24/5/20
The three cock birds in the pic below in Cage 3/4 were sold last week to the one bird fancier and we expect he will have favourable breeding results with these three come 2021.
We kept one of the hen birds from Cage 5/6 (now in Aviary 3) and sold the other hen.
10/5/20
More recent pics of three Lilac Breasted Australian Yellow split cock birds in Cage 3/4 are below:
30/4/20
In this last week we decided it was time to rest most of the birds in this bank of cages.
As a result, Cage 1/2 is now empty while Cage 3/4 has three split Aust Yellow cock birds and Cage 5/6, three split Aust Yellow hens.
There had been 1-2 eggs laid by the hen birds as noted in the previous post, but we decided there was no benefit with continuing to have the hen birds ‘lay eggs’ and then abandon the nest box.
We will be looking to sell these birds when social distancing rules relax here in Melbourne. Pics below show the cock birds from earlier in 2020.
20/4/20
The pair in Cage 5/6 have starting laying today with just the one egg in NB5.
Meanwhile the pair in Cage 1/2 have been in/out of NB1 so we suspect egg laying will commence soon.
Cage 3/4 is currently empty.
11/4/20
We moved the pair previously in Cage 1/2 into Aviary 3 today as we suspect they will prefer the privacy that cage will afford them in the backyard. This leaves this cage temporarily empty at the end of today.
In Cage 3/4 are three spare cock birds – two taken from the Main Aviary and another ‘swapped’ out of Cage 7/8 the other week.
In Cage 5/6 are a pair we have been ‘resting’ for over a month now in Cage 41/42. They are a pair of split Australian Yellow birds as seen below when they were in Aviary 2 earlier in the season.
3/4/20
There is nothing new to report on this bank of cages this week.
Only Cage 1/2 has a breeding pair of birds and the hen yet to commence her second brood for the season (with her first brood of three eggs, all were tossed from the nest box by the cock bird).
28/3/20
We moved 6 birds from the Main Aviary this week and placed 3 each in Cages 3/4 and 5/6.
In Cage 1/2, we continue to wait upon the hen bird to start with her second brood for the season. She is continually in the nest box but so far has failed to lay an egg. We think she may be simply too stressed to do so.
21/3/20
Well the suspicious actions of the hen bird in Cage 3/4 have been realised when, after laying two eggs in NB3, she moved across to NB4 and is now sitting on a further two eggs! We suspect the birds were unsettled by some movement under the back verandah which made them change nest boxes. We have since removed the abandoned eggs in NB3. Pic below of the bank of cages being discussed in this post.
In Cage 1/2 the pair continue to visit NB1 but have yet to start a brood.
In Cage 5/6, the hen laid 4 eggs but then abandoned the nest box – we believe for similar reasons as per the pair in Cage 3/4 described above.
We decided late in the day to move this pair out of Cage 5/6 and place them in the Main Aviary where there might be more privacy. Pic of the pair is below.
14/3/20
So much for the good news we reported last week with all the hatchlings that emerged from Cage 3/4 and 5/6 being either thrown from the nest box or dying in the nest box along with abandoned unhatched eggs…most disappointing as we had held high hopes for the stock we would have potentially had if these broods had been successful.
Today we noticed the pair in Cage3/4 have started laying again, although the hen was acting suspiciously and already their first egg in this new brood has been tossed out of the nest box. A pic of the pair is below.
The pair in Cage 5/6 have surprisingly changed nesting boxes from NB6 to NB5 and have 1 egg so far in their nest brood. Pics of these two birds below.
Still no further eggs in Cage1/2 where the cock bird is quite busy nest building but so far it seems to no avail. Pics of the pair taken today are below.
4/3/20
Well better news this week in this block of cages, with the parings in Cages 3/4 and 5/6 due to be looking after hatchlings.
In fact we are sure this is happening in Cage 5/6 as we have a pic of two of the hatchlings from earlier this week below!
In Cage 1/2 the pair are resetting their nest after abandoning their first brood (ie throwing out their eggs from the nest box)
23/2/20
Some good news and some not so good news.
To the good news…in Cages 3/4 and 5/6, the birds continue to incubate their respective broods of 4 and 5 eggs.
And the bad news…the two eggs in Cages 1/2 we reported on last time, were thrown from the nest box (for whatever reason), so effectively the nest box was abandoned. The pair are slowly getting around to starting again.
