Gouldians getting their colours
Posted: 01 Oct 2019, 09:37
Hi all
I am pretty new to breeding and have a few questions about Gouldians. I have 2 pair of Gouldians in my mixed aviary- 1 pair blackhead normals and 1 pair red heads. In December 2018 to jan 2019 they both produced 2 healthy clutches of 5-6 babies. It is now October 2019 and the babies still don’t have all their colours. In fact, they are a pretty motley looking crew. Although my adult males look amazing, both adult females heads are almost completely bald and a few of the babies have some bald patches too. I have read this could be an iodine deficiency but can’t quite understand why only the females with babies are effected.( I have a single female in the aviary who didn’t breed and she looks great) the babies are showing some signs of colour but it seems to be extremely slow. I feed egg food 3-4 times a week, offer egg shells, shell grit, cuttlebone, charcoal, daily greens and fresh veggies, mealies and seed. I have recently put a vitamin supplement containing iodine in their water and have been mixing “feather fast” with their soft food. I treatfor mites and worms regularly. Am I missing something or do I just need to be patient? I am just concerned I will have an aviary full of birds that haven’t coloured up and when the new lot of babies come this season the aviary will be over crowded.
I am pretty new to breeding and have a few questions about Gouldians. I have 2 pair of Gouldians in my mixed aviary- 1 pair blackhead normals and 1 pair red heads. In December 2018 to jan 2019 they both produced 2 healthy clutches of 5-6 babies. It is now October 2019 and the babies still don’t have all their colours. In fact, they are a pretty motley looking crew. Although my adult males look amazing, both adult females heads are almost completely bald and a few of the babies have some bald patches too. I have read this could be an iodine deficiency but can’t quite understand why only the females with babies are effected.( I have a single female in the aviary who didn’t breed and she looks great) the babies are showing some signs of colour but it seems to be extremely slow. I feed egg food 3-4 times a week, offer egg shells, shell grit, cuttlebone, charcoal, daily greens and fresh veggies, mealies and seed. I have recently put a vitamin supplement containing iodine in their water and have been mixing “feather fast” with their soft food. I treatfor mites and worms regularly. Am I missing something or do I just need to be patient? I am just concerned I will have an aviary full of birds that haven’t coloured up and when the new lot of babies come this season the aviary will be over crowded.