Gouldians - 3 clutches of babies dead in the nest! ??
Posted: 22 May 2010, 20:03
Hi
The last 3 clutches (over 4 months) in my small flock of 8 Gouldians have all died in the nest between about 4 and 12 days of age - every single one. I've been breeding Gouldians for 6 years and have never had even one dead-in-the-nest in all that time, so this is huge. I have no idea what the problem is. Where should I begin to work this out??? What could be going on?
The only change I've made is seed - a brand that the adults seem to like and do well on - 'Healthy Bird' finch mix. It's an outside possibility, but is there any new genetically engineered seed being grown in Australia? I know that there's very worrying data about GM grains causing startlingly high mortality in the offspring of rodents, so that occured to me...but is it even relevant for us in Aus??? What else should I look at? The adults seem to be fine and healthy.
Thanks
The last 3 clutches (over 4 months) in my small flock of 8 Gouldians have all died in the nest between about 4 and 12 days of age - every single one. I've been breeding Gouldians for 6 years and have never had even one dead-in-the-nest in all that time, so this is huge. I have no idea what the problem is. Where should I begin to work this out??? What could be going on?
The only change I've made is seed - a brand that the adults seem to like and do well on - 'Healthy Bird' finch mix. It's an outside possibility, but is there any new genetically engineered seed being grown in Australia? I know that there's very worrying data about GM grains causing startlingly high mortality in the offspring of rodents, so that occured to me...but is it even relevant for us in Aus??? What else should I look at? The adults seem to be fine and healthy.
Thanks