FINCHforum

Well I noticed today that I have 2 birds inside a cage instead of 3 , i panicked and started shoving the nests a bit to make sure if maybe one of the birds was in the cage ... i kept shoving and shoving and shoving it took quite some time to get the bird outside of the nest , I stopped panicking since all the birds were there (my doors to the cage are a bit wonky and the screws that hold the little metal handles that hold the doors shut tend to unscrew somehow ) so the male gouldian got outside of the nest and i got relieved , but soon after I thought about it , checked online and saw that gouldians tend to share duties when the hen has layed eggs , male over the day and hen over the night , which is exactly what is happening , female is outside during the day and I notice the male outside ...
I haven't given them any eggs or proteins to stimulate them , only some veggies , greens , fruits and seeds and not even that much , plus gouldians are picky when ever i offer them something new .
The problem is I dont even know how to check on the nest to see if there are any eggs in the nest , I should have thought it through , now the nest I have its like hanging from the top of the cage and only has a hole on one side I dont even know anymore .... >_<
So if you didnt get my question because I was typing this hastily , is this how gouldians actually act when they lay eggs ?
The male does the courtship dance like every morning , so I gave up on him actually doing anything because he looked really shy , didnt want to get into action xD ..

StodOne
Congrats man. Let me them do their thing at this point and add protein foods like eggfood and some oily seeds, hopefully they will start eating them. Start with half hard boiled egg till you get some eggfood. You can make your own aswell there is lots of recipes. Get some supplements (multivitamins and other) in order to get strong babies and help parents throughout the nesting and feeding period.

andiok No I know all that , but I still don't know if she actually layed any eggs , from the looks of it and their behavior I would say she is sitting , but who knows , they didnt do that before though this is first time that its been happening like this ..

StodOne

If one of them is always sitting tight, I would leave them alone.

If you disturb them too much, they may abandon the nest .

Hoping for the best

StodOne wrote: andiok No I know all that , but I still don't know if she actually layed any eggs , from the looks of it and their behavior I would say she is sitting , but who knows , they didnt do that before though this is first time that its been happening like this ..

Is her bum feathers not abit spread out or some missing sometimes when mine are laying I notice there bum seams to have larger haha

lovezebs Yeah i agree but its just so frustrating not knowing if she is sitting or not , is it possible that they are just guarding the nest while makinh it at the same time ? The female is making an awfull lot of noise during night time by moving around in the nest , i can hear beak hitting plastic sound , maybe beak grooming over wing , scratching but she doesent stop she just keeps making a lot of noise xD
@Fraza to be honest i dont know , i didnt really notice that ..
Thanks for the responses if anyone knows a trick as to how to look inside the nest
i would be greatful because so far no luck , its like this hanging nest sort of a pear shape but bigger and its in the corner of the cage and i cant lool inside , because for some reason i decided to put a roof on the cage , im so gonna just make a wire top part of the cage and remove the roof ...

StodOne

If the female is staying in the nest at night she is SITTING. And she has eggs.

This is a delicate time for a female gouldian. You dont want to pressure and make her afraid of her nest. Her instinct will be to not go back, or feel safe to sit at night (scarey time for a hen).

Sit back and watch and even if she never ate boiled egg, she will crave it now. You just wont see it. She will eat and go back very quickly.

Its okay....

And make sure she has her vitaminD and some egg shells.

When you catch them both out eating pop a QUICK peek.......ever so FAST. Keep it short and stealthy.

StodOne

Patience my friend, patience.

If you mess around with the nest now, you might end up losing the eggs and whatever chicks are in them. Plus, your female might be frightened of entering another nest box for a long time.

Leave them to do what comes naturally.

Babs Well I don't really catch them ever both outside and even if I did I dont have an angle to look inside that hole of the nest , I dont even know what I was doing when designing the cage like that , I should have made my own nests so that I can attach them from outside of the cage , and have a little door that i can open to look into the nest ...
@lovezebs Yep I am aware of that and I will try not to bother them , well I already did because I panicked that one of my birds got out , luckily they are still sitting , when I tapped on the nest the male didnt want to get out so I panicked even more he got out eventually and returned inside , only to exit before I turned the lights off in the room
Thanks for the advice ..

StodOne


If you cant catch both of them off the nest that means you have a GOOD pair!!

Count your blessings. Both parents are taking tight watch. Relax and enjoy.

Babs Well I noticed that the female started forming some kind of white marks on the beak , its like a layer is peeling off , I'm assuming that if she layed eggs it means she will have lower calcium , which in turn will show these effects ?
I don't know but I seriously dont see both of them outside the nest , either one or the other and I wake up early every morning to turn on the lights and watch them a bit , like an hour after i turn off the lights the female doesent come out , after I come back later to change the water she is outside and the male is inside ..