Surprise Egg!

Paulie · Post by **Paulie** » Wed Sep 17, 2008 11:44 pm

Today i was checking on my gouldians and found that the female had laid her first egg in the nest! I'm very excited, been waiting for this pair to start breeding

Male: RH-WB-Green
Female: BH-PB-Green

I didnt even notice that she was expecting! Also to my excitement they both took to bathing. They usually didnt bathe in the water before and the female started giving herself a wash [has to do with humidity for the eggs right?] and with her male watching, he jumped right in and made a show of it. Was funny when the male kept following the female around the cage with a piece of swamp grass in his mouth as if to say 'yay we're nesting'

I'm gonna do the sensible thing and give em as much privacy as possible and avoid frequent nest checking. Hope things go well and i'll keep y'all posted!

FINCHIE · Post by **FINCHIE** » Thu Sep 18, 2008 12:43 am

Congratulations!!! How long have they been a pair?

Annabelle · Post by **Annabelle** » Thu Sep 18, 2008 8:03 am

Congrats and good luck. Hope its all smooth sailing for them and you.

ruth · Post by **ruth** » Fri Sep 19, 2008 3:37 am

Good luck. Post some pics when they hatch.!

Paulie · Post by **Paulie** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 6:21 am

after waiting for a few days i decided to have a quick peek in the nest when they were not in....and i found just one egg

can gouldians just lay one egg? also can the female even lay eggs when her beak isnt fully black...my female only has the slightest smidgen of black on her beak....i dunno, i have a feeling the egg isnt fertile...i'll candle it i think to find out

williep · Post by **williep** » Mon Sep 22, 2008 10:44 am

Paulie, if there is only one egg the chances the parents will incubate is very slim, usually they start incubating when the clutch is 3-4 eggs. Remember an egg can remain unincubated for quite a long period, 7-10 days, in my experience before going bad.

Are the parents spending more time in the nest or have they completely abandoned? Either way I would leave them at least 2 weeks before taking the next step.

As for the beak colour question, the mere fact that she laid an egg shows she’s ready even though she might not be in prime breeding condition yet.

Good luck and keep us posted.

Paulie · Post by **Paulie** » Fri Oct 03, 2008 11:31 am

I decided to candle the 1 egg....looked no good...i'm assuming its not fertile cause it was clear inside...good news tho, she's started laying again and its 3 new eggs so far

chrischris · Post by **chrischris** » Fri Oct 03, 2008 5:56 pm

If she skipped so many days inbetween it's likely that she isn't totally ready for breeding and the single egg was laid out of que.

chris