FINCHforum

I purchased a pair of gouldians from our local petstore sold "as a pair". I was in heaven! A PURE normal pair to keep my bloodlines strong.

Was I ever in for a disappointment. The first night I gave them a nest both of them promptly plopped in the nestbox for the night to sleep. So that moment I knew they were society raised. They aren't pair bonded. Female was probably bonded with another male prior to shipping and being put in the cage together and sold "as a pair".

So I decided to pair them up with two of my parent-raised kiddos from last year in the hopes that my kids could show them the ropes. I mean how hard can that be??

Well its just impossible. The male & female are incapable of bonding with a naturally raised gouldians due to one very simple and IRRITATING habit. They will NOT perch sleep with their partners at night. They abandon their mate and go into the nest, leaving the parent-raised perching "mate" to sleep alone at night.

After questioning the petstore owners and doing my own detective work I found the DISMAL source of these incredibly confused gouldians. A gouldian "bird mill". I will not do this place a service by naming it and giving it the advertising it doesnt deserve.

Let's just say sell gouldians cheap and all these birds know are hundreds of cramped cages surrounded, raised and only hearing the sounds and actions of their society fosters and hundreds of other society fosters who have to live through their same fate.

I doubt this pair have even heard the chirp or trill of another gouldian before they are stuffed into cages with other juveniles to molt and be sold. My local petstore is selling these poor, confused gouldians in mass.

When I rehome these two, they will be as "society raised" to someone who is clearly informed to expect no breeding. I have only 5 handraised out of my many juvies this year, and they have a special band so I can let the new owners know they are handraised. This is the ethical thing to do, I believe.

I do pray those using societies to foster ANY species inform the people buying them that they are as such, so people like me don't end up with birds like this. This has been a horrible (and expensive) disappointment.

Babs

Why not take the nest out, forcing them to sleep on a perch?
Play Gouldian songs to them day and night.

Just because they had a hard chilhood, doesn't mean they should be written off Babsi. They can be rehabbed and transformed, and brought back to the light side, lol.

They are beautiful birds, and it would be a challange for you Sweetie.

I'm throwing down the gauntlet.... I bet you can do it!!! Are you up to the challang woman???

I'm confused why this is as big an issue as you are describing it as.

Sleeping in a nest is not necessarily a habit picked up only by being fostered by society finches. A user who was very active here a few years ago, MiaCarter, had parent-reared Gouldians which were nest-sleepers. They bred, and some of their own chicks were also nest-sleepers. I feel some birds just appreciate a nest to sleep.

If it's an issue, why are the nests still in there at all?

Babs, ALL of my adult gouldians were raised by societies, and still they are amazing parents, even though i had some problems in the beginning.

Ricardo Ronsini Sheather lovezebs

They are surrounded by paired-bred gouldians, parent raised juveniles and can see and hear the "natural" gouldian language and behavior.

They perch slept until they went through their annual molt and I felt it was safe to breed. Thats when I introduced a nest. The female has no interest in him (no darkening of the beak at all) and no reactions to his advances.

Dylan
As I mentioned, they can't pair bond with any of my other gouldians because they sleep in the nest at night (mine perch sleep). Gouldians will NOT bond unless sleeping close together at night....not seperately. It's highly doubtful I will get one of my gouldians to start nest sleeping to bond with one of them.

Ricardo
I believe all your gouldians speak "society" so your situation is working. I have a roomful of gouldians that only speak gouldian.

Elana,
I'm not sure I am up for the challenge these two pose for me. Their behavior is so completely opposite of my other birds. The only hope I see is keeping them in the breeder cage for another few months and hoping they bond & get the urge to breed, letting possibly Jet & Bubbles (my best gouldian pair) foster the clutch so the kids learn how to be gouldian.

This is a great setback for my goal for only parent raised offspring.

If that is a picture of them both which do you think is the hen? They both look like males to me, deep yellow bellies and blue ring around the head.

