Goulds egg laying question

exoticgouldian · Post by **exoticgouldian** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 11:49 am

did u check how many eggs are there yet ? good luck with the eggs ! I think you can quickly do a nest check if you see both of them out !

Post by **Sally** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 12:08 pm

I have been rethinking how I give my birds privacy. I tried to stay out of the bird room as much as possible, didn't want to be in there cleaning and fussing all the time, and I got an invasion of mice, which disrupted things much more than if I had been in there cleaning. I also noticed that when I did go in the bird room, the birds were much more likely to freak out.

I have started spending more time in there, even running the vacuum more, and it seems that they settle down pretty quickly each time. I just wonder if it isn't better to get them more used to some invasions of their privacy. I use seed hoppers, but all other foods are placed on the floor of the cage in small dishes, plus I am giving them bathtubs--all these things have to be exchanged daily.

They can have privacy for their nests with plastic plants placed to hide them. I still won't be doing nest checks on most of them. But I think, with Gouldians especially, if you go about your daily routine, they should be fine. I think nest checks are the problem, so as long as you leave the nest alone, they shouldn't abandon the nest.

atarasi · Post by **atarasi** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 12:38 pm

I haven't checked in the nest box since Tuesday, so I don't know how many eggs are in there. The lonely hen in the cage next to them thrashes about wildly and I know it's not because she is spooked....she doesn't even breath hard. Her floppin' about gives me anxiety because I try and be quiet and move slowly.

I do have plastic bamboo plants along the front and sides of the cage, but not enough where they can't see out.

atarasi · Post by **atarasi** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 1:30 am

This is a lot of "ifs", but if they do incubate, and if the eggs are fertile and hatch, when is a safe time to check on them? I just didn't want a dead baby in there smellin' up the room if it died and mostly cause health concerns to any babies that might be still alive. What a morbid thought

Post by **Sally** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 11:29 pm

Usually if there is a dead baby, the parents will toss it out of the nest. It varies with each pair as to when you can check the babies. My Goulds let me check fairly soon, but I don't like to make them get off the nest for me to look. Once the parents both start leaving the nest, you can look all you want.

atarasi · Post by **atarasi** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 3:45 am

Bad news and good news....
I placed a sprouted millet spray in their cage and I must have spooked them too much. They didn't take to the nest like they usually do, so...<heavy sigh> I took the eggs out and put them under the societies. Might be a mistake, but the eggs didn't look all that great. One of them looked dehyrated and was like a weeble wabble...half empty. The other 3 eggs looked okay, but was a bit surprised to see how large the air pocket was. The societies didn't seem to care that the fake eggs were replaced with real ones and are continuing to sit on them. The other good part about all this is that I can candle them on Wednesday without too much worry that they would abandon the nest.

mickp · Post by **mickp** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 6:59 am

good luck with the candling, hope some are fertile for you.
what size cage are they housed in. the first time mine bred successfully was in a small cage, I didnt do any nest inspections at all tried to treat it as though they were in the wild, if something was wrong they would sort it out and they did, by throwing out a chick but raising the other fully. now they are in the avairy and the only time I will risk a peek into the nest is once a week when both are out of the nest, no poking or prodding with fingers though just a quick look then move away. a couple of times while doing that the male has flown at me as if saying leave my nest alone, he even landed on my head one day, not sure who got the biggest fright though lol

atarasi · Post by **atarasi** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 12:37 pm

The cage is 18" x 18" by 30" long.
It's the same size that the breeder uses. With some luck, they'll hatch.
I know it's common for them to be not fertile, but I guess I'll know soon enough!

atarasi · Post by **atarasi** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 12:29 am

Candled the eggs tonight. Nada. Two of them look completely empty, and two are dried up. I knew this wasn't going to be that easy!
I moved the nest box in the Gouldians cage to face forward so they can see me enter the room so I won't have the issue of spooking them.

kittani79 · Post by **kittani79** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 11:01 pm

Well.... Right after my last post things started getting interesting.

I had put in a nest box about a month ago and both of them have avoided it like it was the scariest thing in teh world... until a few days ago. I noticed Vash (male) carrying bits of nesting material around, and thought he was just bored... but then last night he was sitting on the porch bit of the nest box and calling frantically to the girl. She checked it out and that was the end of it for then... but today Vash is hard at work again.

Only problem is... he's piled up a bunch of nesting material... but on the porch lol. Silly bird.