austerity diet for goudians

[GregH]

If you read Mike's article at <http://savethegouldian.org/articles/mik ... ticle.html> you'll see that birds can have the cycle adjusted to any time of the year by using food as the trigger. The whole point of the Austerilty Period is to knock any fat off the birds to get their fertility up. Mike's kept many parrot finches and this is a major problem for them and Gouldians are no exception.



Reading Mike's cycle Mickp's birds are at least 2 months out of sync with what's happening up north and given the severity of winters down south compared to northern Australia that's a good thing. Getting Gouldians 5-6 month out of sync would ensure that they have fresh green seed available and that more crutially moulting occurrs at the hottest time of the year and not in winter.

[Diane]

Mine are all out of sync with the calendar too. The first babies hatched in February 2009. By August they had 3 clutches per pair.
I have been playing around with the coloured calendar pic for a few months now. I printed it out and cut out the middle bit with the months on so I can spin it around to see what they would/should be doing at each month of the year if their feeding was changed.

Only trouble is with all this information is my birds havnt read Mike Fidlers papers and they are doing just what they want when they want regardless!

[finchbreeder]

Most books refer to breeding season in their natural environment.
So where you are and how they live will make a difference.
The people round here that I have spoken to who have the good fortune to have sufficent hens are still breeding.
And no one here has moulting birds.
Mums and mine are all in fine fettle, just suffering from the old 2 to 1 rule.
Two cocks to every hen between us.
And she has all the hens.
Only difference I ever make to their diet is dictated by what greens and insects I can find when.
LML

[gomer]

Mine are heavy in moult.And starting to take a interest in the boxes.