1 Fledge and 1 dead

[MariusStegmann]

Well the winter cold is finally here. It is bitterly cold here at night. About 6 Celsius and the daytime temp doesn't get hotter than 16 Celsius. My 7 gouldian clutch has dwindled to 3. The lone chick in the one nest has died as well. The 2 pairs, who's chick's pictures featured in the beginning of this post are both sitting on eggs again.

[MariusStegmann]

lovezebs I am glad that you got a nice surprise with the yellow gouldians. The parents must then be split for yellow if they have normal greenbacks.

[lovezebs]

MariusStegmann

I think I had to clutches in the nest, with the yellows belonging to another pair, who either abandoned or got chased out.

I think this is the father of the two yellows, and this might be the mother:

They were however raised by a pair of normal greens, along with their three baby Greens

[MariusStegmann]

lovezebs I must say, that yellowhead yellowback is an absolute beauty. Rather orange than yellow, but let me rather keep to the naming conventions. So the chicks will be redheads more than likely.

[lovezebs]

MariusStegmann

Glad you like him, he is rather handsome, isn't he

Here are the two chickies...

How are your kids doing?

[MariusStegmann]

lovezebs They are doing ok. The 7 gouldians clutch is down to 3. A Blue, a yellow and a dilute. The dilute is a lot smaller than the other two. I am just thankful that the blue chick is one of the large ones. Three of my gouldian pairs has eggs. The other pair has the 3 chicks. So far, the only loss that I had with my (out of the nest) gouldian chicks is the blue chick that I bragged about a few months ago. The blues are just weaker than the other mutations.

[lovezebs]

MariusStegmann

All I can see is the sweet little yellow and the mouth nodules of the other two, lol.
He looks exactly like my two yellows when they were in the nest.

Keeping my fingers crossed for you that all will go well

[MariusStegmann]

lovezebs Found the little chick died. The 2 bigger ones sat on her and the parents could not feed her. I was wrong, it wasn't a dilute, she was also a blue.
[attachment=0]Blou.jpg

[Babs _Owner]

MariusStegmann

I'm sorry you lost another blue Marius. Have you considered Breeding one pair of gouldians for blues indoors to see if you get better results? Then gradually acclimating your blueback strain to the outdoors to handle the weather more robustly?

I'm just throwing ideas out there as you know I dont have an aviary. I just know we have another member who kept losing her blues in her aviary. I believe its Jen .

[lovezebs]

MariusStegmann

Darn it, just bad luck for those blue babies. I'm sorry you lost another one.

With your weather getting cokder, I wonder if Babs has something there. Maybe one flight cage indoors, just for the more sensetive mutations, might just do the trick. Is that something that you ever considered?

[MariusStegmann]

Babs lovezebs I have had similar thoughts. (Great minds think alike) I have made a small indoor cage, what will eventually be 3 stacked double breeders. I am going to put my weaned gouldian chicks in it. Perhaps, that would help. I am also going to put my split for blue pair also in one of those cages.

[lovezebs]

MariusStegmann

I think that's a good idea, and glad we all thought of it at the same time, lol.

This way at least the young ones will have a better chance at survival than in the grest outdoors.

[Babs _Owner]

MariusStegmann

Sounds like the start of a great new project! Can't wait to see who pairs up!

[MariusStegmann]

Babs lovezebs I made a very rough cage that I put on my back porch and put my gouldian chicks in it. They really make a terrible mesh with seed all over the show. This cage is about 1.5 meter long and is purely funtional and not something to look at. It has another cage underneath, with room for another 2 cages underneath it. In desperation I put cardboard under the 2nd cage to try and limit the mess. I have about 17 young gouldians in it.

[lovezebs]

MariusStegmann

Good job Marius, much better than what I would manage to build.

The only thing I would do different, is to put a floor in the bottom of each cage, and enclose the quarter bottoms of the cage all the way around, which would help contain the seed mess a bit.

How are the Gouldi kids doing in the enclosed/semi enclosed area?
I think you will find that your survival rate will come right up.