The Gouldian Finches have been breeding up a storm in Andrew’s aviary.
As you may remember from an earlier blog, Zorro and Senorita managed to breed in our indoor aviary.
Since moving to the deluxe suite in the backyard, we have had four more clutches hatch and another clutch is about to hatch (or there may already be chicks inside) in one of the nest boxes.
The chicks take about 21 days to develop the full set of feathers and to leave the nest box. It takes a few months before the chicks and juveniles begin to get the beautiful colours of the adults.
The creamy white and yellow juveniles are gorgeous and are the offspring of Sapphire and Jeff, who both have red heads. I can’t wait to see how they colour up at maturity.
The fathers do most of the feeding of young (just like the male emus I was telling you about previously).
Good to see the males getting stuck into the parental duties.
So now we have about 25 to 30 Gouldian Finches.
Well done little birdies (and Andrew).
Gabe Feathers McGee 
They are absolutely beautiful. I love every one of them. I can’t wait to show my son – he will be beside himself. Congratulations on all the new additions!
Thanks Selma.They are very beautiful and colourful.
What do you do with all those chicks? I guess you don’t release them, too demesticated? They are gorgeous and yes, can see why you would be anxious to see the adult colours.
We don’t really know yet. Sell some and keep others. Would love to make a huge outdoor netted aviary, as big as the yard, but can’t really do that in a town. Can’t release them because they live far north Australia and ours aren’t acclimatised to that region(it would be too hot for them). Can’t release them around here because they would die pretty quickly. There are release programs being developed further North.
The colors are beautiful, is their singing as colorful?
Congratulation for such lovely addition to your family.
They make a very quite sound of chirping but when you have a lot of them it sounds very relaxing (a vibration in the wind). Thanks Ben.
Amazing. So much success breeding such a rare and difficult bird. Great work everybody.
Thanks Paul. We’ve only had a couple of fatalities which is great. They have a good diet and the weather has been very mild last couple of years (no really cold nights).
What little miracles of color and life!
Certainly are miracles.
They are truly fantastic birds – like moving rainbows – Andrew must be doing something so right, for them to breed so prolifically. They are nature at its best in so many ways.
Thanks Jane. Yes, he’s very particular when it comes to the Gouldian’s (fastidious even) – changes food and water every day, cleans etc., He’s even growing seed grass in pots for them.
Congratulations to the proud parents!
Thanks ALetha, I’ll pass on your congratulations to all of them.
Oh my goodness, the finches are stunning — beautiful. Thanks for sharing them with us. They made me smile! 🙂
You’re welcome. They are even more stunning in real life.
Wow!
Great pictures .
Thanks for sharing.
It was a bit too dark when I took these, so I had to adjust the brightness, but they turned out pretty good considering – thanks opoetoo.
These birds are so beautiful Gabrielle. Your photos are stunning as are the wonderful creatures. I’m a bird love too and hummingbirds are my favourites. Do you have a breed of hummingbirds in Australia?
Thanks Val. We have no hummingbirds in Australia, unfortunately. I’d love to see one, they are amazing birds.
Such gorgeous birds Gabe. Thanks for sharing the photos!
My pleasure Graham.
Hi Gabrielle, Nice photos, see you have got some yellow backs as well as normals, I have a mixture also, one of the most attractive birds I have bred is a black headed single factor cock bird the whole head is grey like a helmet, I am concentrating on white breast this year, and have found my birds do better outdoors than in a bird room, might try for a blueback again next year.
Cheers,
Steve
Nice to see you here Steve. Andrew informs me that it’s not a yellow back but a dilute back (red headed dilute backed Gouldian Finch cock) – that’s Jeff. Looks pretty yellow to me :). The grey head would be interesting to look at (I looked it up quickly in our finch book). It is much better for them outdoors, with the natural sunlight. What part of Australia are you from?
Hi Gabrielle, I live in western sydney, near the blue mountains, I have 3 aviaries of gouldians, almost every mutation, I also have a couple of pairs of tri-coloured parrot finches, but the gouldians seem to have more personality, they come to the wire to see what treats you have for them. I find they do heaps better outdoors. I tried indoors sunlight was limited, they layed more eggs than a chicken farm but none hatched, some people call single factors dilutes, but I have never seen a dilute they are recessive, the way I work it out, is Yellow Backs cannot produce black so a single factor cock will look like a normal but instead of black it will be grey, in the red head the bit under beak will be grey, and green back may be lighter, in the double factor the back will go yellow and under beak will be white…
Where in Australia are you?
