2016 Gouldian Breeding Season - Australia

[wildbill]

no pressure on me this year to produce the goods so I can just go take a quick peek anytime I choose to. therefore I can list the good and the bad and it matters little.
one first year breeder which hatched 5 young - 4 plus a blue is feeding well and all good. another first timer which hatched 7 young - 6 plus a blue. they singled out the blue and fed the other 6 young. so that's another blue gone.
lime mouth marking are similar to the normal so get through drama free. so that's a bonus. so far only 16 pairs of the 35 pair of possible combo's have gone to nest. but that's changing week by week. at the moment I have

13 young flying
25 young in the nest boxes from a few days old to just about ready to fly
43 eggs in total from just laying the clutch to a few days setting to almost ready to hatch.

no green milk millet given to them as I have not been able to get any for a couple of years. they do get green feed though in the form of coss or iceberg lettuce soaked overnight in solominavit. which I'd class as a vitamin booster.
I also cut a selection of green seeding grasses along the odd back road. risky move but I cut a large portion in one hit and into the freezer. go back to the same spot a week later and if its still good I know it hasn't been poisoned. but I don't cut any more.
so I mix the bit of green seed with white millet and finch mix and add 2 hard boiled eggs mashed up plus some crushed eggshells and that's about it.
water wise 3 days of clean water and 4 days with soluvite d breeder on a rotation basis.
I don't give any hard medication at all - we all know about medication and the blues. if they were sick which they aren't - no hard drugs to save their life which I feel they would never be any good and not worth owning! well you might own them but not for long.
about 6 years back I purchased birds from nsw and had to use those drugs on the blues. sickly birds to start with and far too many issues - so never again. blues from Victoria were fine -garyh.
the blues below are now 3 years old or a bit more and are still kicking and now great grandparent to the lot. plus 2 purple breasted cock birds. all 4 were crossed with limes

[lovezebs]

wildbill

It's curious, why the blues down in Australia have so many problems, and why the ones in this end of the woods, are thriving (?)

Too bad the blues breeders from this part of the world can't ship some eggs down your way, to strengthen the lines.

I've never heard of green milk millet, is it similar to spray Millet?
Regarding the wild grasses, you know I'm always collecting the wild grass seeds, whenever in season, but where I walk, no one bothers to spray. Did you ever get any results from the seeded bird seed mix which you spread out to grow?

[wildbill]

lovezebs
easy answer -20 years ago they were $2000 a pair -colour and split....so we are talking big $$$$ here. they were bred color to colour and under the dreaded Bengalese. I am pretty sure it was the bango breeding which caused the drama with fostering under diseased birds. the gouldian being a mutation and a weaker gene makeup couldn't handle the 2 main diseased associated with some but not all Bengalese.

green milk millet is really harvested green millet and the milky stage. therefore once harvested it has to be stored under freezer condition or will rot. to use you just visit the freezer take a small portion of the frozen seed and place directly into the feeding bowl. no need to thaw as it's eaten quickly.

unfortunately the seed drops were failures and no good due to no follow up rain

[lovezebs]

wildbill

Thanks for clarification on the Ozzy blues.
So breeding blue to blue, and fostering under diseased Socies, ruined it for generations of these birds, sigh.... That's greed for you, eh?

Too bad the seeding didn't work, maybe next year.

[wildbill]

lovezebs

the blue mutation is a stronger breed now than say 5 years ago. so quality is finally improving. lot of this has to do with breeders who outcrossed the blue to quality normal to get better and more robust splits.
this year there appears to be lot more blues for sale than normal years. I would not be surprised if next year -they get hit with a price drop

[wildbill]

now at 16 flying about and a couple of new season hens laying for the very first time. I also found 2 nests which I thought were empty. looking into both these budgie style nest boxes was a challenge with the grass over ahead and first off appeared empty so I had never bothered to bother to look again.
yesterday I thought I'd take another peek and to my surprise what appeared an empty nest box had a smaller hole in the rear section of the well packed swamp grass nest. about two thirds along the box was a well hidden entrance and the breeding nest was located at a lower level.....just like a 2 story dwelling. one nest had 3 young and the other 4 young. both nest had young which were probably 5 to 7 days old.
another new season hen which I thought was a total timewaster got her clutch up and running to 9 eggs then decide to start the incubation period. all good so far and both pairs have been sited doing changeover duties.
fertility wise not sure yet but I plan to check it out on Friday.

