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Lady Gouldian, Gouldian (Gould), Rainbow Finch
Differences in Male and Female: Male: The breast and belly colors are usually used to determine sex. Males will have a brighter and darker color of purple on the chest and the yellow of the belly will be darker and more intense than the female. The green back color and the light blue around the face mask is also darker. Often the face mask in males are larger and clearer than the females, but is not always the case as their are some strains of birds that have equal color in both sex's face mask. The males will also sing a nearly inaudible song while stretching and hopping on the perch. They will usually begin this song long before they have completed their molt into adult colors. Female: The female has more subdued colors on her chest, belly and back. The female's beak will turn from a pearly white to black when she is in breeding condition.
What my finches Eat: The Gouldian has a real preference for the large white millets and will scatter most of the small seeds in a standard finch mix, so I offer them a 1/2 parakeet mix 1/2 finch mix. They can be somewhat timid about trying new foods but can generally be enticed to take egg food, due to spoilage I rarely feed greens. Cuttlebone should always be available to them. Many will only occasionally nibble on the cuttlebone, but I still offer it to them. Crushed oyster and egg shells are by far their favorites for calcium intake which really seems higher than most other species. I also add powdered calcium to my eggfood mixture.
What I know about Breeding Gouldians: Previous reports on Gouldians makes them appear to be temperamental and difficult breeders that require near hot house environments. My personal experience has been great with breeding. The pairs that I have never have a problem raising their babies’ right in the busy part of my home. My Gouldians are in my dining room that routinely changes temperatures from summer to winter. My Gouldians like the box that I use with an entrance at the top (nestbox) and separate rooms for mating and nesting. This allows them to get in the box and hide. They are said to not be master nest builders by any means and will use mostly rough materials with softer materials being ignored or even ejected if it is placed in the box. The male will take on the majority of the nest building chores by bringing material to the nest. The female will rearrange the material to her liking. However, one of my little males is a very eager nest builder and will use anything and everything that you give him. He lives to build nests!
People say Gouldians will lay surprising large clutches of eggs. They average 5-8 eggs, but larger clutches are not that unusual. My Gouldians largest clutch was 4 eggs with only two hatching out. Incubation will normally begin pretty early with some starting after the first egg or two. The pair will share incubation duties during the day, but quite often the male will stay outside during the night. This actually isn't that surprising since Gouldians are not a 'clumping' species. That is to say the pair will sit side-by-side or clump together with each other or others of their species. After 13-14 days of incubation the young begin to hatch. They are small, pink and lack any fuzz. They are easily identified by the light-reflecting nodes at the corners of their mouth. The pair will take turns brooding the young with the male remaining outside during the night. After about 10 to 14 days, depending upon the size of the clutch, the female will also begin sleeping outside the box at night. This may seem early since the chicks have barely started to get pin feathers, but they seem to be just fine even if the nighttime temperatures move down to the low 30's. I think it is important to have lights on for an active period of about 14 to 15 hours. If raised outdoors, the long winter nights may be too long for the chicks to go without food, especially if it is cold.
The chicks will fledge at approximately 22-25 days. At this point they will be a dusky green with a buff belly (see juveniles). Once the chicks fledge, many will not return to the nest at night, but will stay out with the parents. This is variable. It seems that if the parents return to roost in the nest, then the chicks will return with them. The parents will continue to feed the chicks for an additional 2-3 weeks. During this time, the female will usually begin to lay another clutch of eggs. It has always been my practice to remove any clutches of eggs that are laid before the previous clutch has been weaned. This is to give the parents a little break to build up some body reserves before they begin feeding another clutch of young and quite often incubation is sporadic, the young soil the eggs and the hatch rate is far lower than usual. This clutch of removed eggs can easily be fostered to Society finches. After the young are weaned and removed from the parents, the pair will usually lay another full clutch of eggs and incubate and raise that clutch normally.
The young, sometimes referred to as 'greens', can take up to 9 months to fully molt into adult plumage. Usually though, they are complete within 4-6 months depending upon temperature. They do have a higher protein requirement than a Society. Given the proper diet which includes proteins and fats as well as the carbohydrates from their seeds, young Gouldians are hardy birds.
