FINCHforum

I caught up with a fellow fincho I had not seen for three years yesterday.He was in town and wanted a aviary visit but could not remember my surname.By chance ran into him down street.He told me he had just attended a Mike Fidler Gouldian workshop.Here are some of the interesting things I was told.(All his say)Mike breed six thousand gouldians last season.All birds have a electronic leg ring attached recording all movements in a aviary.Redheads are the dominate bird selecting the better perches followed by blacks then yellows.All nest boxes should be at different heights, as this puts them on the same level causing problems in the pecking order.As they will fight more accross but least up and down.If you have them in a colony one cock will father all offspring leaving the other cocks to raise and pair with other hens.While the dominant one will care only for the young he has paired with.Apparently this has been proven with dna on all occasions.luckily mine are one pair per aviary,So they are unrelated.

As said this is his say,but I have no reason not to believe.
Have you guys heard this aswell?

Yes, I just read most of that about red heads being domanant over black heads over yellow/orange. Also about the nests being at different levels. I found it very interesting as well. It was an article posted in the NFSS newsletter (I posted the link in another thread on here earlier in November).

gomer wrote:If you have them in a colony one cock will father all offspring leaving the other cocks to raise and pair with other hens.

Although I don't raise 6000 young birds a year I raise quite a few and all in colonies. I can tell by the color outcomes that this is untrue.

I agree with the nest box info though. I always keep my nest boxes at different levels. I also make sure that no bird can sit in his nest and see other birds in the flight. If they can see other birds they spend too much time chasing other birds away.

Liz, could you please post,or tell me were that link is please, as i would be interested in reading it.And seeing if there is any info to back this.As i said before it was my fellow breeders,"his say"
Thanks Chris for your input.As I would like to know what info is out there.To either back this theory or discount it?

Iv been told Mike managed to breed around 3700 juveniles one year in England!!!

thats his record. i was told this by a reliable source.

Anything over 100 just blows me away let alone 6000 lol. Crazy stuff.

gomer wrote:Liz, could you please post,or tell me were that link is please, as i would be interested in reading it.And seeing if there is any info to back this.As i said before it was my fellow breeders,"his say"
Thanks Chris for your input.As I would like to know what info is out there.To either back this theory or discount it?

Gomer - check out the Resources forum that's where you'll find my thread: "NFSS Newsletter Article - Gouldian Behaviour Article" which I found very interesting.

Good read Liz,Backs up most of what I was told except,The bit about fathering offspring.