Gouldian parents fighting

[ac12]

They were fighting before, they could still be fighting when you are not watching. Given what you said, and the video remove the male NOW, or she may kill him.

I doubt you will see signs of fighting in the cage until you see blood.

[Babs _Owner]

Caprice Acres

I watched the video and I will chime in with the rest of the group. That is absolutely KILL behavior.

This is not a compatible pair for future breeding, and they will teach this to their offsping (if both even survive).

Just because they mated and have babies, does NOT make them compatible. That resembled a rooster fight in ferocity.

I'm alarmed they are both still caged together 5 days after the video. What happens when the babies are larger, more demanding......when they fledge and need weaning?? That rage can be turned on the kids as well.

Our gouldian expert Debbie needs to see this. debbie276

[debbie276]

I have to agree with the others, this is not a compatible pair.

When they have no options gouldians will breed with what is available. Most times the chick's suffer but this seems to have affected the parents more. Fighting like this never has a good outcome.

I would definitely separate this pair and no longer breed them together.

The hen should have no problem taking care of any chick's by herself. Stress is a major killer of gouldians over time and this is absolutely a stressful situation for all, adults and chicks.

Best of luck, please keep us posted how the chick's are doing.

[Caprice Acres]

You're right, they could be fighting when I'm not around. What I can say, for the many hours I have been home since the fights occurred, there hasn't been any. They're still eating, drinking, and both visiting the nest. The hen even spends time outside of the nest with him at this point, ample opportunity for attack - but doesn't.

I'll be bringing a chintzy cage back to the apartment so I can isolate the male. I thought I had one at the apartment, but must have brought it back to the family farm to store on one of my many attempts to declutter my apartment. Did I say it's a tiny apartment? LOL. We'll see if it actually makes them less stressed. The only place I can put a cage is essentially in the same room.

Now I'm going to have to figure out what to do with these birds. I had enough trouble finding these birds from a breeder. Waited YEARS to get my first pair, and spoil them - and now they're this finicky. Beginners luck I suppose. How completely frustrating and disappointing.

[Babs _Owner]

Caprice Acres

I know this is a bit of a disappointment. My first year breeding gouldians was filled with HOURS of handfeeding kids and abandoned eggs.

I currently have a new incompatible pair myself. A dedicated male and a female that quite frankly just gives up on her eggs. She has done this with two males for two seasons.

I also have a rather testy female that randomly tosses kids and raises others. "Brat" as she is known may no longer be in my breeding program next year. And I will tell you, I will CRY as I am attached to that gal. But that is sometimes the choices we have to make to find better mates, stronger mated bonds..........and healthier-happier parent raised babies.

[ac12]

Don't feel bad.

My first gouldian pair the hen was almost as bad. At least when the male was clinging to the side of the cage, the hen did not go up and attack him.

So I had to remove the male from the cage.

But the hen never did sit to completion and hatch the eggs. She normally abandoned the nest at some point. Then I had to do a quick shift of the eggs to the societies, to finish hatching then raising the chicks.

When she did not abandon the nest, the eggs were duds

I tried to mate them several times with the same behavior from the hen. So after the first season, that was it for that pair.
The male went on to father several clutches with other hens
The female died soon after

[lovezebs]

Caprice Acres

Hi Dona,

You mentioned that you got this pair from a breeder.
Could you possibly trade in your female for another female, explaining to the breeder that these two simply cannot get along???

[Caprice Acres]

If I was a breeder I'm not sure I'd let birds return for fear of disease. Not that I think mine are sick, but I do have another bird (parakeet) in my apartment. Overall does not seem like a good policy to have. Maybe that's my Vet Med brain speaking though.

I can see if he has anything else available. IIRC, most of what he had left were either potential siblings to mine or were yellow backs - and I really, really don't want to raise yellow backs. I've never been keen on them. I know a lot of people like them, but I much prefer greens and blue backs. My current pair are green with potential split to blue.

This wouldn't be nearly so annoying if I had other options and space for more cages than I originally planned on.

So what is my best plan of action moving forward? Purchase another pair and just try a different male with the female, and a different female with the male? Sell the female? Sell the male?

[Babs _Owner]

Caprice Acres

I would first buy another flight cage and get another male and female to switch them with (make sure they can't see the other while in their cages).

If the fighting continues even when paired with another mate/ gender, then you would have to sell them both to people willing to buy them separately and house them with another species (like societies).....warn them not to breed either of them.

Don't give up on the first hurdle if you really want to breed.

It's a difficult call all around. But it's wise to be honest with the buyers than these two birds are aggressive while in breeding mode and should not be bred or housed with other gouldians, if it gets to that point.