juvenile gouldian

dfcauley · Post by **dfcauley** » Sun Apr 20, 2008 6:46 pm

okay I had a big shock this afternoon. I have a male juvenile gouldian. It has not gone through its adult molt yet.
Today I was sitting in the aviary watching it as it sang in its squeaky little voice to a pair of star finches. All of a sudden it began doing the famous gouldian jump up and down. It was perfect!!!
Is this normal? I know it has to be too young to breed. Isn't it?

williep · Post by **williep** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 4:30 am

dfcauley, I don't have that much Gouldian experience but have heard of Gouldian Juveniles reaching sexual maturity before getting their adult colors

mickp · Post by **mickp** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 5:21 am

your spot on willie, juvenile gouldians can bred before geting their adult colors. I have found though that it is best not to let them breed before they are twelve months old. my reason for this is that the younger birds tend to throw chicks out of the nest more often and nothing is more upsetting than finding a dead baby gouldian

L in Ontario · Post by **L in Ontario** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 8:10 am

I have a couple of juvie gouldians that have not coloured up but do indeed do the adult dance already! That's why it's best to separate your juvies into male / female cages as soon as you know which gender they are. Enjoy!

dfcauley · Post by **dfcauley** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 1:49 pm

oh my ...... can't do that. I have them in an open aviary. I am just trying to enjoy then. I tried this weekend to put my owls into a flight cage and put them in a quiet room so they could incubate eggs since they are trying to desperately to do and can't with all the commotion......
Well they were so pitiful and so sad, that after two days I let them out back into the aviary. Who cares about owls babies anyway?

jamezyboo21 · Post by **jamezyboo21** » Fri Jun 06, 2008 11:25 pm

My gouldiand males had look like it was bout finish molting beacuase he was coloring in like one day he would have a grey patch the next day it would have color and the patch would be somewhere else and then color in. my female gouldian had just started molting when i got her because the only color she had was theyellow on her chest and now purplre is slightly visible and her back is almost green. her head is just now showing what i believe to be a orange yello head gouldian. the other day pin feathers started popping up around there heads and wings, does this mean there almost done or there just staring to molt?

Post by **Sally** » Sat Jun 07, 2008 12:47 am

jamezyboo, my juvie Gouldians have molted and molted--I think they are finally getting to the end, and a whole new batch of pin feathers pop out on their heads--arghh!

jamezyboo21 · Post by **jamezyboo21** » Sat Jun 07, 2008 12:54 am

what does that mean when the pinfeathers pop up?

Post by **Sally** » Sat Jun 07, 2008 12:57 am

Pinfeathers are just the shaft of the feather, before the feather itself comes out. They are very noticeable on Gouldians and on nestlings when they go from bare to feathered. Gouldians heads look like a pincushion, wonder if that's where the name pinfeather came from?

jamezyboo21 · Post by **jamezyboo21** » Sat Jun 07, 2008 12:59 am

theres are coming in fast i noticed them 3 days ago and now there faces are covered in them mostly the male