A new male

kiwi & mango · Post by **kiwi & mango** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 1:51 pm

I have a little situation here.....

I brought home our new gould finches about 3 weeks ago. Both about 6 months old I found out later. Within 4 days the male bird died....

and when I spoke to the pet store manager he was on vacation and long story short I am picking up a new male today. Now my situation is this. Will our female who is about 7 months to 9 months old (not hit breeding age yet) except the new male. She and the other male sat and slept side by side and were so good to one another. Will she care a new male is here or happy. She has been singing alot which makes me think she is lonely. I only have one cage so putting them side by side is not an option. Any hlep or suggestions would be nice.

Also the male I am recieving is a little older about a year.... wanted a younger one but since this is all the store could get for me I will have to make do I guess. With him being older make any difference either?

Thank you very much for all the information or help you can give us.

rottielover · Post by **rottielover** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 3:06 pm

At 6 months old some Gouldian's will still be in Juvenile colors and not fully colored out. Where your birds both fully colored out?

Also you said that the hen was singing? Do you mean chirping or actually singing a little song? Only cock (male) Gouldian's actually sing.

When you bring the new bird home you may want to take the "old" bird out and re-arrange the cage (move the perches and dishes etc. around a bit), then put both birds back into the cage at the same time.

Hope that helps, also if you can put a link to a picture of your bird we'll (hopefully) be able to tell you for sure if it's a hen or a cock.

kiwi & mango · Post by **kiwi & mango** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 6:47 pm

I know the bird I have now is a female so there is no mix up there and like I said I only have on cage so seperating them is not an option for us.

I know that the female is about 7 to 9 months old and yes she is full of her color but not as bright as her last male.

thanks for you suggestions

Is there anything else I need to know..... anyone else...

Post by **Sally** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 7:29 pm

If you have just one cage, you don't have a lot of options. I'd do as rottielover suggested, take the original bird out, rearrange the perches, etc., then put them both back in together. Don't be alarmed if they don't become best buddies overnight--Gouldians aren't cuddley anyway--just give them time to settle in and get used to each other. And don't worry about the difference in age. None of us can tell a finch's age once they are in adult color, so we often don't know how old our birds are.

kiwi & mango · Post by **kiwi & mango** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 8:26 pm

I am not the best at catching the birds....

I usually just change the paper on the bottom of the cage through the little shelf that pulls out....

so can I just take a few items out and move a few things around but keep her in the cage or should I really try to get her out? I would just hate to hurt her when trying to do this.

thanks for the help

Post by **Sally** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 12:07 am

You know, I looked again at your first post on this thread, and you have only had her about 3 weeks, so she hasn't really had time to get too territorial about her cage. She is probably still going thru the settling in stage herself, so yes, just leave her in, move a perch or two, and bring on the new boy--they will probably be fine.

kiwi & mango · Post by **kiwi & mango** » Mon Sep 17, 2007 9:14 pm

well the male is doing great.....

the female and he took about a day and a half before they started talking and singing to one another. She would make all sorts of sound but he didn't respond and then all of a sudden we couldn't keep him quite.

The now sleep side by side and you can tell they get on well together.

He is still molting after about 3 weeks so we are hoping that will finish up soon and we will see more of his pretty bright colors.

EmilyHurd · Post by **EmilyHurd** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 1:47 am

Gouldians can sometimes molt forever!! It's great that they are getting along. Normally gouldians don't sleep side by side so that's wonderful!

Good luck!