So sorry things went that way for you. It's hard dealing with birds that don't behave like their species. There are reasons why each species does what it does.

Ricardo Ronsini

You may to have give me a few pointers about how to breed gouldians that think they are societies......

debbie276

Yes this is the pair. The female was in breeding mode when I bought them.
But she was probably bonded with another male prior to being shipped to the birdstore. Heres a shot of the front of her when I first bought them. I was very excited about this pair. Yeah, it's sad.

As I mentioned, they can't pair bond with any of my other gouldians because they sleep in the nest at night (mine perch sleep). Gouldians will NOT bond unless sleeping close together at night....not seperately.

Then you just need to take out the nest until they're regularly sleeping side by side and are bonded.

Babs

Ochhh.... this is not the Babs I know and love....

Giving up so easily on these poor waifs, tsk tsk tsk.

Babs i totally get your concern babs.
imprinting is very important for birds. breeding in purity is very important if you're not a petstore owner
i only raised this one time some goldfinches with my canaries and had very confused chicks. The males would not be a problem because those buggers will breed with anything but the females wont bond or mate with goldfinches nor did they like canaries
in 2 seasons i was not able to breed them....

Babs

I don't think mine belive they are societies, they were brought up by societies, but were introduced early in life to other gouldians.

I had a male zebra finch who was imprinted on societies, and the difference is huge, he ignored the zebra gals and only had eyes to the society females. He behaved like a zebra, but he thought he was a society, and when i tried to breed him with a female zebra he killed the chicks and beat up his wife.

So, i know it is hard to deal with these messed up birds, but i would give it another try before closing the case.

You could place the male with 3 to 5 females and the other way around, and see if they pick a mate having plenty to choose, i would also provide hard boiled eggs and a nest during the process, for triggering their breeding instincts.

Babs

We have a pair of Black-headed normals we got from a reputable breeder in April and they had a clutch of three. The parents were great, etc. The juveniles kept going back into the nest box to sleep for the longest time, right up to just before they were weaned. The parents started a second clutch of 5 eggs but all the eggs got broken, we suspect, by the fledglings who were sleeping in the nest box. Except for that they behaved like Gouldians and started eating and drinking on their own within a week of fledgling which was great. Once they were weaned we put them in a larger flight cage with no nest boxes and with three other females. All those birds are now sleeping in the stress (free) perches because the adult females are not the most socially agreeable birds

Ricardo Ronsini andiok lovezebs Sheather debbie276

Y'all are awesome and thanks for the imput. But I had to weigh out some difficult options. I know I am an ace at handfeeding , and I enjoy giving every baby in my room the right to survive.

I will not hesitate to use this skill forever and to pass along the knowledge for our finicky gouldians. I can turn around a handfed to a breeding goudling through careful introduction to the flock.

However I only have space for so many willing, able pairs to breed. Even then I have to take on emergencies and thats okay by me. My handfeeding is honed, fine tuned and on spot. My baby station is like a biochemistry lab. My survival rate is high..........

But even with the best of pairs I have only two hands, so many cages and so much space. and I have reached capacity.

I have several willing pairs with so much potential that I want to incorporate into that space and I cannot justify using/juggling/trying out new/multiple and stressed out partners to make this pair work. I'm not lazy....we all know this. I will stay up all hours of the the day&night to get them through.

But these society--farmed gouldians are beyond reach of knowledge. This is a different BEAST. They are not even remotely acting like gouldians.

I have a wonderful, loving and informed home they will be placed into. They don't plan on breeding.

And if luck permits, they may breed them, and if they have to handfeed I will be there for them all the way. I hate to disappoint everyone........Im so sorry. This "bird-mill" is beyond what I can fix

I can't tell you how much it pains me to name birds, and then have to rehome them. You are RIGHT Elana, this is not me Not even remotely.

Babs

Well hon, you can only do what you can do

Didn't mean to sound judgmental, sorrrrry......