FINCHforum

1.) Birds R Us Gouldian Pro Australian Grassfinch Seed Austere Diet
2.) Goldenfeast Australian Blend Complete Gourmet Finch & Canary Diet
3.) Morning Bird Breeders Blend
4.) Morning Bird Calcium Plus
5.) Polly's Roll Or Swing x2
6.) Polly's Mini Stand/Rocker with Polly's Pastels Perch (Own one. Love it.)

Thanks for your time and help!

I got a sample of the Goldenfeast Australian blend, and my Goldbreasts really liked it.

But It's pretty expensive for me to order seed shipped to me, so I don't often do it. I have a local bird supply store I get seed from, but I have no idea where they order from. They have most of it in individual packages so you can make your own blend.

If I ever get around to breeding my pair of Gouldians, I may consider ordering this blend though.

franny wrote: If I ever get around to breeding my pair of Gouldians, I may consider ordering this blend though.

Sorry to take this off topic, but how to you prevent a pair from breeding?

Just don't give them a nest, or anything that can be used to make a nest. If that doesn't work, then the only sure thing is to separate them.

sierranomad wrote:

franny wrote: If I ever get around to breeding my pair of Gouldians, I may consider ordering this blend though.

Sorry to take this off topic, but how to you prevent a pair from breeding?

Don't provide a nest. So far my pair have not mated though they court each other constantly with singing and head shaking. That's because Gouldians prefer the privacy of a nest to mate. So no nest means no mating, and so far no egg laying.

This doesn't overly frustrate them? Maybe I'm putting human reaction on birds

sierranomad wrote:This doesn't overly frustrate them? Maybe I'm putting human reaction on birds

Celibacy never hurts anyone.

Seriously - I also don't breed my goldbreast anymore, since she suffers from soft shelled eggs and egg binding (very picky eater - even supplements only helped to a point). So is it better to let her try, and die from egg binding? or better to not let her breed at all... IMO it's better to live!

And no, I don't think they are overly stressed by not being able to breed. I have only one cage with 4 birds, so no room to let them try anyway - and if I put a nest in, it would be taken over by the Society and Goldbreast hens anyway.

franny wrote: And no, I don't think they are overly stressed by not being able to breed.

That's good to know. I think that you would probably be able to tell if they did feel stressed.

I imagine that simply withholding the nest wouldn't work with all birds? In that case maybe just having males or females (as I've seen some others do) would be the way to go.

Thanks for the answer!

sierranomad wrote:

franny wrote: And no, I don't think they are overly stressed by not being able to breed.

That's good to know. I think that you would probably be able to tell if they did feel stressed.

I imagine that simply withholding the nest wouldn't work with all birds? In that case maybe just having males or females (as I've seen some others do) would be the way to go.

Thanks for the answer!

Yes, I've heard that zebra finches in particular have a strong urger to breed. They will use feed cups, and often keep on laying eggs, even without nests. So with some individuals, the only answer is same sex pairs, as it's not healthy for a hen to be continually laying eggs.
Many people keep only males, because they are often more colourful, and they sing!

Thank you