How many of you keep foster birds around?

Post by **Sally** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 11:26 am

I just don't want people to think they can buy a pair of society finches and assume they can give them chicks and they will automatically raise them.

I just want to echo what TammyS has said. Societies usually make great foster parents, but they don't always work. It is easier to foster eggs than chicks, but even with eggs, the Societies may take too long to decide to start sitting. With chicks, they may or may not feed them. I am lucky to have two males who seem to be very good, but they have only been given eggs, no tossed chicks.

It is good to have Societies on hand for emergencies, but unless they are proven fosters, be prepared for the possibility of failure.

kiwi & mango · Post by **kiwi & mango** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 12:06 pm

But do we not want to see if the gouldians will care for the chicks?

I guess it is a chat 22..... isn't it

L in Ontario · Post by **L in Ontario** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 5:53 pm

K&M - Absolutely yes, we want to see if the Gouldians will be parents to their own chicks - that is first and foremost. The only time foster parents (Soc's) are used as serrogate parents is IF the Gouldians toss their chicks or cannot be parents for any reason (ie one dies and the other abandons the chicks or eggs). Only then are the Society Finches used as back up parents.

The first time I a placed tossed Gouldian chick in with my Society males - they didn't know what to do with it and the chick died anyway.

The second time, about a month later, I put a put a real gouldian egg in with other fake eggs to my Society males and later added a tossed Gouldian chick in with my Society males. They were able to hatch the one real egg, raised both chicks and weaned them successfully.

kiwi & mango · Post by **kiwi & mango** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 10:20 pm

my jusband and I were talking about it over dinner tonight and thought about having fake eggs under society when the goulds are sitting tight on there and if a chick is tossed place it in the nest and take one egg out perhaps they would think the egg hatched and there was the chick?

Is this somthing they would except? or has anyone tried this?

thanks

L in Ontario · Post by **L in Ontario** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 11:40 pm

K&M - Yes, that's exactly the way I did it when I had tossed chicks. I took the one remaining (alive) chick from the floor of the Gouldian cage and put it in the Societies nest and at the same time removed one of the fake eggs I had in there already. The Soc's simply thought an egg hatched while they were out of the nest.

I began by placing a fake egg in the Soc's nest every day that the Gouldians laid an egg so the Soc's nest would be equal in number of fake eggs as the Gouldian's nest had real eggs.

kiwi & mango · Post by **kiwi & mango** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 12:25 am

and how do the gouldians learn from this? Is it age we are waiting for? because of it is experience then how can they get it if they keep tossing thier chicks?

Post by **Sally** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 12:31 am

Yes, you always want parent-raised birds if possible--fosters are for emergencies. I once had a pair of Gouldians with 2 newly-hatched babies. The hen was found dead (one of my cats was the suspect), and the male abandoned the babies. They were in bad shape. I had another Gouldian pair that had one egg (infertile) in their nest, so I took out the egg, put the two babies in the nest, and hoped for the best.

The foster Gouldian hen took about 15-30 minutes of peeking in the nest, then she finally hopped in. She didn't seem to question the fact that she suddenly had two babies from one egg. The pair fed these babies for a week, then I heard no noise coming from the nest--both babies were dead in the nest, with full crops, so I never knew what went wrong.

All you can do with breeding is try to provide the best conditions and diet for the birds, the rest is out of your hands.

Fancie Flight · Post by **Fancie Flight** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 4:00 pm

Oh Sally how sad and tragic, Thats the hard part with gouldians they seem perfect 1 minute gone the next,

FeatherHarp · Post by **FeatherHarp** » Tue Feb 19, 2008 4:27 pm

Wow Sally...how sad. I just don't get how they can be fine one minute like that with full crops and gone the next.

arssvcs1942 · Post by **arssvcs1942** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 10:45 am

Males? How interesting...I did not think that would work. Other than the obvious egg laying, how do you sex your Societies?

Fancie Flight wrote:I use all males to foster this way I never have baby societies, lol And I only do thi sas a LAST resort

L in Ontario · Post by **L in Ontario** » Tue Apr 15, 2008 11:10 am

arssvcs1942 wrote:Males? How interesting...I did not think that would work. Other than the obvious egg laying, how do you sex your Societies?

Fancie Flight wrote:I use all males to foster this way I never have baby societies, lol And I only do thi sas a LAST resort

I agree, if you do not want Society babies, then use all males as foster parents. The way to reliably determine their gender is to watch them. Only the males will sing a song.

Audio51 · Post by **Audio51** » Mon May 05, 2008 1:20 am

Keep in mind that some Societies carry a diseases that they are immune to, but can pass on to other species when feeding. A couple of them are cochlosoma (a protozoal infection) and campylobacter (a bacterial infection). It is recommended that Societies that will be used for fostering, especially Gouldian chicks, should be treated with Ronex (Ronidisole) prior to being set up if possible. Often the chicks will seem fine, but Cochlosoma infections usually kill chicks before they fledge.

And as far as sexing Societies, only males sing. But sometimes if you have 2 males, one will take on the behavior of a female and not sing when in the presence of the the other males. If you have a couple of them and are not sure, put them in a cage by them selves for a while in a romm away from other and most males will begin to sing if the are old enough. How old is old enough? In my experience, any where for 3-5 months old.

Vicki

poohbear · Post by **poohbear** » Mon May 05, 2008 3:54 am

I used to keep societies for fostering ,but haven't used them for years.All my Gouldians are parent reared,and I haven't had a chick thrown for two years.However a friend of mine in the UK has lost over 50 chicks in the last year to Gouldians and the only two survivors were fostered out.He has now given up and fosters all of his Gouldian eggs.

I always find the best Gouldian parents are in their second season.

The question of fostering is hotly debated over here...the purists insist in the Gouldians rearing their own.
I don't think there is any difference between parent Gouldians that were themselves fostered and those that were parent reared when it comes to their own rearing skills.
If I had problems with my birds I would not hesitate to foster out.Zebra finches too can make great foster parents...and as said earlier, over here the norm is to use two cock societies for this task.
Paul.

L in Ontario · Post by **L in Ontario** » Mon May 05, 2008 8:04 am

Paul - WOW! I love your ending tagline. Very impressive!

poohbear · Post by **poohbear** » Mon May 05, 2008 8:56 am

L in Ontario wrote:Paul - WOW! I love your ending tagline. Very impressive!

Naah!...it just means I'm ruddy old

Got my first Zebbies when I was ten and Gouldians when I was 13 cost £5 a pair...
Have a look at this pic.....very worn and fuzzy it's been scanned from an old photo.
I was 14 when I got a Canary Wing Conure called Henry.He went everywhere with me...to school...on the bus...on the park.He never ever flew off and no his wings weren't clipped either.He just stayed on my shoulder all day long. I can't remember how I trusted him like I did, but he never flew, (Yes he was a strong flyer) even when something made him jump.
Paul.