If you in the Southern Hemisphere our breeding season starts in Jan/Feb and runs through until about June / July. Northern Hemisphere would theoretically be the opposite but many control the lights with timers etc and protein. This allows them to breed later in the year and closer to the Southern Hemisphere timing.

Thank you. I appreciate the feedback.

The chicks are at there most vunerable at the stage. It is why our club refuses to sell or buy birds that have not completed this process. In terms of assisting them: stop all greens. If you feeding a commencial egg food reduce it to every three days and not daily. Provide them with warmth. Give them a good balanced vitamin like premolt 100 (a water based one). Place a perch low so that they can get off the ground. Also place watrr and food low incrase they are battling to fly. I hope these tips help.

Thank you very much for your help

Hi. Thank you for the feedback. I really do appreciate it and will include more in the next episode.

Thanks for the feedback. I hope that the informatiin helps you improve your own results.

I hope that it can make the difference and you jave better success in the new season.

I am thanks Victor.

Great Emily. The less we inspect the better. Are you ringing your birds? Day 14 would be a bit big for ringing but brilliant in terms of the discussion.

@thehouseofgouldians yes, I have to band the babies before they leave the nest. That's why I go in there around that time. I have a community aviary and sometimes I have about 4 nests all ready to fledge at one time. If I don't Band I won't know whose baby is whose. I find that a community aviary of gouldians is very interesting to study. I make sure never to have more than two birds related at a time. I will keep two sister or two brothers, but that's to make sure that birds are not inbreeding. I find that only some hens will be monogamous while others will breed with the same two males for every clutch. Even though I have a community aviary I was able to coherse certain birds to pair with others and it has worked 90% of the time so far. All of my pairs were made by me, the last 10% are the ones that choose to have multiple partners, but they still raise nests with the original partners I gave them.

Very interesting method and something I'm sure others can benefit from in terms of how you ensure you do not have in breeding. I'm also interested in hearing more about your method for pairing in a colony setup. What part of the world are you from?

@@thehouseofgouldians USA

Hi Jessica. The cock bird is prone to misbehaviour when they over stimulated hormonally. I have reduce the amount of softfood I give my birds and I have found it makes a big difference. So lets say you repeat the what you did first time around. When the second clutch is started reduce the protein in the softfood (egg to every second or third day). This way the first clutch still get the nutrients for optimal growth but the cock bird does not get over stimulated by breeding hormones. This should solve the problem.

@@thehouseofgouldians Thanks Clyde, thats good to know. I have retired him now for the season but I will track that for next time round. Thanks for the answer.

Hi. A couple of different things can cause diarrhea. This can be a sudden change from seed only to richer food like lots of egg in the soft food. Give seed only for a week or two but keep giving intestrum by medpet (vitamin with a probiotic) and see if the problem goes away if so then slowly re-introduce the softfood. If there undigested seed in the watery droppings that is commonly know as going lite (forget the scientific name). There are other bacteria that can cause diarrhea as well. I would recommend if the seed only trick does not work to take it to a vet so they can give you medicine that is locally available and specific to your issue.

Hi. It is a big risk the chciks less than 3 weeks out the nest cannot survive without the parents. If keep them in a separate cage as a family you may be lucky.

Francois, we don't fully know to be honest. Most make great parents and raise the young and wean then without problems. Some don't feed at all and abandon the nest when the eggs hatch. It is younger birds generally speaking that gibe us the problems as a rule but not always. This is why I try not breed first years. They are like teenagers they want the fun but not the responsibility.

@@thehouseofgouldians 👍🏻thanks, yes unfortunately most of my birds are first year birds- I did buy 5 pairs from a guy in Cape Town to bring in new blood and he told me most of his birds that he sold me are second year birds - I have seen his red head Male oblige when the birds beg to be fed- I guess I might now learned the hard way 😥 and I feel a bit guilty and regretful

@francoisvanwyk8361 we all learn don't feel bad. That is why I started the channel and the club.

@@thehouseofgouldians 👍🏻❤

Hi Francois. This is going to sound funny but both are partially correct. De-worming is a prevention treatment same as treating for mite and coccidia. All of these organisms have an affect on the breeding condition of the parents and the survival rate of the chicks. Every breeder will give you different intervals of treatment. Personally I do it twice a year. Once before breeding and once before the moult. The second aspect of your question...don't treat unless sick I also agree with 100% in terms of antibiotics and other medicines that should only be used to cure a actual problem and NEVER used just incase. The reason I say this is simple. We know that in humans we have caused "super bugs" by the over subscription of antibiotics and people not completing the recommended course. The same applies to our birds. If we give antibiotics preventatively you are stopping them from developing there own immune system. Secondly the bacteria can become "immune" to the antibiotics so when you do need it they do not work. Finally antibiotics kill good flora in the gut and the birds then end up on a roller coaster of being off and on antibiotics as the moment they off it they start to get ill as they have lost the natural defense in the gut. (Therefore you always follow up with an immune booster and a probioticafter threatong with antibiotics). I hope this helps.

