FINCHforum

So I know fostering in general is often debated on this site, and let me start by saying I do allow my gouldians raise their own young whenever possible. I normally leave a single fertile egg with the parents their first clutch just to see if they will care for it. I have found results the first clutch or two are often tossing; or not feeding the young. I can't stand to let whole clutches perish when that happens. I know there are "die hards" on the forum who refuse to foster, but that's just not an option for me. That being said, I have 8 new pairs of gouldians starting this breeding season, several of which have already begun laying.

Here is my dilemma. I only have 2 trios of society finches I have used in the past and I know those are free of the protozoa that cause issues for gouldians (the breeder I got those from is no longer breeding). They are both already on clutches of eggs. So I set off to the show in Orlando today to get several new sets of fosters because I will likely need them in the coming weeks. In talking to all the vendors that had gouldians and societies all of them told me they treated with Ronex to avoid issues with fostering. I do have some Ronex on hand but have no experience on how often to treat while the societies are fostering. My plan is to use the Ronex for whatever chicks I need to this season and then breed "clean" societies using the Ronex for next season. Unless Cochlosoma is something that can be "cured" somehow, but from what I'm reading online that doesn't seem possible. I can't seem to find a treatment schedule anywhere for fostering though. Could someone help me with this?

First I'd like to say that leaving only one egg may not be the best because most times the pair will decide that a single chick just is not worth all the effort of feeding. They do better with 2 or more, personally I feel 3 is a good number.
I would not treat for any disease till you were sure that they are infected. That being said here is a very good article about the problems and treatment fostering with society's.
https://ladygouldian.com/Fostering-with-Society-Finches

Note these diseases can not be cured and constantly treating with meds is not good for the chicks you are trying to raise.

good luck

Running rondiazole (ronex/ronivet) while parents are feeding and raising young is perfectly safe to do, it is often done to weaning. Generally it is done when one or both parents have an illness and has passed it to the young.

Societies can carry all kinds of nasty diseases that do not effect them but can possibly be fatal to gouldians and other species.

Some of the breeders I know use clean zebras to incubate and raise societies eggs/chicks. I have several pairs of fosters raised this way and let those societies also raise their own young to create more fosters. I keep these pairs separate from societies I am unsure of. There is risk in purchasing random societies to foster with. some breeders do use societies they are unsure of and use ronex or ronivet from the time the babies hatch until the time the youngster is removed from the fosters' cage.

Also consider this the mother can pass certain diseases, bacteria to the chicks and you will get DIS, young that die early or young that start off strong but the begging becomes less and less or none and they pass. Parent birds will not take the time and effort to feed ill or weak young. They will remove those young from the nest....taking sick young and giving them to societies can also pass illness to your societies.

I understand the situation isn't ideal. But if/when I do decide to treat do I need to do so constantly? Or every other week? How long is the medication effective?

are you referring to using societies you are unaware of the background to raise gouldians young... as mentioned above it is done from right before the babies are hatched to the time you remove them from the cage... you are not curing the societies but using ronex as a preventative for the gouldians.

Personally I would try to do as Debbie suggested, let the parent raise 2 or 3 eggs...you keep taking eggs from them they will never learn to parent....again also consider your parents may be passing something to the chicks making them ill or weak and the parents toss.

Have or do you do preventatives?

Can adult Gouldians pick up Campylobacter and Cochlosoma from Societies, or is it just the chicks?

yes they can, it is best not to house your societies with your gouldians

cindy wrote: are you referring to using societies you are unaware of the background to raise gouldians young... as mentioned above it is done from right before the babies are hatched to the time you remove them from the cage... you are not curing the societies but using ronex as a preventative for the gouldians.

That's what I was looking for. So I would need to treat on a constant basis from right before hatching to weaning? Like 7 days a week for the entire time? Yes it is inevitable I am going to have to use some of the societies to foster some of the goulds. I may try leaving 2 instead of one with the parents though.

not to weaning to the entire time the gouldians are with the fosters.