I have always bred my Gouldians in cages as individual pairs. I have never tried breeding them in a colony setting. I have each pair in it’s own 32x30x18 cage. Some other breeders have reported great success breeding Gouldians in colonies. Probably the best arrangement for colony breeding would be in a larger aviary with four or more pairs. While a mostly peaceful bird, they can begin to pick on each other to defend their nest territory.
Some Gouldian pairs are said to be notorious chick tossers. Often incubating well, but then ejecting the young soon after hatching. It is usually the male that ejects the young, but not always. I feel that these are mostly young pairs or birds that are not yet in full breeding condition. I have found that it is a waste of time to return the chicks (if they are found alive) to the nest as they will most certainly be ejected again. The young can be fostered to another pair of Gouldians or Society finches. If possible, try to pair up an older bird with a younger bird and wait until the birds are in top breeding condition before providing a nest box. I check the beak color of the pair as an indicator of breeding condition. Males should have pearly white beaks with a red tip and females should have an almost completely black beak I have never had a chick tosser amongst my breeders.
What I know about Color Mutations: There are three naturally occurring color morphs for head colors that exist in the wild. The Red Headed form being the normal wild state. The Red Headed variety is dominant to the Black Head morph, but is still far outnumbered by the Black Head variety in the wild. The Yellow or Orange Head variety is rarely seen as it is a recessive mutation and also requires the presence of the Red Headed gene to be visible.
The mutations developed in aviculture include the White Breast (replaces the normal purple color with white), the Yellow-backed (eliminates the blue & black color), and the Blue-backed (eliminates the yellow color). How these mutation act on the birds and the combinations can be confusing for many Gouldian breeders.
Head color - The Red-headed variety (RH) is sex-linked dominant morph that can be held as single or double factor in the males, while females only need to inherit one gene from their father to show the red mask. Males that are single factor RH can produce both BH and RH hens. Yellow head (or orange as it is really a rust orange color) is a recessive morph, but it requires the presence of the RH gene to be visible. If the bird is a YH (has two genes for YH), but is genetically Black headed, then the head mask will be black. The tip of the beak will be yellow rather than red, however. Red head and Black headed birds that are split for YH show no visible signs of the hidden gene.
Breast color - The White Breast mutation is a recessive mutation. It eliminates the purple color leaving a clean white breast. This is inherited separately from head color and can be combined with any of the three morphs. The Lilac breast mutation seems to be tied to the White breast mutation in some way. It is unclear as to it's mode of inheritance and may simply be the incomplete suppression of the purple color by the White breasted gene. Males with a lilac breast are sometimes confused with hens. The deep yellow coloration of the belly will help differentiate these males from normal females.
Back color - The Blue-backed variety is a recessive mutation. It eliminates the yellow color on the Gouldian and alters the colors accordingly. The normally green back is changed to blue, the yellow belly is changed to a dingy white and if the bird is either Red or Yellow headed, this is changed to a salmon color. The beak is pearly white without any tip color so there is no way to distinguish between RH and YH Blue-backed birds. The mask looks the same. Only if the genetics are known can you say for certain. I paired two normal YH Goulds split for Blue-back to produce true YH Blue-backed birds. These looked identical to other Blue-backs exhibiting salmon colored heads. Some of which were surely RHs genetically.
Yellow-back is a Sex-linked Co-dominant mutation in the US and Europe. (There
is a autosomal recessive mutation in Australia and South Africa.) The mutation
works to suppress the blue and black color from the bird. The normally green
back is changed to yellow, the black face ring is removed and genetically
BH birds will have a gray face mask. Males that hold the Yellow back gene
in the single factor (only one gene inherited) will have a diluted appearance.
They still have green on their backs, but this is diluted and the black face
ring is eliminated or reduced. There is a twist here, if a single factor Yellow-backed
male is also a White Breasted bird, he will be visually a Yellow-backed. There
is often some flecks of green on the back, but he certainly is not a dilute.
Females cannot be split for sex-linked mutations so they only need inherit
one Yellow-back gene to be visually Yellow. Therefore, dilute females can
never be produced regardless of the breast color.
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Friday, September 29, 2006 7:35 PM