Gouldain Hen attacking fledglings

[a_gouldian]

This was strange to see today and don't know if anything should be done about it.

Our first successful mating pair of Gouldians had a clutch of four and the first one fledged about 4 days ago. Today the other three fledged (or perhaps the last two were kicked out by the hen) and there was a new egg in the nest this morning.

I was sitting about 5 feet from the cage and all of a sudden the hen flew out from the nest and went after the male/ fledgling that were sitting on a branch outside the nest. She then went after the latest fledgling and started dragging it by the feathers on it's neck. I tapped on the cage to get her to stop and she did. Shortly after she went back in her nest box and then the male went on the branch near the box and she came out and was "hissing" at him. He flew to the other side of the cage and she went back in to sit on the egg. He came back at looked in the nest box and she didn't come out.

This was so strange because this morning they were acting "lovey dovey" and doing the kissing thing with their beaks many times with the male chasing the female.

Also, for their first clutch the male did most of the egg sitting. This time it looks like the female wants to do the sitting.

Is this behavior normal? Will things calm down or do we need to put in the cage divider and keep the male and fledglings on one side and female/nest box on the other side?

We are very perplexed with this behavior and have never seen any sort of aggression by the hen before today.

Andy

[a_gouldian]

The male flew over to the branch near the box and two fledglings followed him. She flew out of the box in attack mode again. For now, I put in the cage divider until we figure this out.

With the divider in she doesn't go in the nest box now and is just trying to figure out why the divider is up. I wonder if removing the egg would help out? We are more concerned about the well being of the fledglings than we are about having a new clutch.

[a_gouldian]

We had to put the divider in because she was still going after the fledglings when we removed it. We tried removing the egg first but that didn't stop her. The male is still feeding the fledglings so we will leave him with the fledglings until they are weaned and can go into a different cage, which from reading, sounds like about 2 weeks from now. At that time the male will be back with the female in time to help feed the chicks if she has any, and hopefully they will continue on as a mating couple.

[lovezebs]

a_gouldian

Hi Andy,

It sounds like she's getting super protective of her nest and the egg baby.

If it gets out of hand ( attacking the fledglings and her mate), I would keep them seperate. You don't want her injuring the kids. If the male is a good Dad, and feeding the chicks, then he should be able to manage on his own with only four younglings.

If she decides to stop sitting, I would remove egg and nest, and see if everyone will get back to normal untill the chicks are completely weaned and ready to go into a juvenile flight.

At that point you can offer the nest again.

You ask if this is normal behaviour?
Not really, as many Mums will allow the fledges back in the nest, even using them as egg babysitters at times. You will sometimes see weanlings from a first clutch, feeding their sibs from a second or third clutch (which teaches them how to parent later on).

That said, there is always an oddball Mum or Dad, who act differently than the norm.

[a_gouldian]

a_gouldian

Hi Andy,

It sounds like she's getting super protective of her nest and the egg baby.

If it gets out of hand ( attacking the fledglings and her mate), I would keep them seperate. You don't want her injuring the kids. If the male is a good Dad, and feeding the chicks, then he should be able to manage on his own with only four younglings.

If she decides to stop sitting, I would remove egg and nest, and see if everyone will get back to normal untill the chicks are completely weaned and ready to go into a juvenile flight.

At that point you can offer the nest again.

You ask if this is normal behaviour?
Not really, as many Mums will allow the fledges back in the nest, even using them as egg babysitters at times. You will sometimes see weanlings from a first clutch, feeding their sibs from a second or third clutch (which teaches them how to parent later on).

That said, there is always an oddball Mum or Dad, who act differently than the norm.

Thanks for the reply. They are separated now and the father is feeding them. I wish she had waited a week or two before she started laying more eggs. The fledgling that fledged 4 days before the others has started to eat a little today on its own, but still begs as well.

[lovezebs]

a_gouldian

Glad to hear that Dad is taking his duties seriously.

It will take a while, untill these kids are completely weaned.
Easy foods for them to start on, are spray millet, and hard boiled eggs. I have also found, that they like to nibble on greens attached to the flight wall close to the perch which they favour.

Other than eating, they also have to learn to drink on their own, but all in good time.

Has Mummy dearest laid any more eggs?

[a_gouldian]

a_gouldian

Glad to hear that Dad is taking his duties seriously.

It will take a while, untill these kids are completely weaned.
Easy foods for them to start on, are spray millet, and hard boiled eggs. I have also found, that they like to nibble on greens attached to the flight wall close to the perch which they favour.

Other than eating, they also have to learn to drink on their own, but all in good time.

Has Mummy dearest laid any more eggs?

No, she didn't lay another egg this morning. We took the other egg out and gave it to the Societies that are sitting on dummy eggs now. We thought that might help snap her out of her current state of mind.

Are birds able to psychologically control when they lay eggs or is it all biological? I wonder if she doesn't lay any more eggs in the next few days if it would be a good idea to remove the nest box and take out the divider? (and then closely watch her behavior)

[lovezebs]

a_gouldian

Personally, I would give her a break, at least untill the little ones are completely weaned. Then if you want another clutch, go for it.
This way, hopefully both parents will concentrate on raising their kids, rather than freaking out about nest protection and what not.

[a_gouldian]

We are going to keep them separate until the fledglings are weaned and put in a different cage. She has calmed down, he is feeding the fledglings, and everyone seems happy. They did do the beak kissing through the divider for 5-10 secs. this morning.

[lovezebs]

a_gouldian

Keeping fingers crossed for your little family. Hope all goes well.

[a_gouldian]

a_gouldian

Keeping fingers crossed for your little family. Hope all goes well.

Thanks. We are so happy that we finally have Gouldian fledglings. One must be a male because he tried doing the "hoppy dance" for a few secs. on the perch this afternoon. Cute overload

[lovezebs]

a_gouldian

We'd love to see some pictures of the kids.

[a_gouldian]

Unfortunately, it's difficult to take pics of them now because they are in a 37 inch long breeder cage that has the divider in it and when I open the door to change anything in the cage they get all excited and start flying around and three times already one has gotten out of the cage.

I will try to take some pics at some point, but not sure if I will be able to with the divider in place. After they are weaned they will go into a larger cage and I definitely can take pics of them then.

They are doing very well and the father is doing an excellent job feeding them! They are starting to pick on seed by themselves now but not drink water.

We may try to take the divider out in a few days to see if the mother behaves herself, but I am not sure we should do that since everything is going well at the moment.

[lovezebs]

a_gouldian

It sounds like things are going great.
Don't worry about the pictures, lol. What I meant was, post some when you have them.

Enjoy your feathered kids

[a_gouldian]

Here are some quick pics of a few of the fledglings. I should be able to get better pics and maybe a nice group pic when the cage divider is removed.