time for them to colour up i think if i remember right that mine took about 2 months to fully colour but once there chest starts to colour you usually can tell if they are a male or female. i know some one who is that good at telling what sex they are that he just looks at there heads and can tell when they are still uncoloured.
thanks toddles

31 May 2009, 16:39

welcome seadancer ...

31 May 2009, 17:21

Hi and welcome Brenda

Steven · 31 May 2009, 19:35

Hey Brenda, Welcome to AFF

31 May 2009, 20:13

welcome seadancer,As Framed said the time to fully colour up will depend on what time of the year they were born.Full Adult plumage will be at the end of the year.
As far as your housing concernsyou have three choises,build more avairys

sell the young.or dont let them breed

31 May 2009, 20:40

Hi Brenda and welcome to AFF