one nest, two females,one male

Jonw · Post by **Jonw** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 12:56 am

I have an aviary with several birds...I was away for a few weeks and came home to three new baby Gouldians- there seems to be one male and two females in the nest. ALL three feed the babies...there are also three unhatched eggs,presumably from one of the females. Any suggestions on how to handle this. I'm leaning towards letting nature work but hate to have viable eggs go bad or a second set of babies hatch. I have no other active nests.

Jon

mickp · Post by **mickp** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 9:35 am

personally I would remove the eggs

bonnies_gouldians · Post by **bonnies_gouldians** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 6:23 pm

I am thinking the eggs are going to get trampled and just make a mess at the bottom of the nest if they get left in...if there are not other active nests, you may end up loosing that clutch either way. Have you candled them to see if they are viable? Maybe a dumb question as I don't know if it is worth bothering the chicks in the nest now...purhaps you could set up a second nest right next to that one...see if one of the females will sit on the eggs for you in the new nest?

Jonw · Post by **Jonw** » Sun Dec 07, 2008 7:43 am

thanks for the advise...as I am afraid to disturb the nest I think I'm going to leave the unhatched eggs alone util the three babies get bigger. I am always afriad of disturbing the nest and losing the newborns. I have noticed that some people band before the babies fledge...this must work ok so might just wait another week.

bonnies_gouldians · Post by **bonnies_gouldians** » Sun Dec 07, 2008 10:22 pm

I think it depends on the species as to if people band before they fledge, some just wont tolerate being bothered. If they have a large aviary and don't want to worry about families getting mixed up is another reason. Congrats on the babies.