FINCHforum

Hi everyone, I went to my first bird mart today in surch of yellow or blue back Goulds. Very excited as there are only two bird marts a year here in British Columbia. Didn't really know what to expect, how many tables, will there be gouldians? Just in case I got lucky I had a cage all prepared but didn't want to be disappointed. This morning I was there as soon as the doors opened. There was about 30 tables of birds ranging from hyacinth macaws to tiny Gold Brest finches. One vendor had goulds and he had one beautiful orange head white breasted yellow back male. Need I say more? But the day wasn't over talking to another breeder he told me he had a orange headed white breasted yellow back hen. I was invited to see his aviary and he showed me his yellow back goulds...beautiful! The hen I bought was much younger than expected but after seeing the parents and knowing how hard they are to come by here I decided to go a head. They are nervous just arriving so not a great picture but I will post more in the days to come.

I use to have a male Gould just like that. He was my favorite out of all the Gould's I had. Look at my avatar its a pic of him.

Beautiful Kyle!!! Can't wait to see a better pic of the hen, she does look really young...is she still molting, or is it the picture? So happy for you, they are beautiful!!!

kyle
Beautiful birds! Your SF Pastel male is stunning. The other looks way to young to visually sex yet, how do they know it's a hen?

Thanks yes the hen I think is 2 months. Although I'm not certain it is a hen so far no singing. We shall see. It's exciting getting a new mutation as they are hard to come by.

kyle
Love your new beautiful birds! Best of luck!!!

kyle
Hi Kyle are you talking about the Surrey birdmart? I was there too! Wonder if you met Ted - he had Gouldians there. I was selling cutthroats that belong to a friend that went to South Africa. Do you know many of the breeders etc? Also keep an eye open for the Canary show - Vancouver Canary Club - the meet in Coquitlam. They decided that they would allow finches this year...not just canaries.

Derk
Hi Mary, yes I was there! I talked to a breeder (Mark I think) that had the only Gouldians I saw there. It was his yellow back I bought. I passed by your table remarking on the beautiful cut throats but was so focused on the goulds. Lol. I'm just now starting to meet some breeders that are reasonably local. Thanks for the heads up on the canary show, I will have to check that out!

kyle
I think there was a man on the top floor with a couple gouldians (I don't know his name) and then on the lower floor near the exit door there was a man with gouldians, some parrot finches just colouring up, and he had some canaries he was selling for someone else in another cage. The man on the bottom floor was Ted. On a table one or two over from Ted was a man named Mark - he had black-cheeked zebras. You might come across the name PonyTail Joe - he was the man with about three tables of birds behind me. Quite a few people on the forum have bought from him. He has informed me more than once he is moving towards larger birds- parrots. He had a lot fewer finches than normal.

Hi mary, Mark who wrote his name and number down was the guy i got the gould from. I met ponytail Joe although he was so busy at the time. I didn't see any other gouldians but I was only there for about an hour just as they opened. I enjoyed the event though and will probably go to the fall mart.

kyle
Well, Mark was obviously the other guy. Yes, Joe gets really busy. If you want a bird from him, the best thing is so phone him at the number listed on his site. You usually get an answering machine but he generally phones back within 48hrs. He also makes other trips to the lower mainland so you usually don't need to wait until the next birdmart. Do you know Jacob in Langley? He is supposed to have many many gouldians and gives out a lot of advice. Just for Birds in Langley is also a good place to call. Suriwan (like Surrey) keeps a list of available birds on her wall. There are a lot of gouldians around here - see Kijij - but you probably know all that.

Thanks Mary for all the info! You seem to be in the know lol. I'm still looking for a blue back pair so I will check out ponytail joe and in Langley.