Petstore gouldian purchase FLOP! Debbie heres your update

[Babs _Owner]

lovezebs

You didnt judge, you and the others cheered me on!

I just feel like I let everyone down. . I wanted this pair soooo much to thrive. And think they may, just NOT in a gouldian environment.

Their new owners are nurses. And I have to ball up and cry and let them go to someone more capable. Watching my pureblood normals wave away into the wind is not easy, as these birds are rarer to find more day by day.

She picks them up this week. She's been informed, spot on in taking notes. As soon as I know she's serious (and she's been lovely so far) I will direct her to the forum.

[ac12]

Aw poooo
I know what it feels like to get your heart set for breeding a pair, then have it fall in on you

Were it me, I would put them into separate M and F community cages. There they have to sleep on perches, as I do NOT have nests in the community cages. The problem is how long do they have to stay in that environment to break them of the desire to sleep in the nest. And during this time, you loose at least 1 breeding season, maybe 2. And you still don't know if you broke them of the desire to sleep in the nest.

When I have society foster raised gouldians, as soon as they wean, I put them into the male gouldian community cage, to avoid society imprinting. They stay in the M gouldian community cage until they complete their molt. That way, the males juves learn to sing gouldian from the adult males, and the M and F all turned out fine.

I had one zebra that I fostered, and accidentally left in the societies cage too long, and he thought he was a society. He somehow got out of the zebra cage, and rather than flying around the room like most escapees, he was desperately trying to get back into the society cage. And when he called and sang, it was NOT as a zebra but as a society. None of the zebras would respond to him

[ac12]

Babs

We have a pair of Black-headed normals we got from a reputable breeder in April and they had a clutch of three. The parents were great, etc. The juveniles kept going back into the nest box to sleep for the longest time, right up to just before they were weaned. The parents started a second clutch of 5 eggs but all the eggs got broken, we suspect, by the fledglings who were sleeping in the nest box.

It is for this reason that I REMOVE the nest as soon as the chicks fledge. This does 2 things.
#1 - To force the parents to take care of the chicks rather than start another clutch.
#2 - To force the chicks to perch, and not go back into the nest.

I once watched my societies via my nestcam, and saw almost what you described. The gouldian fledglings would come into the nest and barge around and force the societies off the eggs and out of the nest. While they did not crack the eggs, the eggs never got properly incubated and died. That told me it was very risky to try to overlap fostered clutches.

[Babs _Owner]

ac12

I am not up abnormally late, losing my mind over this (am I giving up...am I doing the right thing?).

You remember I toiled for endless hours on how to raise my societies, and then my gouldians...hours and hours, months of research.

And you are right! There is this special window of time when gouldians can be re- introduced to stay their species, and we can make them gouldians again.

And it takes that special gouldian mate to mix them with for breeding to healthy make natural babies.

These two society-raised gouldians are beyond that, and thankyou for understanding. They still deserve the best home possible, even if not in my home, where I have the tame and the blind gouldian that take up all my extra room.

[lovezebs]

Babs

Hey girl,

Why are normals so hard to come by down there?

Over here the normals are what you see the most of, with more and more people breeding them.

Here is Scout coming your way, as handsome as can be...just to make you smile...

[debbie276]

I hear ya Babs, understand and absolutely agree!

All the best

[Babs _Owner]

lovezebs

Scout! I love him. Gimme him. *giggle Yep normals are hard to come by here. Every gouldian I have purchased has had surprise splits. And it's been fun not knowing what their babies will look like, but even in the beginning of breeding gouldians, I yearned to breed the normals.

debbie276

Thanks Debbie! I needed that!

Now back on the hunt for that elusive normal pair.

[lovezebs]

Babs

How I wish you were closer honey, Bubba is a 'normal' baby
I would gladly let you have him, lmao.

[a_gouldian]

Babs

You could try Bev's Birds in Tucson Arizona. She only breeds normal. We have purchased birds from her three times and they all arrived here in perfect condition via USPS. You are a lot closer to her then we are. She does not ship in July and August due to the heat, but she does ship in Sept. and those will likely be birds that were bred earlier this year. Feel free to PM me if you have additional questions about our experience.

[Babs _Owner]

a_gouldian

Ahhh you are a gem! I just may do that this fall. I'll PM later today with a question or two.

[Babs _Owner]

lovezebs

I love me some Bubba!

[the_gouldian_guy]

Babs

It is for this reason that I REMOVE the nest as soon as the chicks fledge. This does 2 things.
#1 - To force the parents to take care of the chicks rather than start another clutch.
#2 - To force the chicks to perch, and not go back into the nest.

I once watched my societies via my nestcam, and saw almost what you described. The gouldian fledglings would come into the nest and barge around and force the societies off the eggs and out of the nest. While they did not crack the eggs, the eggs never got properly incubated and died. That told me it was very risky to try to overlap fostered clutches.

I agree totally. I always try to let the parents raise the chicks, but when fostering I find this to be the only way.

[wildbill]

if I were in your position... i'd get rid of them. i'd say a lot more trouble than they are worth! you have already struck one problem and even if you get them going you never know what's around the corner.

even I had a bad breeding season and I did exactly that.... got rid of the problem stock. plan to re-group and try again on the next run

[Babs _Owner]

wildbill

Yes these two were rehomed. Sorry your breeding season didnt go well, my friend.

However, I cant wait to hear about your next (or current) adventure.

Still working on the normals?

[MariusStegmann]

Babs I still think the hen on the pic's that you posted is a cock. The yellow on the belly is a bit too yellow for a hen in my opinion.