breeding season for gouldian

[werty]

I was speaking to a bloke that breeds his gouldians from November to april

What months do you think its best to breed goulds in?

[Shane Gowland]

Mine have access to nest boxes year-round, but only use them in late February through to late April.

[Craig52]

I was speaking to a bloke that breeds his gouldians from November to april

What months do you think its best to breed goulds in?

I find that a bit hard to believe,most if not all gouldians are moulting out in Oct/Nov and Dec. But in saying that,gouldians are so domesticated now that you could plan their season by stopping them from breeding in April which would give them 6 months to moult where it used to be wired into them that the moult is Oct/Nov no matter what month they were bred.
Normal breeding season is usually from Feb/Mar to Sep/Oct,any breeding after that results in half coloured young. Craig

[werty]

Mine have access to nest boxes year-round, but only use them in late February through to late April.

You're lucky last year my 1 pair tried to breed all year even with the boxes out

I would like to keep boxes in all year ..but no chance they will just keep breeding

[werty]

I was speaking to a bloke that breeds his gouldians from November to april

What months do you think its best to breed goulds in?

I find that a bit hard to believe,most if not all gouldians are moulting out in Oct/Nov and Dec. But in saying that,gouldians are so domesticated now that you could plan their season by stopping them from breeding in April which would give them 6 months to moult where it used to wired into them that the moult is Oct/Nov no matter what month they were bred.
Normal breeding season is usually from Feb/Mar to Sep/Oct,any breeding after that results in half coloured young. Craig

Really?

Last year all my gouldians molted in september

By the time november hit they were done molting and in breeding mode

[Tiaris]

The annual moult usually starts in September and goes until late November. Birds generally don't breed whilst moulting. I allow my Gouldians to breed from February to July/August during which time they usually complete 3 rounds which is enough work for do for a tropical species breeding through our Winter. If allowed to do so, mature birds will nest whenever they are not moulting. As Craig said, most Gouldians bred between September & November may miss the annual moult & remain uncoloured or part-coloured until late the following year. I believe this is a fair indicator that it is not natural for Gouldians to breed then apart from the management difficulties it imposes.

[Reubenvg]

Most mine are still breeding now, have 3 pairs on eggs and 12 young ones just out this week from other nests. Some other pairs are not showing much interest now. For some reason I had two pairs just lay eggs this week and never started sitting (unfortunately they were blues to) had a very poor season out of them so far, maybe a cold snap here in Brissy turned them off, they are first year birds thou.

That said i have some yellows and split blue normal's that started in Feb and have done 3 nests back to back and have no interest in stopping so have to remove boxes for these guys if i can catch them before they start laying again.

I like to give them a break over winter as they tend to lose a lot of young anyway, then I put some boxes back in early spring and let them have one more nest before October / November when they start molting if they have not had a big year, last year was a mix I had some molt early in Sept then others still molting after Christmas! ( i do have birds split over 3 locations which may add to the big range)

[werty]

The annual moult usually starts in September and goes until late November. Birds generally don't breed whilst moulting. I allow my Gouldians to breed from February to July/August during which time they usually complete 3 rounds which is enough work for do for a tropical species breeding through our Winter. If allowed to do so, mature birds will nest whenever they are not moulting. As Craig said, most Gouldians bred between September & November may miss the annual moult & remain uncoloured or part-coloured until late the following year. I believe this is a fair indicator that it is not natural for Gouldians to breed then apart from the management difficulties it imposes.

If my birds all complete their moult before november and add nest boxes in november

Chicks should hatch december, that way they wouldn't miss the moult maybe?

[Tiaris]

If they are breeding as well as you say they are, perhaps they may benefit from a couple of months rest. It is an awfully big stress to push birds to breed continuously & will run them into the ground sooner rather than later.

[werty]

If they are breeding as well as you say they are, perhaps they may benefit from a couple of months rest. It is an awfully big stress to push birds to breed continuously & will run them into the ground sooner rather than later.

They breed 6 months and rest 6 months

So far I've been breeding from jan to june

But I think next season I'll try November to april