Gouldian finchs!!

perrysbirds · Post by **perrysbirds** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 7:48 pm

Took this picture today.I am not great at taking pictures but I thought I would post it anyways.My only pair with the four new chicks.

L in Ontario · Post by **L in Ontario** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 9:07 pm

A terrific looking family, Perry!!

perrysbirds · Post by **perrysbirds** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 10:52 pm

Thanks L they seem to be doing fine and all is well.I cant wait to find out what the sex of the chicks are going to be.I know its going to take a while.I have a good friend that is nearly 80yrs of age and he is very good at determining the sex of young birds,although anyone could be right or wrong at any time.

franny · Post by **franny** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 10:55 pm

Perry, Does that gouldian really have a blue breast? It's gorgeous!

perrysbirds · Post by **perrysbirds** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 11:07 pm

Thats the cock indeed.I watched him feed every young bird today so i know he is a good dad for sure.

summert85 · Post by **summert85** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 1:32 am

awwww so cute perry.

Can't wait to get me some Gouldians too.

cartel · Post by **cartel** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 4:18 am

Just wanted to add in,and tell you (perrysbirds)you can find out the sex of some of them also early.Well at least only males.I have a juv gould born jan11/09 hopping and trying to sing a song.Something to look foward too on the journey before they............ colour up!

dfcauley · Post by **dfcauley** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 7:36 am

yes, I have male chicks singing up a storm. So at least you will be able to figure out the males.

BirdCrazy · Post by **BirdCrazy** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 9:19 am

My little handfed Gould who turned out to be a girl will flutter her tail when you pet her back like she would to entice a male. She did this when she was quite young and I didn't even know she was a female yet. I am thinking this was a good way to know a girl too befor ethey color. Not sure if one that wasn't handfed would do it though as they may freak out when you try to pet them. All of my males have sung before they colored up so that is a good thing with males to know early. I had one sing at 7 weeks before even.

L in Ontario · Post by **L in Ontario** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 9:44 am

I just split up my juvie males and female Gouldians... so I thought!

About a week after splitting them in to different flight cages - I had 3 of the 7 "females" start singing!!!

Now I have 3 more males and it was tricky re-catching 3 males that looked identical to the females. It's a good thing I had them banded - that's the only way I could see who was a male. When I saw them singing - I looked at their leg bands to see what number they were... the bums!

Of couse I know my dilutes are both males and one just started hopping and bowing to his brother this week! They hatched Jan 17 & 18th. Very cool seeing them do "the dance"!

perrysbirds · Post by **perrysbirds** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 7:29 pm

I was just wondering with these goulds.How often or if ever someone here has had a clutch say of 4 to 6 chicks and all of them turning out to be the same sex.I have had a clutch of 6 canary chicks and all of them turned out to be cocks.

L in Ontario · Post by **L in Ontario** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 7:46 pm

Oooh ooh! Me, me! Pick me, I did!

I had one pair with 7 eggs - all female in April 2008. A different pair with 4 eggs - all female in September 2008. Then I read somewhere about full spectrum lighting affecting the gender outcome as well as feeding the hen "too well". Apparently if the hen thinks it is being "well fed" it will have all or more female babies as female chicks need better foods to survive than males.

I had 2 full spectrum lights in the flourescent fixture above. In September I changed one of the tubes to a regular tube and reduced the amount of additives to their dry seeds. Since then it's been fairly equal and currently I have chicks from 4 more pairs that I'm waiting to see what gender they are.

Edited: These are all Gouldians I'm talking about here. Other species may differ.

DVBourassa · Post by **DVBourassa** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 8:22 pm

My zebs get full spectrum lighting and lots of supplemental food and I got all male chicks.

perrysbirds · Post by **perrysbirds** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 12:19 am

Yeah I have also heard that same thing that lighting plays a part in determining the gender of the chicks.Im not too sure how much I buy into that though.It could very well be though.I will certainly see what the percentages of males to females are this spring in my birdroom.I will start i guess with the four gouldian chicks that were born in January.I have no idea what sex they could be,I guess I will have to wait it out and see.

DVBourassa · Post by **DVBourassa** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 10:30 am

Gender is determined by the female for sure. After doing some reading it appears that environmental factors do play a role in gender ratios. However, exactly how this happens isn't known.

Prior to mating in zebra finches, females fed a lower quality diet were fatter and had more muscle due to building up their bodily stores because of uncertainty of future food availability. These had more male chicks. Leaner females fed a high quality diet has more female chicks.
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/picren ... obtype=pdf

This paper discusses the possible mechanisms of choosing a male or female follicle.
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/jour ... 9/abstract