FINCHforum

It's been six months since I got my first pair of Gouldians. I've really enjoyed my green backs and raising a clutch of three. I found out that my birds are split for white breast as two of the three babies have shown me. I've been researching the other colors in Gouldians that I'd like to have and have been on the search within a reasonable driving distance for a while now. I did go back to where I bought my original birds and was able to purchase a BH/P(W)B/GB split for blue hen and a RH/PB/SFYB split for blue male.


I lucked out last week as a friend of mine was driving to Miami to purchase a police dog and he was willing to pick out some birds for me. Through a recommendation from a close friend, he found a Gouldian breeder with available birds in the colors I was looking for so now I have a YH/WB/SFYB male and a B(Y)H/P(W)B/YB hen.


I also got a BH/P(W)B/pastel BB male and a BH/WB/BB hen. These birds will be paired with my splits when they are out of quarantine.


My friend is going back to Miami this weekend to get another police dog (for a different department) and he is going to try to get me three more birds... a silver hen he saw when he was last there and a male to go with her plus I want a Y or RH/PB/DFYB male to eventually go with the baby I'm keeping from my first clutch, a RH/PB/GB. Since it seems to be so hard to find anything I would like within a 4-5 hour drive, I decided it would be best to just get these birds now while I have access to them. I'm telling you, no more bird buying after this!

Famous last words.
...no more birds.

That is my problem. I was so facinated by some of the colors of gouldians, that I got distracted from the color scheme that I was trying to breed for, RH-WB-YB. Now I'm about a year and a half behind where I would have been if I were not distracted. Granted the distraction gave me some nice chicks. But I still don't have the RH-WB-YB chicks that I am try to breed.

I have heard that phrase before ........ Hmmmm!

congrats on new additions!

Congrats on the beautiful new additions
No more birds I do believe that I have heard that somewhere before

Congratulations and best of luck!

Yes and I'm cutting down my flock too.... to keep some of the babies! This hobby and definately Gouldians get you hooked.

Congrats on the newbies. They look wonderful and like you said. Get 'em while you can.

Thanks! I like them bunches. I hadn't planned on raising Gouldians when I got my original pair but I really enjoy the birds and the genetics of it is fun plus I may as well find a hobby I can do no matter how well I age. I know I'll eventually have to give up the dogs but that's at least another 30 years or so.

I sent my friend with a description and picture of the birds I was interested in. The breeder matched up the pairs from that. I spent hours before the trip looking at pictures of different colors and putting them into the genetic forecaster. It was a lot of fun! Believe it or not, the this breeder crosses his blues, pastels, and silvers together with success. Being new at this, I definitely don't want to give it a try so that's why I'm splitting up the new blue Gouldians with my two split for blues. We'll see what happens in a few months once all the birds are settled in and I offer them a nesting box.

I have puppies coming this weekend from an exciting cross so I'll be busy for a while. I'm hoping for the right male to show.

They're all very beautiful! I'm sure you will get a lot of lovely babies from those lovely birds!

You said no more bird buying, but you didn't mention anything about trading! I don't know what part of East TN your in, but It looks like we could be "neighbors". I keep gouldians as well, and it would be nice to know that there is someone close by to maybe exchange bloodlines with.

I'm about 20 minutes north of Knoxville and my house is just a mile off of I-75 so it's easy to get to. I have four Gouldians from Papis Aviary in Farragut and the rest are from Oreste in Miami. He's Cuban and doesn't speak any English. Good thing is my friend speaks Spanish so everything has worked out even though it's been rather complicated. The person selling my friend a police dog is also into finches so he knew some people to contact for what I was looking for. They spent three hours going from one aviary to another until they found a breeder that they liked...and had what I had asked for. I owe him big time! Oreste has called my friend a couple times this week to see how the birds are doing. The pastel male has been a bit off which he thinks is due to dehydration from the switch from a picket watering system to a water tube. I've added in a variety of water containers to help him figure out where the new water is.

I'll definitely be up for trading someday. I'd like to move once the housing market is back on track again and then I can have a room just for the birds. Can't wait!