It usually takes about 10-14 days for a hen to start laying a new brood.
16/2/20
Good news this week is in two of the cages, the birds are incubating their broods while in Cage 1/2, the hen bird has laid two eggs so far.
Pic of cages 1-6 below.
8/2/20
A week can be a long time in the cages…all three pairs are doing the right thing this week and working together with nest building including spending long periods inside identified nest boxes together.
We are encouraged by the birds activities and expect egg laying to have commenced by the time we next report on this bank of cages.
2/2/20
Really disappointing 24 hours with the birds in Cage 5/6 abandoning their brood of 7 eggs of which 5 were fertile in NB5.
We think the hot weather combined with our actions to try keep the birds cool has created sufficient stress for the pair to leave the brood.
They have already started building a new nest in NB6.
Still no action in Cage 3/4, so it might be time to reconsider the pairing which has now been in place since 11 December – over 7 weeks.
Nothing new to report with the pair in Cage 1/2.
27/1/20
All is going well for the brood in Cage 5/6 with the hen bird sitting on 6 eggs at present. It is likley the first of the eggs will hatch later this week which is a bit of a worry as the temperature is expected to hit 41 degrees on 31/1/20. We will monitor the birds as best we can.
Still waiting on the pair in Cage 3/4 to formally nest. Their pic is below.
In Cage 1/2, still no nest box settled on by the cock bird, so hopefully things improve with his selection abilities over the next week. Their pic is below.
16/1/20
Well we have a pair of birds commencing the incubation of at least 5 eggs today in Cage 5/6 (nesting in NB5).
The hen bird in this partnership was quite productive with egg laying last year, but all her three broods came to no good as the eggs appeared to be infertile. Hopefully with a completely different partner this year, we will get better results.
She is a Blue Gouldian while he is Normal Split Blue, so all their progeny will be at least Split Blues and hopefully 50% will be actual Blue Gouldians.
We are expecting the birds in Cage 3/4 to provide the next lot of good news for us.
9/1/20
We removed the pairing in Cage 1/2 back into the Main Aviary as they were clearly incompatible (as noted in previous post).
Into this cage we placed one of the new SF White Breasted Pastel Green hen birds we purchased form a Deer Park breeder along with one of the cock birds from the Main Aviary. He is a Black Headed Purple Breasted SF Pastel Green split for Blue and we are hoping this combination will produce a Pastel Blue or Silver bird as progeny (fingers crossed).
The birds in Cage 3/4 are clearly compatible but can’t decide on a nest box to set up, while in Cage 5/6 the pair are close to egg laying having spent a lot of time developing nest box 5 for such an occasion!
3/1/20
We are starting to see some courtship activity with the pairs in Cages 3-6, but nothing with the pair in Cage 1/2 who are continually beak ‘fencing’ and are clearly incompatible after 3 weeks together. We will make a change with this pair in the near future once we work out what is the most appropriate plan given the Blue Goudlian hen bird in the cage seems to be the culprit (in the incompatibility stakes), but is the bird we want to see breed this year.
15/12/19
In this set of cages, the cock birds are quite active and only the hen bird from Cage 5/6 seems to be taking up the offer to inspect the nest the cock bird has prepared!
Pic from today of this bank of cages.
18/12/19
Realised yesterday that one of the pairings described in an earlier post is incorrect. Instead of pairing a Blue Gouldian hen with a DF Pastel Green cock, we have realised that as he has a white chest, he is in fact a SF Pastel Green cock.
We are still comfortable with this arrangement for now, but may reconsider after seeing the first brood – particularly if they are all Normal coloured.
14/12/19
Some pics from Cage 3/4 are below…
12/12/19
Yesterday we placed our three Blue Gouldian hens in cages 1-6 and matched them up with an Australian Yellow, a Double Factor Pastel green (Euro Yellow) and Normal Split Blue cock birds
So far everyone is just getting to know each other…
Note – this page was previously referred to as ‘Cage 1’ only, but has been expanded to include two further cages going forward.
6/11/19
Currently still empty with birds previously in this Cage in the Main Aviary (per previous post)
24/6/19
Unfortunately the brood started as per the previous post amounted to nought with the birds abandoning the nest box eventually.
Both birds have now been moved into the Main Aviary to rest.
25/5/19
This pair have now commenced incubating the eggs the hen bird laid in the right hand nesting box in this cage (incubation start date – 14/5).