[lovezebs]

wildbill

They never cease to amaze, eh? A nice surprise for Valentines day

[wildbill]

will keep you posted

[wildbill]

good news
I decided to check things out a day early and it appears a fair few off the 9 eggs have signs of life so all good.
bad news
overnight temp dropped to 7 degrees so I thought I'd check out one particular nest box. this lot were at the critical stage about 10 days and the hen not sitting overnight. disaster nest - 5 young - 2 blues 1 lime and 2 green backs. as usual 2 blues and lime dead and green backs just kicking. all cold and had full crops. cock bird flew out too so a very expensive nest to loose. after all I paid $700 a head for the limes. tonight the prediction is another low -8C
anyway not much I can do about that but with another 32 young in various nest boxes plus 9 pair sitting on 40 plus eggs - so I thought stuffed if I am going to let them be knocked over by unexpected cold overnights for feb
well I've done the figures and made the move and I can heat the overnight shelters involved on a timer system for roughly $300 a month - which is nothing. that's working on about 7 or 8 hours of power running 450 watt panel heaters. when you consider the above loss I could have run heat in the breeding sections for a good 4 months. plus with these overnight colds coming in - there also the risk of egg bound young hens.
so by the time this day is over I will be set up and running the 450 watt panel heaters nightly in all breeder aviaries. you might say it will/could weaken them a bit BUT in reality we are not talking $10 birds here. either you like the lime mutation or you don't but there a very few about and not easy to get.
plus I never know when I open the nest box and that new purple/plum looking mutation chick will be peering back. last year that incident happened several times so it's still on the cards to pop up again.

[lovezebs]

wildbill

Sorry for the lost babies, my friend.

However, I'm glad you decided to pump in some heat. I think it will make a big difference for all of them, not just the infants.

Good luck.

[wildbill]

lovezebs

well its just freak weather her for mid summer. including tonight that's a 7 and 8 degree temp in a row. after that its back to 15 over night for a few days. just bad timing when the overnight stay by the hen ended and ended their run.
but its only the start of the season for breeding them so I have plenty time to sort it out. heaters now installed in 4 aviaries on a timer - 6 heaters in total and ready for tonight drop in temp

[Sam007]

"heaters now installed" Good news!

[wildbill]

yep! thermostat controlled and now set at 15 celsius. pretty happy with the move and worked fine last night so all good. this move will bring me into winter without fear of egg bound hens on the floor. I actually had a first timer egg bound hen yesterday. first off I thought she was sick as I checked the vent area and felt nothing. into the hospital cage and 3 hours later an egg
so she will spend the next few days isolated as she was in a pretty well distressed state and will be released early next week. must look after the hens

[wildbill]

just a quick update on the breeding season.

21 young flying including 2 limes -26 in the nest boxes from a few days old to just about ready to exit the nest boxes and 60 fertile eggs -that's wrong I found another nest of 5 eggs late today in various boxes. plus a couple of first season hens dropping an egg or two where ever.....like on the floor
I still have 16 pairs looking about doing nothing and just filling in time. these could be late young from last august/sept breeding season and may kick in by april.
two hens are setting on very large clutches. one on 9 eggs and the other 12 eggs...all fertile. In regard to the 12 egg nest I think maybe an imposter dropped a few in too but I could also be wrong.
I found another nest 5 eggs and only one fertile so tomorrow I plan to toss those and relieve the hen with 12 eggs of half a dozen. there is no way she care for a clutch like that so better I salvage some eggs now before they hatch and its too late.

[lovezebs]

wildbill

12.... WOW!!! That's one industrious lady.....

Good luck with the transfer.