FINCHforum

I have a pair of gouldians that I am trying to mate.

They both go into the nest
And last night I found the hen missing from the perch. She must have been in the nest.
But normally, the hen isn't in the nest at night except after laying about 5 eggs.
And during the day either the hen or the male is sitting in the nest.

. . . but there are no eggs...yet

I don't know the age of the hen.

I'm confused where they are in the mating process.

ac12

She's not by any chance egg bound, is she?

I hope not.
She looked normal when she was outside the nest today.

She has a 1/2 dose of liquid calcium in the water + egg shells with the egg food.

ac12

Well, maybe she will lay an egg overnight then .

ac12

Hey Gary,
Anything new in the nest?

Could not see much. The M and F are both in the nest and blocking the camera's view of the bottom of the nest. But from the few glances that I got, no eggs

I physically checked the nest, cuz I could see the bottom of the nest with the gouldians constantly in the nest. So I wasn't sure if maybe there was 1 or 2 eggs, or if they had buried the eggs under the nesting material, as the other male had done.

But . . . no eggs

ac12

Is it possible that one or both of your pair are infertile?

lovezebs

Possible, but I really hope not.
I've not seen the hen lay ANY egg since I've had her, so my gut feeling is that it "might" be the hen.

ac12

Is it possible to introduce other birds into the flight, to see who will pair with whom?

lovezebs wrote: ac12

Is it possible to introduce other birds into the flight, to see who will pair with whom?

Nope.
I need to control which birds breed together, so I have control over the color of the chicks. So the birds have no choice in the matter, they get who they get paired up with.

I may have to rest them till next season.

well they actually do have a choice and I have seen it happen with diamond sparrows....they don't breed! but there is always the chance both birds are not in full sync

ac12

I always watch to see which pairs come together naturally, and once I have a bonded pair, I've never had problems with them not breeding.....

Well, good luck.