2016 Gouldian Breeding Season - Australia

[wildbill]

really not much happening in the breeding dept until today. I have about 8 gouldians I couldn't remember what reason I rung them with different colour rings and had placed them in another aviary - one pair have 3 young 2 normal and a LIME. that was a bit of a surprise as I rated these birds as almost useless to breed a mutation. so on my behalf a bad call there
the possibles splits in the lime blue still have not got into their full breeding mode and 20 pair are still doing nothing. I'd put this down to late last year nests and not mature enough but I'd say by april they should be in full breeding mode.
in the nests I'd say I'd have around 20 young now all appeared to be green backs but due to my rather poor eyesight or until they get their feather -there could easily be lime or two amongst them.
late today as usual I was in there giving them their last meal for the day and had my favorite egg candling torch with me. I still have about 45 eggs due out in the next week so I opened the first box and a cock bird flew out and with the aide of the candler checked all 6 eggs. they were all very dark so its only a matter of days to the hatching date.
same with the next nest only 3 eggs all fertile -then the next a hen sitting on a batch of 9 fertile eggs and last box was the biggest surprise.
3 young had just hatched - 2 blues and probably a normal with 3 eggs to go. now its also possible this nest could definitely throw a lime as it happened just like that last year. so with 20 young hatched its taken a while to get a blue from the possibles but apart from what is breeding now I still have 20 pairs still sitting about and not in breeding mode plus another 45 eggs to hatch within the next week - so you could say its certainly interesting.
overall its good to just go in the aviaries and look about and not be concerned about being thousands of $$$ in the red with mutations and know they owe you absolutely nothing....well apart from seed. best position I've been in since my return to birds 10 years ago
I might grab a few photos shortly to load up

[lovezebs]

wildbill

It all sounds good .

Looking forward to pictures of some of these babies.
How do you tell the difference between normals and limes, when you look at these newly born?

[Sally]

Sounds like you are off to a really good start to your breeding season, hope you have more limes in the bunch!

[wildbill]

well its mainly skin tone BUT do to my poor eye focus on close ups I can't pick them. anyway once the start getting feathers from 12 days on I have no trouble. here's a photo I took today of the lime with its 2 green back nest mates.

[hanabi]

wildbill

Yes that is an obvious difference in hue. It looks very similar to my dilute (SF yellow) at the same age. Looking forward to more images in the future.

[wildbill]

photo of last years lime with blue nest mate

[wildbill]

as usual with first year breeders I am having the standard run of the mill results. some pairs know exactly what to do from the day the eggs hatch and feed within the first 24 hours while others just continue to sit and fail to feed and the young usually perish.
now the ones which hatched all green birds so far have fed most of their young from the very beginning. the others who had scattered blue chicks amongst the young didn't feed any of the young in the nest till a couple departed and I had to transfer young from one box to another good feeding hen.
sometimes this idea works well and they go the distance - sometimes the new parents will feed for a week then single out the intruders and let them die and times they just totally refuse to feed them. either way you look at it - it was a bleak entry into the world from the start so a nest swap is always work a try.
by round two those first time failure have a better idea what to expect and usually pickup their act. just a pity in most cases -blue chick are unfortunately with that particular pair. this appears to be my main problem with the first timers unless you can run a 2nd year hen/cock with one. that doesn't guarantee perfect results either - what may have been a good pair last year may not follow the next.
never had any problem with chicks killed in the nest either or young being tossed out on the aviary floor.
on the other hand if I was unfortunate to have live chick tossers- i'd get rid of them pretty quick and sell them off. same too with the pairs which kill their young in the nest. so I will just stick to handling the odd pair of non-feeders thanks and be happy with the outcome

[lovezebs]

wildbill

Hey there .

With the exception of my first clutch (where Socies took over the nest), I have found my parents to be excellent (so far) .

I did have one pair just recently, that were a bit unsure about how much to feed the chicks . Chicks were on the thin side, begging very weakly.

I pulled the chicks, offered supplemental feeding a few times, and put them back.

Chicks began begging loudly, parents got the message, and all went well from there on .

I hope all goes well with your pairs this season, fingers crossed (with many limes showing up, and surviving).

[wildbill]

time will tell on the outcome - took a few photo for you

[lovezebs]

wildbill

Look at all of them

They're gorgeous babies , thanks for sharing.

Right now I have one pair, raising one baby (whom I named Uno). He is a cutie, and spoiled rotten .

[wildbill]

lovezebs

yours looks delicious too! bit of salt and pepper and some herbs.........just joking

[lovezebs]

wildbill

Uno, does look like a little piglet, doesn't he, lol

And you should hear him 'demanding' to be fed with loud sqwaks, that can be heard all over the house

[Sally]

I just love all those photos of babies in the nest! Thanks for sharing.

[wildbill]

Sally

no probs. the more mature young have feathers now and I didn't want to disturb in case they nest jump. although they are just green backs they still look good.

@lovezebs

you might be out chasing up a second job to be able to afford to buy the feed to keep him

[lovezebs]

wildbill

Already spending an arm and a leg feeding all my feathered piglets, don't know what I'm going to do with this one, lol.

How is Emerald doing? Did she feather up pretty?