@@thehouseofgouldians Thank you so much sir for your thorough response and your channel - it is much respected and appreciated

Hi. My wire vreeders are 750mm x 450mm x 450mm. Thanks for the feedback.

​@thehouseofgouldians Awesome! Thank you!

Hi. 2.8mm 8s what most people use. You can go up to a 3mm particularly if you have big show quality birds. Normal day to ring is day 8 but you can still ring after this if you have the 3mm or if you use a bit of vaseline. Sometimes the bigger clutches develop slower and then you have to wait an extra day or two. In terms of plastic or metal that is personal preference. I personally use metal rings.

@@thehouseofgouldians Thank you for replying to my comment and guiding me

Hi Wayne. You can email [email protected] Thanks

You do get plastic nest boxes and even breeding cages. The only issue would ve the moisture in the nest boxes as it could lead to mold etc. I have seen a new design that has a lot of vents so that version should be fine.

Hi Robert. I have crushed the cuttlefish and a mineral block and added it to the grit. They have permanent access to this mix.

Thanks Steffen, I appreciate you feedback regarding my setup.

Hi. You can join the House of Gouldians facebook group. We would love to have you on the group. Do you have gouldians of your own?

Hi Alan Kings soft food you can buy at turf pets. He sells the white auto feeders I use and he will have the drinkers as well.

Hi. If they dissappearing one at a time it could be that one got broken and the parents will then eat the shell. It they all vanished the cock bird may have build the nest over the top of the eggs.

Hi Farooq. You would add egg to the softfood you are feeding them during the breeding season.

@@thehouseofgouldians I want to increase the size of birds like ivan Vera Top Breeder of Gouldian Finch From Spain. What he do for increase the size ?

Hi Farooq. You need to deliberately pick the biggest birds each year for breeding and sell off any small birds. The hen lays the egg so one theory is that the bigger the hen the bigger the eggs and the bigger the chicks. I think it does play a part but only if you also breeding the hen to bigger and bigger cock birds.@@FarooqBirds

@@thehouseofgouldians Thank you so much 💓 💖

Hi Jennifer. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Hi. You can normally safely remove youngsters at about forty five days old. In a colony setup I would be tempted to leave them longer so that they can learn good parenting from the other pairs and often these chicks will help feed the younger siblings from the next round.

@@thehouseofgouldians 🙏🙏🤙🤙🐦🐦♥️♥️Perfect, I was thinking the longer the better as well. Thank you so so much for the amazing work you share with us. Truly appreciated 🙏

Thank you for the feedback. I appreciate it and glad you found the advice helpful.

Hi Raj. Sorry not surw how I missed you question until now. A good diet during the mpult to make sure that the bird optimal nutrition when the new frathers are being formed would be the start of great feather health. Then make sure the bird is free of parasites...i.e. mites, worms etc. Finally make sure your birds have access to a bird bath or you can sray them. This encourages preening and keeps the feathers clean.

Hi. I'm not sure what the import and export laws are BTW Spain and USA.

@@thehouseofgouldians thanks for replying. And thank you for all the informative knowledge of gouldians. Love your videos!!!

Hi. I'm not sure but I will find out for you.

I believe it is going to cause a problem. It is a real pity.

Hi Carl I have done an episode on lights in the bird room this week. It should answer your question as it taljs about difderent types of lighting and there distance from the birds in terms of affectiveness.

Hi. The white ones you can get from most of the bigger petshops in South Africa. If you referring to the black ones the fit in the new perpex front enclosures, I had them designed and printed by Nifty Nests.

Hi Lainey. It is a fine line between improving and changing a bird. I think the first thing we need to remember is that it is a colour bird. The colour and markings are of utmost importance.

I agree, yes, but the wild bird does have a substantial beak and a fairly lean body build so in the Spanish standard we are drastically moving away from this. Of course we do this with dogs and cats etc - but will the lives/wellbeing of the individual gouldians suffer for being changed so radically? just wondering..I have imported Spanish Gouldians into the US and seen a large number of health issues....Lainey@@thehouseofgouldians

I agree the show standard should not cause harm and personally I prefer for the show standard to keep with the same proportions as the wild bird.

Breeding for the show bench comes with a whole new set of challenges and makes you really have to focus on your pairings. In terms of fostering to other species I don't think it is needed. I use my good parents to raise my bad parent chicks and then leave those chicks to learn from the good parents when they raise their next round. The challenge is what makes gouldians interesting.