Pairing off gouldians

[flap]

We have just bought 2 young gouldians that are still colouring up, as mates for our two YH who coloured up a month or so ago. The young ones have just been introduced into the aviary today so they will need to settle in. I am wondering, at what point and how do we try and pair them off together? we were trhinking of having the YH pairs in breeding cabinets, and let the RH pairs do their own thing in the aviary. So do we put them in cabinets to pair off? and induce breeding by diet etc after they are in cabinets, or do we wait to see what they do once the young ones are fully coloured?
Thanks

[dano_68]

Hi Flab,

I follow the true and tested routine that most serious Gouldian breeders adhere to:

January - Austerity Diet

February - start breeding season diet - introduce gradually a lillte at a time

March - Pair up your birds. For best results do not mix head morphs. Introduce nest boxes - you will need to put some grass in the box for them. Use your fist to form a cavity.

April - July - Let the bonking begin! Hopefully they should all be breeding for you. If not, you can try introducing a new cock bird, but watch to make sure there is no fighting.

Ramp up softfood/egg mix/green seeding heads or milk seed when chicks start hatching (usually 16-18 days).

Remove juveniles as soon as they become indepenant.

Gouldians are capable of breeding when they are still in juvenile plumage but it is not recommended.

You should wait until all birds are at least 12 months old.

Hope this helps

Ps. Sorry, I forgot to mention to separate the sexes until March when you pair up your birds

[flap]

Thanks Dano, that is very informative. A few people have made reference to separating the sexes prior to breeding. What is the reason for that?
Cheers,

[Diane]

Absence makes the heart grow fonder

[Buzzard-1]

Absence makes the heart grow fonder

is that absence or abstinence

[E Orix]

Dano
This comment is based on outside aviary breeding not in a birdroom.
I agree with virtually all you say except the dates. If I am correct you come from Queensland and your climate is so much different than the southern states.
Where states have cold winters in my opinion you need to bring your pairing up far earlier as you will lose hens and small clutches of chicks as winter arrives in full.
Here Southern NSW, I pair mine up the 2nd week of January so they are normally finished before winter hits.
I agree this may be early as at times some females are still comming into breeding condition(black beaks)
It can be very frustrating getting a June/July frost and you have to empty several boxes of dead chicks that the female has finished sitting on.
If I could work to your schedule it would be far better as I feed my austerity diet far earlier because of the numbers of other birds that start breeding earlier.
I guess if I gave them a seperate diet plan then the hens would be in condition when I wanted them to be.
Life would be so much better for plants, birds and me if we didn't get those heavy frosts here.

[Jayburd]

no one would complain if you moved to canberra ;)

[Diane]

bluebutterfly213 wrote:Absence makes the heart grow fonder

is that absence or abstinence

Bit of both I reckon Buzz

My boys are singing and dancing to each other as I type, the girls are looking well, not full black beaks but getting there.
Some of the older breeders here put the nests in on Australia day, Im not too sure about that considering the weather we had last year, heatwaves well into February, but then if I leave it too late I hit the bad weather as E Orix said. Might have to checkout a long range weather forecast and work the routine from there.

[dano_68]

Dano
If I am correct you come from Queensland and your climate is so much different than the southern states.
Where states have cold winters in my opinion you need to bring your pairing up far earlier as you will lose hens and small clutches of chicks as winter arrives in full.
Here Southern NSW, I pair mine up the 2nd week of January so they are normally finished before winter hits.

Yes Orix, you are spot on – I forgot not everyone lives in Queensland! Lol.

So sure, if you are in a colder climate then it makes perfect sense to bring it forward.

One thing you may try though. I read an article by Gary McCrae where he made nest boxes with heaters (light globes) underneath. He did this for his Tri Coloured PF but it would work equally well for Gouldians I would think.

Here is the article: http://www.finchsociety.org/cfa/tanimbar/tanimbar.htm

I know Gary comes on this forum from time to time so maybe he could elaborate for us? Wink, wink… ;)

[monotwine]

There is a cage breeder here that breeds his Gouldians with those nest heaters. He lines the sides, I think on three sides only and not the bottoms. Chicks can overheat and "cook" if they cannot get away for the heating pads. His whole set up is quite elaborate and everything is set with thermostats etc.
Personally I would go with trying to modify the breeding time so that they coincide with the best weather. Less hassle and stronger "natural" birds.

Sorry Flab cannot add anything to pairing up etc. I don't breed Gouldians... yet.