opinions on colony breeding the gouldian mutations

[wildbill]

i will measure the box for you today

[wildbill]

i live in a very cold area of Australia so it's definately not the best location for breeding the gouldian finch. in the outside aviaries just last week the temp dropped overnight to 3degrees celius and i lost 23 young in one hit -all were about the 10 day old mark. on inspection their crops were full but stone cold body.most were young for split blue pairings.
to get you this nest box (same aviary) i check out several boxes and a few of them have day old young. weather is not getting any better so this time as the approach the 10 day old mark i might run a panel heater nightly to raise the temp.

info on the nest box

1. 10" in length
2. 6' wide
3. 6' deep

in all cases i fill/shape the nest box with the nesting material.

4" entrance platform enclose all way round at the half way point. this stops sticky beaks from annoy the parents as they enter the box.

[B CAMP]

I think if i lost 23 to the temperature i would put heat in or move them indoors

[wildbill]

hi
thats a good point - but in australia heated cages/aviaries by the finch fanciers are not really acceptable. they regard birds breed under these conditions as WEAK specimens and at a later date if sold and placed outside -curtains for them.

any-one take a guess what type of australian finches are these. pretty hard to sex and not really popular here due to their bland colour. their also very shy like the pictorella finch but i still like 'em

[CandoAviary]

Those aren't bland, they are beautiful!
Reminds me of white headed nuns.

[wildbill]

any usa members care to take a guess of the above aussie species

[bugaboo5]

Yellow-rumped Mannikin (Lonchura flaviprymna)

Beautiful birds! Sorry for your recent loss of 23 babies - I would cry if I experienced such loss. Best of luck to you!

[wildbill]

spot on - you know your finches. even in the aussie aviaries they are not common birds. about 3 year back they were priced at $300 per pair but now they have dropped to around the $100 mark per pair.

[annague]

Very elegant looking birds!

[wildbill]

i checked out a couple of new nests today in the mutation colony - one had just hatched 4 young . those parents are

nest 1.
1. cock : double factor yellow/split blue
2. hen : yellow/split blue

nest 2
5 young in the nest about 3 days old

cock : pastel blue
hen : no idea

if the young are still about in a few days time i will load up a few photo's

[wildbill]

here's a photo of the 4 young from the
double factor yellow/blue with yellow/ blue hen
i hope that there is a blue amongst these?

[wildbill]

nest 2. now down to 4

[wildbill]

hi all
my thoughts on this colony idea venture with the various colour gouldian mutations is of now - DON'T do it. its too late to pull them out as i have no-where to put the 70 odd birds.
they are breeding alright. one hen in particular has raised 9 young and all flying (batches or 4 and 5) another 4 another 2 - several young in the nest and 5 pairs on eggs and 2 months breeding to go.

trouble is most of the new blood hens pairs up with pastels etc and i have almost all split birds. the good new is ive brought several new bloodlines into the poor blue bloodline in australia.
i bought the normal hens in all directions of the compass from 60 to 150 miles away or 100 to 250 klm.

for the first time im now experiencing two hens setting in the same nest boxes. very strange to open the box and see birds on eggs in either corner.

nest boxes are placed abundantly throughout the aviary but for some reason the highest placed one has twice yielded 15 eggs. no doubt from a trio of hens.

ive also noticed different cocks and hens venturing into other setting birds nest boxes. by xmas i will have the new quarters built for the 2012 season. i will them be well set up.

i had plan to leave all the young free flying with the parents but space will soon be a problem so they might be going into the breeding cabinets.

now on another note over the past month all the zebras have been released - all 190 of 'em into the bush within a 100klm radius. ive been back to two drop points and have seen a few of them in free mode.
im now confident that all or most will do ok and it was a good call.

[B CAMP]

Is the new part going to have heat ?
Do any wild gouldians live in your area ?

[Christopher Smith]

Good luck Wild Bill! I'm sure you will be successful. I have been raising mutation Gouldians in outdoor colonies for a while and have done quite well. At this point I don't use any antibiotics or supplemental heat.

Here is an old thread with pics of some of my birds. I'll try to takes some new ones soon.

http://www.finchforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=5307