We have not competed a further check to see how many eggs there are since initially noting two eggs earlier in the piece.
We don’t want to disturb the birds unnecessarily.
This is probably the last opportunity for us to breed our own Blue Gouldian this season and specifically from this pairing, but as the hen bird has not successfully raised a chick to fledgling status yet, we are being pragmatic and expecting this brood will peter out to nothing as per her previous four broods.
13/5/19
It was our intention to rest this pair (see previous post), but surprisingly, they jumped back into the nest building phase, so we decided to leave them together in Cage 1 for a little bit longer and they have now produced another brood of 2 eggs so far.
We will not get too excited with this news as this is the hen bird’s fifth brood this year and she has been a bit all over the place this breeding season with her egg laying and hatchling maintenance.
4/5/19
After incubating their clutch of 4 eggs for just under a week, the parent birds have abandoned the nest. They ‘kicked’ two eggs out of the nest box and left the other two still in the nest box which we have since removed.
This was most frustrating and disappointing as we had changed over breeding partners for the Blue Gouldian hen hoping the change might be for the better.
As this was her fourth brood for the season, we will rest her from any further breeding opportunities until next year.
28/4/19
Great news with the Blue Gouldian pair commencing the incubation of a clutch of four eggs today. Estimated date for the arrival of their hatchlings is 16 days!
22/4/19
Still no egg laying in this cage – maybe they are waiting until after the Easter Bunny finishes delivering chocolate eggs!
17/4/19
We are getting closer to egg laying as the pair continue to show much interest in one another and the right hand nest box in their cage.
13/4/19
This pair are getting along really well and have built a cosy nest which we hope will soon be populated with eggs.
For the hen bird, this will potentially be her fourth brood this season and ideally her last, as it is not a great idea to exhaust the hen birds with egg laying which takes a lot out of them.
6/4/19
We have separated the original pair of birds we had in this cage for over 3 months when the third brood ended up on the cage floor – the adult birds kicked another two eggs out of the nest box (they had already kicked out two eggs as noted in the previous post).
The fifth egg was covered over with nesting material – clearly the pair had abandoned their third clutch, so we swapped them around and created a new pairing in this cage as per the pic below.
We left the Blue Gouldian hen (bird on right hand side) in the cage, but added a new Normal/Split Blue cock bird recently purchased from a Noble park breeder (the cock bird is on the left).
He has already made up a nest in the right hand nest box so just needs to encourage the hen bird to join him therein where mating will take place.
1/4/19
These guys are a funny pair. We checked the nest box this morning (we now have some visibility of the goings on in the nest box in new Cage 1), and noticed the hen bird had laid 5 eggs over the previous five mornings…so all good.
Then in the afternoon, we found two eggs thrown out of the nest box and on the cage floor. We checked the eggs and they were both cold and appeared infertile (maybe that assumption was too early to tell in retrospect), so we removed the two eggs from the cage. We checked the nest box for the other three egg, but could only see two.
Already losing confidence with it pairing’s third brood!
27/3/19
As per the post on the main page, the hatchling we took from this pair/cage has died after all. The hatchling looked seriously dehydrated/malnourished.
In the meantime, this pair has taken no time to familiarise themselves with their new digs having started nest building in the right hand nest box in the last 24 hours.
We’ll see what happens with the third brood for this pairing this season when they start the actual egg laying exercise.
25/3/19
We made an incorrect early call on the hatchling this morning thinking it had died (see main blog post for more details). Due to our thinking the hatchling was dead, we dismantled this cage for the season and replaced it with a new Cage 1 and placed the Blue Gouldian pair therein.
When we discovered the hatchling was in fact still alive, we placed it in the Normal pair’s nest box in Aviary 2 along with 6 other hatchlings who are around 9 days old (see latest pic of these hatchlings on the Aviary 2 page).
We believe the hatchling has a better chance with the better parenting displayed by the Normal pair.
Pics below of new Cage 1 (the white cage on the left hand side) and latest pics of Blue Goudian couple checking out their new digs.
24/3/19
We are not liking what we are observing with the parent birds today. We checked the nest box again, but clearly the hatchling looks ‘weak’ and the activity of the parent birds suggests they know this is the case (to the extent that the cock bird commenced mating rituals with the hen bird which usually precedes a new brood).
Will take a keen interest on what happens in the next 48 hours.
