Gouldian egg sitting behaviour?
Posted: 13 Feb 2011, 15:24
While all 3 cockbirds and 2 of the hens have shown great excitement since the nest boxes went in on Australia Day the weather here has been pretty mild since then and it appeared no one had "gone down". The unpaired cock has shown significant interest in the remaining hen but in mid-Jan she lost the cock she had bonded with and she has shown little interest so far in his replacement.
Checked the aviary today for the first time in a week and lo and behold 1 egg! However while the pair using that nest are in and of the nest all the time there is no evidence they are actually sitting on the egg, with both birds out of the nest most of the time.
I've often had parrots that will lay most / all of the clutch before sitting tight (and as a consequence all the young hatch within a day or so of each other). The painteds are the only finches I've had successfully raise young in recent years and they sat tight from day 1. Years ago we bred lots of zebbies (don't we all
) but there were many pairs in a large planted aviary so I never really got to know who bred whom and how well they sat.
Should I be worried about the Gouldians or is it normal for them to lay then sit?
Checked the aviary today for the first time in a week and lo and behold 1 egg! However while the pair using that nest are in and of the nest all the time there is no evidence they are actually sitting on the egg, with both birds out of the nest most of the time.
I've often had parrots that will lay most / all of the clutch before sitting tight (and as a consequence all the young hatch within a day or so of each other). The painteds are the only finches I've had successfully raise young in recent years and they sat tight from day 1. Years ago we bred lots of zebbies (don't we all

Should I be worried about the Gouldians or is it normal for them to lay then sit?