FINCHforum

My male gouldian is still in breeding condition, and has been for at least half a year. I put everyone on a modified austerity diet (normal austerity diet plus greens) after the society finches finished breeding. The male gouldian stopped singing as much, but resumed breeding behavior when he started to moult. These last few weeks he has been courting and mating with the female, and it doesn't look like he's going to stop any time soon.

The light is on a timer for around ten hours a day; I change the photoperiod every few months. There are no nests or nesting material. The society finches and gouldians are in the same flight cage, and I don't have room to separate birds.

Is this a problem? The male gouldian is in good condition and the female isn't laying eggs.

On a semi-related note, the female gouldian hasn't moulted anything but her primaries for the year I've had her. She doesn't have the best head feathering and looks a bit dull now. Is there anything I could do with the diet or photoperiod to get her to moult?

Icearstorm
Not sure about the other problems but when a male bird gets the earge he's gonna answer that earge with his girl. Not much you can do to stop him.

Temperature plays an important role in telling the birds what time of year it is. This is often overlooked.

I would try dropping the temperature of the room by a few degrees and see if it makes a difference.

Rob

I'm not sure how I would do that now without running the AC nonstop. It's a few degrees cooler in the house in winter, but they are still in breeding mode (though not as much as a couple months ago); maybe their seasons are a couple months off?

Icearstorm

How long have you had them? Is this your first year with them?

I got a few canaries from various people in the winter, who weren't kept on a proper seasonal schedule (light and austerity diet) and when put in my bird room, with shorter days they immediately went into molt and became weak because of the molt and they were used to an elaborate diet (I know for next year, to assume this and adjust them more slowly). Other females I got a couple of months ago, again I have no idea what environment they came from, and they're not breeding at all for me.

So perhaps they're just on a different schedule, and need to adjust, which is what you're trying to do.

Rob

I've had them almost 15 months. The female has gone in and out of breeding mode a couple of times, and it looks like the male is starting to calm down; his beak is still red, but he isn't displaying as much anymore.

Sounds like he's just late coming out of season then. I'm out of tips/suggestions ha.

My canary is still in breeding condition! It’s nearly winter and now he’s decided to sing again