Wow, it’s complicated. Andrew might have a better idea than me what you mean. Can’t wait to see the final colourings of our juveniles. We live in a small village on the shores of Hervey Bay, across from Fraser Island (Woodgate Beach) – very mild weather all year round. The aviary is in the back yard and Andrew is planning to build another one soon (different design). It’s great to talk to a fellow breeder.
Hi Gabrielle,
I will keep in touch, Sound like a nice place to live, been to Fraser once before… I think your gouldians would thrive up their… What do you feed your gouldians?
If you can get a hold of a product called greens & grains or give them fresh seed heads they love it for breeding.
Cheers,
Steve
I’ll ask Andrew about the food(I know he does give them fresh seed heads – they love it). I’ve had to travel to Brisbane for a week – so will answer you in a few days.
Steve – got some info on the food. He uses Greens & Grains (QFS mix), red panicum, white french, siberian millet, millet sprays, charcoal grit, shell grit/fine, cuttle fish bone and seed heads (grown by him). Used to use insecta pro and mealworms but they didn’t respond to these products. No imported products.
Thanks Gabrielle,
I make my own mix similar, white millet, red panicum, canary seed, jap millet or siberian, I also give mine niger seed it’s supposed to be good for them, but only a little bit, I sometimes mix codliver & wheatgerm oil with a yeast product with the seed once every couple of weeks.
Cheers,
Steve
Thanks for that Steve. What about heating? It must be a bit colder where you are, especially at night – do you use a heater of some sort. Cheers Gabrielle
Hi Gabrielle,
We are in a bit of a valley, it does get cold, but not as cold as up in the mountains, I don’t use any heating, have a couple of small trees in the aviary and I also put clear roof sheeting on the front of it, stops the draft. I loose a couple of birds occasionally, but I change water everyday as I believe that’s the best way to keep them healthy, a good preventative rather than a cure… The only time I give them heat with a light or hospital box is when they’re sick, also a sulpha drug or antibiotic if necessary, but don’t get too many sick birds these days, I try and keep the strong ones and breed them, I have got some good stock now…
Just had 3 more young ones come out in first aviary, 12 just hatched in 2nd aviary, and can here some more in the 3rd but haven’t checked yet, should have bred around 50 so far this year, mainly white breast and yellow backs, building a new bird room, with some of the cash I get from this years birds going to try a breed some blue backs again, hopefully this time I will get better luck.
Should try birds r us taste of africa mix, it’s expensive but they love it..
http://www.birdsrus.com.au/
Cheers,
Steve
That’s good to know – thanks so much Steve for the tips.
Hi Gabrielle,
Just uploaded a blog with pic’s of my gouldian, one has a lot of chicks another is the single factor with grey head.
Cheers,
Steve
fantastic – I’ll pop over 🙂
I’m so jealous. Indoor and outdoor aviaries. I used to raise canaries and this post brought back very nice memories. You are such a sweet and loving person.
Pearl
I love canaries – not that I’ve ever had them. We don’t have the indoor cage anymore – it was just an interim arrangement, but it was very nice hearing the tweeting inside the house. Thanks Pearl.
Your aviary becomes happy,beautiful and colourful with your Gouldian finches.Their babies are so CUTE! I love these birds so much, that I will buy my own male gouldian finch and I will put it in the same cage with my Java finches to have company. Again your birds are so beautiful and I hope that your females gouldians finches, will born again so cute and beautiful babies. By Ambrosios Lykopulos, in Kesariani(a town of Greece).
Thanks for stopping by Ambrosios – they are so beautiful – they have kept breeding since I wrote this blog post and we have some very interesting colourations lately (yellow heads etc.,) – when I get my camera fixed, which should be soon, I will be taking more photos and blogging again. I see you live near Athens – I lived their for a few months when I was a little girl (and a fishing village called Tolon (Tolo), not far from Nafplio). Greece is my favourite place apart from Australia. Wishing you all the best and good luck if you get a male Gouldian – they do need the company so a good idea to put him in with the Java finches 🙂