23/3/19
We were able to see the hatchling a couple of days ago – we shone a torch into the nesting box. The hatchling looks quite small for what we expect it should be (given it is being fed all the food supplied by it’s parents). We were also able to see around 4 unhatched eggs in the nest box.
We have also noticed the parent birds are no longer sitting at night in the nest box with the hatchling – this is not a good sign for a single hatchling given it cannot share body warmth with siblings if the night is cold. Fortunately we are going thru an Indian summer with quite warm nights still (even for March). If the weather can stay stable for another week, this hatchling might make fledgling status.
We were not able to determine whether it was a Blue Gouldian or a Normal coloured hatchling, so we will have to sit on our hands for another week and wait.
Given the demise of another brood of Blue Gouldian eggs in Cage 2, we are fast running out of time to produce any Blue Gouldian offspring ourselves, this season!
17/3/19
Well we have hatchlings for sure…or should I say a hatchling for sure. Surprisingly again with this second brood, this pair has brought out just the one hatchling who is making a fair bit of noise when either parent enters the nest box. We estimate the baby bird to be around 5-6 days old by now.
Hopefully this one will stay the course and get to fledgling stage.
Equally hopefully, the baby bird will be a Blue Gouldian!
13/3/19
We are fairly sure we have hatchlings in this cage which were expected around 8 March when we noted both parent birds spending most of the day (and the following day), in the nest box – no doubt assisting the young birds in the hatching exercise. This includes the parent birds eating the empty shells left by the hatchlings.
We have heard some cheeping from the nest box in the last couple of days as the hatchlings reach the 5 day old mark and start to become audible.
Of course we started in this same manner with the this pair’s first brood (which ended sadly), so we will keep our fingers crossed that the young birds this time get to fledgling status and in doing so, become our first Blue Gouldian progeny for the season.
6/3/19
All going well in this cage with neither bird affected by the extreme heat we experienced recently.
This pair represent the best possible chance of our breeding any Blue Gouldians ourselves this year, so here’s hoping everyone continues as is.
25/2/19
This couple have commenced the egg laying of their second brood for the season and started to formally brood on 20/2/19. We are not aware of the brood size and will have to monitor all activity in this cage with respect to hatchlings by using our ears!
Hatchlings expected around 8/3/19.
17/2/19
We now believe the hatchling in the nesting box died shortly after the report on 11/2/19. We removed the dead hatchling (which turned out to be a Blue Gouldian chick), along with an old egg from the first brood and when we did this, found the hen bird had already started laying a second brood, with two new eggs in the nesting box.
We reset the nesting box with new straw and placed the two newly laid eggs in the middle and noted both birds attending the nest box soon after, so hopefully things go better with this pair’s second brood.
11/2/19
We took a further look yesterday inside the nesting box and foolishly pulled apart a significant amount of the nest…not sure what will happen now to this single hatchling whom we both saw more of yesterday and both agree it was looking ‘weak’.
Still…both parents continue to tend to the chick (even after we spoiled the nest), so fingers crossed.
9/2/19
We decided to take the plunge and physically inspect the nesting box this morning as we weren’t comfortable with some of our observations over the previous 24 hours. We had noticed the parent birds had removed another two infertile eggs from the nesting box and couldn’t hear the cheeping from the single hatchling.
A quick check on the single hatchling indicated it was still alive but seemed ‘weakened’. We also found a further unhatched egg inside the nesting box.
This told us that initially there was a clutch of 5 eggs – 3 having been turfed from the nesting box, one still within the nesting box and of course the weakened hatchling.
Our concern for the single hatchling is around the warmth he will lack being an only ‘bird’ – if he had fellow hatchlings, then they would assist in keeping each other warm.
Although the parent birds do assist in this space, they tend to leave the hatchlings after two weeks, which is around this time for this pair, and expect the hatchlings to create/maintain their own heat.
In the season 2018, we have lost a single hatchling when it died of exposure from being unable to keep warm on its own.
With the temperature down to 12 degrees tonight, fingers crossed it survives.
6/2/19
We think we have overstepped the mark in declaring ‘hatchlings’ in the previous post, as it appears on further ‘listening’ there is just the one hatchling in the nesting box.
As the chances of blue progeny are 50/50, we have our fingers crossed that the single hatchling we can hear cheeping, will turn out to be our first Blue Gouldian and not a Normal/Blue split bird instead (as per the cock bird in this cage – see him in the pic below).
