FINCHforum

Someone help me please! I am so upset. This is my second clutch that this has happened to and i don't know what to do. I had one clutch at the end of the season last year of five eggs. One hatched and lived less than 12 hours and two didnt make it out of the egg the other two eggs did nothing. This time they have three eggs and one hatched this morning and had died within about 7 hours. Does anyone have any ides on what can cause this and what i can do to keep it from happening again. They set on the eggs and seem like they will be great parents. I thought about getting some foster parents, but I think the problem is the chicks, not the parents, but i just don't know. Thank you for any help or ideas.

Scoki

Sorry for your loss, but don't feel like it is your fault. LGs can be difficult, and experienced breeders have losses. I'm assuming the pair is not too young, since they tried at the end of last breeding season, but they are probably very inexperienced. LGs often don't seem to know what to do when the babies hatch out. There are some excellent articles on breeding and on eggs at the Finch Information Center, linked at left.

Scoti, how did you know the chick died within 7 hours?
Was it injured by it's parents? Tossed from the nest?
Sorry it happened.

Sorry as well for your loss. Its really hard to lose a chick when you have been waiting for so long. It's really hard to know how each clutch will do - good luck next time.

If they died after 7hrs it's likely due to the parents and they are the cause of the death. The parents are probably very inexperienced as to what to do and with the chicks hatching just gotthem more irritated.
It's a learning curve for them. I have a pair that messed up 4 times before becoming experts at chick raising.

Chris

Thanks for all the info. When i fed them there egg blend yesterday morning they both came out of the nest to eat so i got a peek at the nest and saw one moving around. Last night when i gave them there fresh water for the night they both came out and, which has not happened since they started sitting, and i could see it was not moving anymore. I just left it alone because i was afraid of them not taking care of the rest of the eggs. When i got the pair i was told that they had raised a couple of clutches already, but who knows if that was the truth. We will just keep trying and hopefully they will catch on!
thanks again,
Scoki

With only one chick hatching, it was probably not enough stimulationg for them to feed it, although it couldn't have starved to death because they live off the yolk for a least a day.
Sounds like they didn't keep it warm. Or, maybe it had a health issue and they realized it and abandoned the nest. These birds are smarter than we sometimes give them credit.
I love these birds. If raising Gouldians was that easy, they would be priced as Zebras! I've enjoyed the trials, although it doesn't always have a happy ending.

atarasi wrote:If raising Gouldians was that easy, they would be priced as Zebras! I've enjoyed the trials, although it doesn't always have a happy ending.

You have really nailed it, atarasi! When I go to our local bird mart, the finches for sale in quantity are Gouldians, Zebras, and Societies, so there are lots of people breeding Gouldians in the area, but the price is at least 5 times Zebs and Societies, reflecting the difficulties with Gouldians. Plus the fact that Zebs are colored out in weeks, whereas it takes months for Gouldians.

Sally, only 5 times?!
At the bird mart the other weekend, societies were $5/each, Zebras were $6/each, even the Javas were $5/each....although the Javas were a little ruff. Gouldians were $65 up to $200/each.

The morality rate on juvenilles during their first molt is pretty high as well, so even if you have 4-5 chicks, doesn't mean you'll have 4-5 adults to sell.
A lot of people are breeding mutations which also sways the odds even more.

Breeding Gouldians is definitely an art, on both parts. Patience is definitely a virtue.