how should I feed a newly hatched chick?

[Babs _Owner]

gouldian_finch

Im sorry you lost your little guy.

Room temperature is too cold for a newly hatched naked little baby. It needs a brooder with 94-95 degrees. Temperature of formula has to be at least that high when the chick is fed. You need a tiny dropper that allows you to dispense a drop at a time if needed. A newborn would require almost a little less than a drop per feeding. A flathead toothpick can be used, but it takes a while to get a good feeding into the chick.

Your societies may be too young to help you rear those chicks. Not all societies will readily accept chicks that arent theirs or that they didnt hatch. My societies will not raise chicks they havent hatched or birds they believe are not theirs. Some societies will stop raising gouldians shortly after fledge because they take longer to wean than their own species. They can be great fosters or not.

If you unable to properly hand feed and you dont trust your parents, I personnally would cease breeding at this time. Keep the parents healthy and happy until you feel confident enough to handle another emergency.

[lovezebs]

gouldian_finch

Gouldians, make wonderful parents, once they gain some experience.
Some (not all) first time parents just don't know what they're doing, but usually figure it out on the next clutch. Some first time parents act like pro's from the get go and raise their first babies without any problems.

Are your pairs of Gouldians in a community flight, or housed seperately?

Re. the Societies
I would not be in a hurry to take eggs from Gouldian parents and place under Societies (especially young inexperienced Socies).
Societies, need to raise some of their own babies, before they get the experience needed to raise someone elses babies.

Idealy, Gouldians should be raising their own babies, which in turn teaches these babies how to raise their own young in the future.

[gouldian_finch]

My 7 gouldian are kept in a big cages themselves. while the society are kept in another big cage with a canary.

well, more update.

The 2nd pair behave same. If I say the first time I was bit curious, open the nestbox to check the chick once a while. This time I totally ignored them, I have not touch them at all.

However, this morning, I found a dead body of tiny chick on the floor of cage again... And look even worse, as its legs has been chewed off somehow

sigh, I think I will not let them breed any more if going on like this

[gouldian_finch]

Another chick found on the floor, same, both legs has been chewed.

but this one is alive and begging for food. poor little thing, I feed it some formula, and put it beside radiator ...

I know it will not survive, and it got no legs


to be honest, I kept so many animals before, from cats, dogs, rabbits, fish, all kind of birds..... gouldian must be the worst parents I have ever seen.

[gouldian_finch]

I just found 3rd chick, this one not only feet been chewed , its wings been partly chewed off as well.

all this poor babies, I am getting angry now

I put this one with the 2nd one together, with some towels near the radiator

[Babs _Owner]

gouldian_finch

You have 7 gouldians breeding in one cage? Whats your ratio of males and females? 7 is an odd number so someone definitely doesnt have a partner. How many nest boxes? How big is the cage?

I think someone mentioned colony breeding with gouldians does better in a large aviary. Disputes over territory would be common with so many gouldians one "cage". Gouldians may attack other pairs chicks for desired nesting space. There are a lot of things that can go wrong if it is set up that way.

We dont have a lot of info to go on. Ideally each of your breeding pairs should each have their own 30in long x18x18 cage (minimal) for breeding. Privacy for each pair is important for caged gouldians.

[gouldian_finch]

Yes, I used to have 8 birds, 4 female 4 male, but one female died. But some of them are very young, barely molted.


So far only 2 pairs, the rest are not paired up, the cage is very big, designed for parrots... I also have 2 massive nest box.

I do not think it caused by other birds get into the nest box, as I never see other birds get into those nest box, plus, even it may happen, it is too much coincidence all the chicks are died within 1 or 2 days..

[Babs _Owner]

gouldian_finch

In a colony that big, you probably have a gouldian or two that is raiding the nests. It's not sickness, or you wouldn't have babies with ripped off limbs.

ONE breeding pair of gouldians in my house have a cage almost as big as my parrot's cage. Separate your pairs into proper breeding cages and see how it goes.

One breeding gouldian pair in my house has a 30Wide X 18 Deep X 33 tall cage. The minimum is 30in wide X 18 Deep X 18 Tall as I recall.

[karen403]

What kind of greens should we feed them? Is calcium okay to add to the food? I have to refill the food dishes tomorrow and want to know what to give them. I am going to give them some egg yolks to see if they will eat that. Otherwise my zebra finches are on a regular seed and water diet with some millet spray.