FINCHforum

so i decided to start a new thread since this is a new clutch of babies and all. first of all, though, i have a new weird coloring issue to share. my black headed dilute bird has sprouted a single solid black feather in his head. i thought that, being dilute, this wasn't possible, but apparently it is, so i decided to share a picture.

now on to the real issue. my new clutch of babies from my dilute male and my female of questionable head color (see my previous thread) are starting to get their feathers. based on what i've been reading i think i have one little dilute boy in the bunch, and i'm hoping the experts on here can verify that for me. their last clutch had no dilutes, so i have my fingers crossed!! i think i'll wait and see what responses i get before i share which one i think it is!

yeah I think I see one dilute, two yellows and two normals.
dilute baby usually has light grey feather tips.
congrats on such great babies you've got over there!!!


About the dilute with a solid black feather, I think it's possible since he only carries one yellow gene, and in some cases, it's not strong enough to eliminate all the blue and black feathers to light blue and grey. I noticed before that your dilute is very "green", so maybe the yellow gene there is not strong enough, not like the other dilutes. Nutritions can play a part in this, too, so hopefully that black feather will dissapear by the next molt.

things can't ever just be easy. i was so happy to finally have yellow babies. and the parents were being super parents. the babies just hit 2 weeks old and their feathers are starting to pop out of the follicles. and the parents decide they don't want to feed the yellows. the 2 normals and the dilute are full piggies, just the yellows aren't getting fed. i noticed last night that they were the only 2 with empty crops, so i gave them some hand feeding formula and hoped they'd be fed when i woke up. no such luck. so i made the decision to put my 2 yellow babies in the hands (well, wings) of my society finches. for the most part, they're pretty good foster parents and so far it seems like the yellows are now getting the attention they need. i'm going out of town over the weekend, so i know i'll be a nervous wreck til i get back. all i can do is hope for the best!!

Praying everything goes well right along with you

Hope it all goes well for you... you have some beautiful birds

sometimes we can't just trust our gouldians, right? I never get what they're thinking in their tiny head. But don't worry, I think your yellow babies will be doing fine.
Be sure to keep us more posts to update.

Good news about the bad news... holding thumbs all goes well for the little ones. Lovely birds.

i'm happy to report that so far the society finches are giving the yellow babies the attention they need. i attached a fuzzy camera phone picture of them but you can tell they are happy, full piggies now!

the last baby my societies fostered fledged like a week later than his siblings and is tiny compared to the rest of my gouldians. should i expect the same thing to happen with my yellows?

they look real nice so far!

Looking good!!

it's been a week, so i thought i'd update. my babies are now 24 days old. the normals and dilute that are still with the parents and the 2 yellows my societies are fostering are all happy and healthy. for some reason, they don't seem to want to fledge they're all completely feathered. i expected the yellows to fledge late because the last bird my society finches fostered fledged about a week later than his siblings. but the 3 still with the parents aren't fledging either. i assume i have slacker lazy babies that don't want to stop being pampered!

I notice it is also the parents.
If the parents stay just outside the nest, the chicks come to the nest opening and stick out begging for food. This gets them to gradually come further out of the nest.
If the parents always go into the nest, then there is no reason for the chicks to come out.

On the other hand, I had a pair of chicks that were in the bottom of the nest never going near the opening, and one day I found both of the chicks on the perches.