FINCHforum

I have my first 2 gould chicks in the nest, hatched around 4/21. Parents were taking turns with the chicks, and the crops on the chicks always well stuffed with seed. I've had a few other posts about them.

All was well until today I noticed that the parents are fighting. It's not just mild, they're chasing each other around, pinning each other and pulling feathers. It's quite a ruckus. They never do it when I'm super close and I can't tell if one is instigating or being the bully yet.

This seems abnormal, but this is my first clutch. I'm trying to upload a video to photobucket so hopefully I can get that up soon. Any advice/help appreciated!

Caprice Acres

Oh dear, that is definitely not good (and not typical for Gouldians).

My guess would be, that one of the parents is trying to harm the chicks and the other is fighting beak and claw to protect them.

Keep an eye for tossed chicks.

I would really watch very carefully to see who is trying to keep who out of the nest, and listen to who goes in and who is feeding the chicks.

If one of them goes in and you hear the chicks screaming instead of begging, grab that one immediately and move into a different cage.

The remaining parent, should be able to manage 2 chicks without so much as breaking into a sweat.

There are times, when the male wants to mate again, and he tries to get rid of the chicks by killing or tossing them. That said, there are also some psycho mums out there, which is why I said watch BOTH of them with an eagle eye.

If you still can't figure out who is who, or what's going on, I would pull dad and see how it goes. If mum goes back to feeding the chicks and things go back to normal, then all is well. If you find tossed chicks or if mum is trying to hurt them or not feeding, then bring dad back and pull mum out.

Hopefully things will settle down.

Good luck.

My gut feel would be to remove the male, NOW.

And take him OUT of the room so they cannot call to each other.
If they can call to each other, the hen may be distracted and not care for the chicks.

I saw this when I had to separate an aggressive pair of gouldians. Although in my case it was the hen ATTACKING the male. When I removed the male, the hen was constantly at the side of the cage calling for her mate, ignoring the eggs in the nest. One theory in my case, is that the male was not taking turns SITTING on the eggs, and the hen was MAD at him for leaving her with all the work of incubation. But who really knows

Caprice Acres

Get yourself a comfy chair and sit about 10 feet from the cage for good while, until you can figure out who is attacking and why.

When you observe from a distance, they go back to their naughty behavior. Like you said, they wont act ornery when you approach the cage.

So far, there was only 2 events of the fighting I witnessed and hasn't happened again. That being said, currently there is only ever one parent in the cage, the other is always with the chicks.

The chicks are fine, and the male is currently on the nest. I really don't think he's trying to shove chicks out. Nor do I think he's trying to breed at this point, as they're still sharing the nest time pretty much equally and he's not trying to hop in there and harass her while she's with the chicks.

While I have another cage, I live in a small apartment so there is nowhere I can put him that they wouldn't be able to hear each other.

The only little funny 'spat' before this was the male peeking in the nest and yelling at the hen. He desperately wanted his baby time and just screamed at her until she finally came out, and he hopped in to take over. Seems she was being a bit of a clingy mom. Seemed a bit overbearing to me, but what do I know. ;)

Lets see if I can get this video to play. Not working well for me on photobucket so am trying to get it on Youtube.

https://youtu.be/PTGUer8p7WI

Here it is on YouTube in case the first doesn't work.

In watching my own video, it's totally the hen attacking the cock.

I was apparently to focused in videoing it rather than who was who. ;)

Wow that's some intense fighting... you'll be down one bird soon if that doesn't stop!

Caprice Acres

I would get him out of there NOW!!!

He is still in there and will be all day as I am not home. The fighting bouts both ended quickly once one parent returned to the nest.

No fighting since yesterday AM. They've had ample opportunities to return to fighting too. But I won't be able to monitor today as I am not home.

At this point I'm worried separation will cause more problems.

Caprice Acres

More problems than one killing the other
It can happen you know....

I believe you, and maybe I'm just less experienced but I'm not sure it's to that point yet. And I can't do much about it when I'm not home. I'll inspect the cage for further signs of fighting when I get home.

Do the best that you can in your space to separate them; bedroom and livingroom. Or IF you have to keep them in the same room, at least keep them out of visual of each other.

Caprice Acres

So what's happening with your two combatants?
Is everybody alright?

They are doing fine since.... very odd.