Gouldian question

mickp · Post by **mickp** » Sun Aug 24, 2008 6:00 am

in about 3 weeks I will be getting another couple of pairs of gouldians, 3 or 4 pairs if I can talk she who must be obeyed into it

.
to start with they will be in the aviary with all the other finches but once I get the extension built I plan to have one aviary dedicated to gouldians alone and I plan to let them choose their own mates.

what I am wondering though is how many mating pairs it would be safe to house together? they will be housed in the aviary that I have at present which is 8m x 4m and has some well established plants.

Matt · Post by **Matt** » Sun Aug 24, 2008 7:11 am

If you're buying new birds before November, just make sure you know the source. A lot of birds sold this time of year are the poorest breeders from the season just gone. 08 bred birds won't be fully coloured up yet.

As far as numbers goes, while I'm not an expert on gouldians yet, I would think the same guidelines would apply. 1 pair per square metre. But I wouldn't go throwing 32 pairs in an 8m x 4m aviary unless it were broken up into several flights. My old aviary was 11m x 8m and it had around 20-25 pairs which was more than enough.

My plans for gouldians next season is two 2.4m x 1.2m aviaries with 3 pairs in each.

Christopher Smith · Post by **Christopher Smith** » Sun Aug 24, 2008 5:11 pm

Matt wrote:
As far as numbers goes, while I'm not an expert on gouldians yet, I would think the same guidelines would apply. 1 pair per square metre. But I wouldn't go throwing 32 pairs in an 8m x 4m aviary unless it were broken up into several flights. My old aviary was 11m x 8m and it had around 20-25 pairs which was more than enough.

I think this is pretty good advice. But I think you could put quite a bit more pairs than that. I would have about 45 pairs of goulds in that space. Goulds are pretty peaceful and I have never had problems with them breeding at that density.

The problem you will have at that density is figuring out what to do with all of the offspring. If all goes well, you will need twice as much space to hold the young birds.

If I were in your shoes I would get about 10 pairs with, no related birds, and build a stud of the best birds from your own breeding.

poohbear · Post by **poohbear** » Mon Aug 25, 2008 3:14 am

Mick ....the room I'm sitting in now is exactly the size of your aviary and I couldn't imagine more than ten pairs in that space. My flight has more than this in and is smaller than yours but there are about seven mature pairs the rest being 'teenagers' Given your space and not having to accomodate youngsters too I would stick to ten max.for stress free breeding.If you overdo it you will finish up with loads of eggs and no results......I've got the T shirt.
Paul.

Christopher Smith · Post by **Christopher Smith** » Mon Aug 25, 2008 12:40 pm

You got a t-shirt and I got lots of babies

dfcauley · Post by **dfcauley** » Mon Aug 25, 2008 1:30 pm

Christopher Smith wrote:You got a t-shirt and I got lots of babies

Sometimes having lots of babies is not what is best for the birds.

poohbear · Post by **poohbear** » Mon Aug 25, 2008 3:59 pm

Christopher Smith wrote:You got a t-shirt and I got lots of babies

Good luck to you. but I still think 20 birds in that space is sufficient for breeding purposes.but in an aviary just kept to hold stock many more could be kept in the same space.

Post by **Hilary** » Tue Aug 26, 2008 12:18 am

Keep in mind that you'll have to be tracking the pairs and then the offspring to make sure you don't get inbreeding......

mickp · Post by **mickp** » Tue Aug 26, 2008 5:18 am

thanks everyone for your help
10 sounds like a good number to me, so 10 pairs will become my target for adult birds. any young that are raised will be placed in a holding aviary until fully coloured. letting me choose which I want to keep before selling any others.
as far as I know all birds will be unrelated and I will not be purchasing any that do not have full colouring.

atarasi · Post by **atarasi** » Wed Aug 27, 2008 12:31 am

Mick, are you just breeding the normal colors? No interest in playing with the different color mutations?

mickp · Post by **mickp** » Wed Aug 27, 2008 5:14 am

it is my intention to breed for color but I am still going ahead with all breeding pairs in the one aviary. what I am going to try and do is place each unbonded pair into a breeding cage for a couple of weeks and hopefully that period will help them bond then back into the aviary they go. guess I'll just have to wait and see what happens

atarasi · Post by **atarasi** » Fri Aug 29, 2008 2:12 am

Now that's a good idea. I know some breeders separate the hens from the cocks after breeding season and they go right back to their old mates. But, from what I've read, Gouldians and most other finches don't mate for life like Swans. The article I read was about wild Gouldians.

exoticgouldian · Post by **exoticgouldian** » Fri Aug 29, 2008 12:24 pm

Thats what I do too.........I have an aviary where I have only split to blues and blue backs........so let them choose their mates. After they are paired up, I put them in their breeding cages. They would lay eggs way faster than putting two new birds together and wait till they get paired up.

I am concerned with the colors I get. Thats why I have only blues and split to blues in the aviary. I never mix normals in the aviary and breed them separately.

mickp · Post by **mickp** » Sat Aug 30, 2008 3:07 am

I can see myself in the future concentrating mainly on breeding gouldians. not completely at the expense of my other birds maybe something like a 75% gouldian to 25% other finches.

rottielover · Post by **rottielover** » Sat Aug 30, 2008 9:42 pm

Why would 08 bred birds not be colored up yet??

I had 2 clutches that hatched out in March, and they finished coloring a little while ago. In fact I've sold 10 of the "baby's" so far to local stores in the area.

****EDIT****

I just noticed that you guys are in Austrilia, so the seasons are all reversed from you guys to me

so never mind