FINCHforum

I bought a pair of normals at a pet store and they immediately started breeding and it was wonderful to watch the process so I got hooked. In less than a year they've produced a dozen off spring with no hitches.

I have another new mated pair of white breasted Gouldians who went through the beautiful courting/mating process. The male just kept building and building their nest to where they're hidden behind the nesting material. The lady laid 6 eggs and roosted for about a day after the last egg was laid. Now the mail keeps begging for more nesting material and keeps building and building the nest higher and higher. He won't let the female in. He's been doing this for 4 days. He's not roosting, just building frantically. I tried pulling out some material and he quickly put it all back and is scrounging around for more. Is this normal behavior? Will the eggs still hatch buried under all this nesting material?

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.

Doris

Remove the male,and expose the eggs.The hen must brood the eggs now as quickly as possible...let the hen sit the eggs on her own.Seems a shame I know but that's breeding Gouldians.Some cock birds have this nest building mania...but it's mostly found in Zebra finches.
The hen should be able to raise a family on her own,unlike in the wild she will have all her food supplied.
Think yourself lucky that your birds are successfully parent rearing, many on here will be very jealous. If you use this cock bird in the future for breeding keep his available nesting material to a minimum.This behaviour is unusual in Gouldians many cock birds hardly build a nest at all.
Paul.

yes you are right, you can either remove the male (or try to remove some nesting material out of the nest and out of the cage so the male has no more material to build the nest).

next time, make sure once they start laying eggs, remove any nesting material or the male might be encouraged to build the nest some more.

Female should be fine and most probably take care of the eggs. But i hope you have some soceities just in case the hen abandons the nest.

I would probably leave the male with her but just not add any more nesting material that should slow him down in the nest building.

I have a similar male that loves to build nests he even streads the paper at the bottom of the cage if allowed to for nesting material so now I just place some in the nest and some in the cage and when he's finished with all the nesting material I don't give any more. He seems to settle down once the hen starts to sit tight.

Chris

Thanks for all your suggestions. I've pulled the excess nesting material out and exposed the eggs. The female pops into the nest but will not roost. I am wondering if the eggs are not fertilized. How can I tell that?

Doris

Thanks for all your suggestions. I've pulled the excess nesting material out and exposed the eggs. The female pops into the nest but will not roost. I am wondering if the eggs are not fertilized. How can I tell that?

Doris

If hen is incubating eggs for a week you'll be able to check if they are fertile.Infertile eggs are clear and easy to detect...I would like also to suggest "not" to breed white breast to white breast because they are mutation and you might have weak offspring

Elvira:

Thanks for the help. I do see some clear eggs. Liquid looks clear and moves freely in the egg. However, after removing the excess nesting material and any source for the male to continue to build, as had been suggested, the female seems to be nesting again.

The female is so flighty about nesting I hesitate to disturb the nest to remove these clear eggs.

I did not know breeding white breast to white breast may result in weak offspring. How does one get white breasts consistently?

Doris