FINCHforum

Hi everyone,
I have a pair of gouldian, after several failed breeding attempt, I foster 3 gouldian eggs with my zebra finch. Only two hatch but a week apart. I dont know what happen, but i have a zebra and the other is a gouldian. The zebra chick is a week older then the gouldian. This morning, i noticed that the gouldian chick is being fed and doing okay. However, I'm worried and don't know what to expect.

Hi mate,

To be onest even though the age gap between both chicks are a week apart, providing you can definitely see both birds being fed I wouldn't worry to much,

Sometimes the bigger birds in the nest can push the younger smaller chicks to the side so they don't get fed, this would be the only thing you might nee to watch out for

However by the time this might start to happen the zebra chick could soon be then ready to leave the nest leaving the Gouldian in the nest on its own to be fed

The only last resort if the Gouldian does not get fed is to hand rear with the use of a syringe

It is not unusual for fosters to lay eggs of their own, I normally mark eggs that I place under fosters so I can remove any eggs that show up that aren't marked. Keep an eye on these two babies, to make sure that both are fed. Once the Zebra check fledges, the foster parents may not continue to feed the Gouldian, assuming that he/she should be leaving the nest too.