Goulds first clutch, abandoned nest, now what??

[TexasHeather]

Hi all -- we're casual finch owners who find ourselves with our first clutch of eggs. We are actually quite surprised -- we had strawberries for over a year with no breeding activity before our male died.

Anyway, now we have gouldains (sp?), and we've only had them since mid-Jan, and a week ago, our hen laid her first egg. Everything was going fine at first -- one egg a day, and she was sitting on them all day long -- during the day, but not at night -- the whole time.

Thurs before Easter was the last egg (5 total) and she was still not sitting on the eggs at night at all; she'd stay in the nest all day, but when she was ready to sleep, she'd come down to the perch.

Sometime over the weekend she apparently abandoned the nest; she has not been incubating much at all, some during the day, but never at night still. Today she's been mostly off the nest.

So, what do we do now?? Remove the eggs? If so, any guess how soon we'll see another clutch?

We're going to get a nesting box (right now we have one of those round open types) so they have more privacy -- anything else to do to improve our chances on the next clutch??

We aren't in this to breed on purpose/become breeders, but one successful clutch would be really nice.

Sorry this is a bit long! Thanks for any help/advice you guys can give us!
Heather & hubby Quentin

[atarasi]

I'm sure someone who has a lot of experience will reply, but if i were you, I would remove the eggs especially if they aren't showing any interest in them. In about 7-14 days she'll start laying a new clutch.

[chrischris]

You didn't mention much about the male is he helping out showing interest also what about the age of the goulds?

Chris

[TexasHeather]

You didn't mention much about the male is he helping out showing interest also what about the age of the goulds?

Chris

the male was taking turns (brief) sitting on the eggs during the day when the hen would eat, drink, etc.

He is also trying to gather nesting material for her, but she mostly kicks it back out.

As for age, I'm not sure -- we bought them from a pet store in mid-January.

If we remove their favorite perch, do you think they'll spend more time in the nest at night (once they have the next clutch), or is it just immaturity or something?

Open to any and all suggestions/advice. Thanks!

[Hope]

My first pair of breeding gouldians has really taught me patience.

!st try- building nest and sitting during day only
2nd try- incubating (night and day) till 6th day
3rd try (second season)- hatched one egg but she didn't feed it
4th try - hopefully they'll learn to feed

It seemed they both needed a lot of practice and added something new each time. I also learned not to be to nosy and sit on my hands

[Sally]

My first pair of breeding gouldians has really taught me patience.

So true, Hope! Gouldians don't seem to instinctively know what to do--I wonder if the wild Gouldians are the same. They are cavity nesters, so the open nest is not the best. They seem to like the plastic nestboxes that have a half open front. Don't get one of those itty-bitty nests, because by the time Gouldian babies fledge, they will be big.

This clutch is probably a lost cause. You could leave the eggs in there till you get another nestbox for them, or you could go ahead and toss them. If you toss the eggs, take out that open nest. Once you have a new nestbox, you could offer them some dried grass or hay, coco fiber if you can find it locally (you usually have to order this online). Most pet shops sell those little boxes of white string, but that is not the best thing to use, they can get their legs tangled up in it. Gouldians are not the best nest builders, either, I usually put a small handful of hay in the box, then use my fist to mash it down into a cup shape--they will either use it as is or tear it apart to do their own thing.

[TexasHeather]

thanks Hope & Sally,

Ok...patience. yep, we can do that.

We plan to leave the nest in with the eggs until we get a nest box (probably this weekend).

For nesting material, what do you think about tearing up the nest they have? The male frequently pulls fibers from it already, maybe that would make a good material?

Thanks for all the help -- I'll let y'all know what happens after we get the new nestbox set up; hopefully we'll have clutch #2 and a little better success.

[rkn]

I was sort of in a similar situation and being a finch nebie I removed all the eggs after nothing hatched in a solid 4 weeks. I also took a flash light and looked inside the eggs. dudds is my best guess. and too they were sort of frozen icky inside nothing moving liquidy like. So I upset the gang (again) and removed all the eggs and had to remove the nesting grasses because I found one broke in a nest and worried it would get smelly. Needless to say no one is speaking to me in my finch garden.

sigh****

rita

ps...mine were spice, and zebra eggs and 6 between two nest and all imo dudds. I am worried I upset the group, but what do you do? Suggestions?

[chrischris]

I love your finch garden and would love to have one but just wondering if it might be cold/hot for them as it's against an outside window.

Chris

I was sort of in a similar situation and being a finch nebie I removed all the eggs after nothing hatched in a solid 4 weeks. I also took a flash light and looked inside the eggs. dudds is my best guess. and too they were sort of frozen icky inside nothing moving liquidy like. So I upset the gang (again) and removed all the eggs and had to remove the nesting grasses because I found one broke in a nest and worried it would get smelly. Needless to say no one is speaking to me in my finch garden.

sigh****

rita

ps...mine were spice, and zebra eggs and 6 between two nest and all imo dudds. I am worried I upset the group, but what do you do? Suggestions?