New flight cage for my Gouldians

[skyjump100]

Hi there,
As you may know I'm a newbie when it comes to keeping Gouldians (well, any finches really) so would appreciate any comments you may have, good or bad, on their home. The lighting (full spectrum) is new today so will sort out the cables soon.

Cheers

[DanteD716]

Very nice! My only adjustment would be to move one of the nests, so they have several locations and types to choose from.

[finchandlovebird]

Looks absolutely great (and I am partial to white cages; shows off the birds better I think)

[skyjump100]

Hi Dante,
There are four nest boxes in the cage. There is the two in the middle, one is the basket kind of arrangement which I might take out as they have never gone near it. The other one in the middle is a standard wooden finch box but they have never shown an interest in that one either. One the right hand side attached to the outside of the cage is a plastic box with a large opening in front which one of the pairs sleeps in and then thereis a larger wooden nest box on the left hand side of the cage (attached on the outside) which has a smallish round entrance hole which the male who is desperate to breed keeps investigating (same pair who sleep in the other box). Their antics around the next boxes is quite funny and not exactly as the books say . When they are frightened one pair hides in the sleeping box.

[DanteD716]

I did not notice the.other two! You may want to.move the nest on the sides of the cage infront of perches. I have found they do not like nests facing the front, and if it is in line with a perch, they can look into it easier

[PrettyBird]

Thats a very nice cage. I love the set up.
I too was a beginner with gouldians. I put nests all over the place. The only luck I have now, is with a rectangular shaped parakeet nest on its side (long ways) hooked to the front of the cage the hole is facing the inside of cage. Oon one end is the entrance so they go in sort of an L shape to the nest area.
I find they like it this way as opposed to having the entrance facing us (outward). Maybe thats something you could try too. Most Gouldians like box nests (i find) but if theres nothing else some do choose the wicker or other hooded nests. But others are more difficult, and wont breed unless they have the "right" nest. I also had up to 4 goulds in a cage at one time, and they would either fight over the nests, or not nest at all. It was only when I seperated them into pairs in cages that I got results.

[skyjump100]

Hi Dante,
Yes, your suggestions are great and will defintely do them. I'm going to take out the two in the middle as it will also give them more flight space . I put another perch in front of one of the boxes and immediately the blue boy went in to investigate

Thanks

[skyjump100]

Hi Dee,
Thanks for your input. I have noticed that the blue boy who is keen to breed (despite his wee girl not being interested) is chasing the other male sometimes so perhaps having all four of them in the cage is not a good idea. Believe it or not, but now that I've got the cage set up I'm thinking about swapping it for two stackable flight cages so that I can seperate the pairs. The only thing I'm concerned with is lighting as the lower cage may not get as much lighting as the top one.

[debbie276]

Looks great, best of luck!

[ranchnanny]

Nice flight they should love it. I to like white cages they don't show the poop like the black ones do. My 6ft flight is black and the poop sticks out like sore thumbs....

[skyjump100]

Hi Dee,

Well, I now have a dilemma I think. My blue boy, the one desperate to breed, has been chasing the red head pair around the cage so I have now seperated them and put the red heads into a smaller but adequate cage. I thought this the best thing to do in case anything serious happened.
Immediately after seperation the blue boy went straight into the hoppy dance and showing off but his supposed other half doesnt seem interested.

The problem is that possibly the red head male is upset that he has been split from the blue boys female and she hasn't shut up since the seperation. I never thought they were paired as they always slept with their respective partners. All very confusing!!! Also, I'm not 100% sure which is the male red head anymore as since they started moulting they both are really messy looking and I'm not sure exactly which is which (assuming of course that they were a pair to start with). I guess I'll have to wait until theye have finished moulting and see how they behave after that.

I think that I'm going to have to go with the stackable flight cage option but still worry about the lighting issue. It will be a bit of an experiment to see if lighting does make any difference. Seems wrong that one pair has a massive cage and the other an adequate cage at the moment. Getting tired of buying new cages as none of them seem perfect especially in terms of size or number of doors. So difficult.

[PrettyBird]

Hmm have you thought to maybe swap the mates? Sometimes the mates we have chosen are not the ones that THEY want.
Maybe try switching the females see what happens with them.

As for not knowing which of the RH is male or female, have you heard one of them sing? The female doesnt sing, but makes sort of beep beep sounds.
Are any of the females beaks black?
Do you have pictures of them?
Also if they are moulting, then they probably arent interested in breeding atm. Give them lots of egg food and greens.
The blue male seems to be in breeding condition..but the others arent there yet.

[skyjump100]

Hi Dee,
Today things seem to have settled down so I think I'm going to leave things as they are for now otherwise I'm afraid I'll over-stress the redheads, who haven't finished moulting yet, and end up loosing one or both of them. This evening they seemed very subdued so will keep and eye on them. The advice about food is very much appreciated!!!

The blue pair are very contradictory to all advice ha ha which makes it very difficult for me. The blue boy has been doing the hoppy dance a lot but the female doesn't appear to be interested (doesn't watch him or point tail at him) but when he then goes into the nest box after the hoppy dance she is in like a shot! Bizarre!!

Hey ho, it is all good fun and very interesting. I'm also upping their protein foods so fingers crossed

[skyjump100]

Here's a pic of the red heads . Definitely moulting!! Neither is singing right now so not sure which is which.

[DanteD716]

I am sure the one on the right is the hen. The males are brighter, have a larger blue band around their head and hens get black beaks