FINCHforum

hi there as you know i have gouldians ,
and im going to get a pair of stars and painteds,
im going to put in a pair of society males,
and in a wired cage ill have another pair of society males,
both pairs of societys are aimed for fostering,
question##ill have one pair societys in the aviary, will they make their own nest seeing theres no female.
question#2##will the pair in the cage do the same and will they be fine in the cage inside the aviary. the aviary is 5ft wide,5ft long, and 6ft high,
will this be big enough for all

The caged birds would be better for fostering but you must provide them with a nest box.Males will usually roost in a box at night if provided,give them some dummy eggs to sit just before the Gouldians lay.You can then check their behaviour from day one.If they show no interest in sitting try your other pair.
You don't mention the size of your cage so can't comment further re space available.
Paul.

Paul, I am just curious. Do you ever use fosters?

Many breeders that we know using males only as fosters set them up in a tri (three), and they are in caged environements. You may want to move the true pair to the aviary and the males to a cage adding a third male.

We use only true pairs and do not try top use the pair in the walk-in aviary for fostering. We only use the true pairs that are in 30x18x18 breeding cages for fosters.

Sean

the breeding cage is 14#high,16#wide23#long is that ok,and both pairs of societys were going to be males is that a problem

dfcauley wrote:Paul, I am just curious. Do you ever use fosters?

Most of the guys over here use two males for fostering unless they happen to have a pair sitting eggs in which case their eggs will be discarded and replaced with the Gouldians...
I used to years ago, but gradually eased out unreliable parents, and am pleased that my stud and their youngsters are capable of parent rearing in most cases.

I don't keep bengalese at all now...it isn't because I'm a purist although this can be quite a hot subject over here.I feel if possible the parents should be given a chance to rear their own.There are occasions when I lose eggs or chicks where fosters would have saved them, but this is the way I want to rear Gouldians.
There's no doubt in my mind Gouldians are more reliable in their second and third season,I try not to pair up young birds, and if possible pair a younger male with an older hen.

Since the import ban over here many finches and waxbills are virtually unobtainable (and very expensive)and to boost numbers bengalese are used for this purpose rather than take the risk of losing valuable eggs and chicks.
Unfortunately some breeders use their hens as egg laying machines.Laying over and over as soon as the eggs are removed.I'm not at all happy with this practice as it's not unknown for a single hen to lay 7 or 8 clutches in a season,and like the practices of disreputable puppy farms I find this immoral.
Paul.

firetailone wrote:the breeding cage is 14#high,16#wide23#long is that ok,and both pairs of societys were going to be males is that a problem

Your societies (bengalese) will happily raise youngsters in that size cage provided they have more space to exercise when not raising chicks.
Paul.

thats magic thanks for the info,still will the two males in the avairy rear chicks as well,

Unfortunately some breeders use their hens as egg laying machines.Laying over and over as soon as the eggs are removed.I'm not at all happy with this practice as it's not unknown for a single hen to lay 7 or 8 clutches in a season,and like the practices of disreputable puppy farms I find this immoral.
Paul.[/quote]


Oh my, we always know these things do exist but I hate hearing about it.
It is tooooo sad.

I've heard of that practice of using fosters to enable breeding hens to produce way too many eggs. That is the $ ruling their breeding, not love of finches. It is just like a report on puppy mills that I saw recently--it said most puppy mill owners don't even care anything about the dogs they have, they regard them as livestock, expendable. And the less money they have to spend, the more profit. Deplorable!

Here in the US, some of the more experienced breeders are encouraging fostering the more difficult species, mainly because they expect the ban on exports from some countries to be put back in place, and then we will only have the stock that is in the country now. But, there is no push to produce more babies than is healthy for the birds.

My male/male pair of Societies are wonderful fosters. I like breeding cages for fosters, with nest boxes hung on the outside, because you always have to check on the fosters to make sure they are still caring for their little charges. I picked up a hen that was living in a filthy cage, felt so sorry for her, but she is already laying eggs--you don't have that problem with only males!

All you csn do is give the males a shot at fostering. I do know of one breeder that has a pair of males that will foster. All you can do is try it.

Sean

fairestfinches wrote:All you csn do is give the males a shot at fostering. I do know of one breeder that has a pair of males that will foster. All you can do is try it.

Sean

That's why I say give them some dummy eggs and watch the reaction...even then chicks are another ball game.Fostering with societies is never an exact science ...some will brilliantly ...others not.
As you say all you can do is try it...and if you find a couple that will raise chicks successfully treat 'em like gold dust.
Paul.

As you say all you can do is try it...and if you find a couple that will raise chicks successfully treat 'em like gold dust.
Paul.

You are so right, Paul! My Felix and Oscar are basically the most valuable birds I have right now, because after already raising 1 Owl, 1 BCCB, and 1 Strawberry this season, they are doing a great job so far on the 4 BCCBs and 4 Strawberries.