3/2/19
We have Blue Gouldian hatchlings in Cage 1 with the brood making small cheeping noises when the parent birds entered the nesting box this morning.
2/2/19
We are still listening out for any ‘cheeping’ noises coming from the nesting box, but nothing to report yet. You can usually hear hatchlings ‘cheeping’ when they are around 5-6 days old when a parent bird goes to feed them, which is our estimate of where they should be at.
The two parent birds nonetheless have been extremely attentive to whatever they have in the nesting box, so we keep our fingers crossed that this pair of Blue Gouldians will produce our first Blue Gouldian progeny for the season.
26/1/19
Well this couple and their brood seemed to have survived the heat of the past few days ok – it may have helped that the cage is under the house verandah and our having an overhead fan operating for 48 hours on end to assist as well.
From our observations of the parent birds activity, we suspect we are getting close to ‘hatchling’ phase for the brood. As we are unable to properly check the nest box, we are speculating of course. We’ll keep an ear out for any high pitched ‘cheeping’ coming from the nest box over the coming days to confirm our thinking.
One odd thing we found in the cage a couple of days ago, was an egg thrown from the nesting box. It was infertile, so not to worry, but the action of the parent birds is unexplainable.
How did they know to remove this egg from the nest? How did they lift it out? Did they remove it to make space for the hatchlings we suspect are close to coming out in the nest box? A mystery for sure!
19/1/19
Things have been going well for this pair going by their behaviour. Certainly the hen bird has not displayed any further symptoms we described in an earlier post.
One bird at least (if not two sometimes), are in the nesting box. We estimate they have been brooding now for one week, so a another 8 or so days to go before any hatchlings will be heard.
12/1/19
Another stressful morning for the Blue Gouldian hen bird today. Again we were really concerned for her health when completing the ritual morning feeding of the various cages as she was tucked up on a perch seemingly listless.
However, like the other day, she has come good over time.
We are beginning to think the egg laying exercise itself may be giving her stress and that after some hours, she is ok again.
It is likely the brood size has reached the 5-6 mark, so hopefully its all plain sailing from now on end. We will continue to monitor her closely.
10/1/19
We are convinced the brood has commenced today for this couple, but not before we had a scare earlier today with the Blue Gouldian hen who appeared to be egg bound.
Gouldian finches, like most birds have just the one vent, and if this is blocked then the birds can’t defecate and can die within 24-48 hours as a result.
All looks good at the end of the day as she completed her duties in the nesting box looking after the eggs we have assumed she has laid (we are unable to access this nest easily to check, so have to assume things are moving in the right direction based on our observations of the activities of the two birds in the cage).
8/1/19
Finding it hard to believe this pair haven’t started the brood phase as we were sure egg laying had commenced a week ago.
The most surprising facet of this pair is the cock birds almost obsessive need to continue the nest building exercise…we started to suspect he may have covered up any eggs that the hen had laid!
We will continue to monitor the activities of this pair.
3/1/19
This pair are easily the most active and we wouldn’t be surprised if the hen bird has started laying. It is usual for Gouldians to lay a number of eggs first before they start actually brooding i.e. one of the two birds spending all day/night in nest box.
We are not at that stage, but may be early next week.
30/12/18
Nest building continues unabated in Cage 1. We placed some further field hay in the cage and the split blue male pounced and proceeded to make many trips with ‘hay in mouth’ into the nesting box. The blue Gouldian hen continues to check out his efforts and we watch in anticipation of the seeing our first Blue Gouldian brood early in the New Year!
26/12/18
A lot of activity was noted today in Cage 1, with both the cock and hen bird in the nest box on a couple occasions and later, the cock bird taking nesting material into the nesting box.
Due to the shyness of the Gouldian finch, they tend to mate inside the nest box versus in public.
The expectation is the hen bird will be ready to lay her first egg 7-10 days after the birds commence the mating ritual, so watch this space!
13/12/18
Well… a bit of action taking place today with the cock bird in and out of the nesting box and trying to coax the hen to join him! All good signs these two are an ‘interested couple!
12/12/18
The first pair are located in a cage under our verandah closest to the house.
The cock bird who is split for blue was purchased from a breeder Leopold in August this year and is in good breeding nick chasing the clearly blue hen around the cage at present who we purchased last Sunday.
It will be a couple more weeks before we really see any action from this pairing
Blue Gouldian Finches 