Eggs and Incubation periods

[POLAR GOULDIANS]

I was a bit worried about where to house the fledlings, so i have started construction on this.

[POLAR GOULDIANS]

Yes ! of course i'm joking I am building this for a client at the moment and I would be a lot short of the 70 - 80,000 required. ( by about 79,800 ) Nice to dream though.
I did'nt have near this many boxes last year, they just snuck up on me, so how many young will an unknown, I do have the room to house maybe 200 fledglings.
Usually I try to let all the young get through the moult before selling, but may have to change that.
I have tried all different nest boxes and have not seen one design or colour that guarantees they will be chosen. Like most other people I have more boxes than pairs, and have nest boxes that won't be used by the birds one year and then will be popular the next.
I do like the boxes with the sloping roofs, and also the boxes with the side guards. These seem to stop the other birds peeking into the nests, but they will still try very hard to do it
As to how far apart the boxes are placed. In the last photo of the boxes, 4 of the 5 boxes are in use, yet they have access to other boxes and have chosen not to use them.
As with most people who keep Gouldians it is mostly for the enjoyment of watching them, and the excitement of seeing what different colours etc the young will turn out to be. Even if the Blue ones don't turn up as often as I wish they would.

[monotwine]

Thanks, you set my aviary design up already! Now all I need to do is emigrate and share the space with lots of birds... until I can pay off the airfare.

How we can dream. I would not mind an aviary built like that - Finch Warehouse

You seem to be having great success with your Gouldians.

[POLAR GOULDIANS]

Monique if you look carefully the furtherest bay of the shed will be seperate, so you can have your own space.
I do like the Gouldians, and they are doing well. One thing that having a few more numbers does is that it allows me to be more ruthless, by that i mean that i don't stress if the odd bird dies. Initially i worried about this and if i was doing something wrong, but now i see it as a natural process that is proving itself to progressively make my birds stronger ( survival of the fittest ). It does worry me when people say they never lose a bird, either they are loose with the truth or their birds are kept in overly controlled conditions. Surely even birds get bad livers or hearts ?

[monotwine]

PG - too sweet of you to think of my personal needs. I'll take it and move in - I would say tomorrow - but do prefer that roof over my head.

[Diane]

If you are building that for a client your aviary building skills must be par excellence!
p.s can you stick another closed off section for me in there? *Loading up the car with travel boxes for the trip to Central QLD*