Lady Gouldian Finches | Breeding | Gouldian Eggs, Fostering

When you "candle" an egg, you hold a very bright light - such as a penlight - up to the
egg and look for signs of life. If you've waited until about day 5 after the egg was laid and
your hen is brooding regularly, you should see a tiny speck of red. You may even be able
to see the fetus's heart beat! You won't usually see any blood vessels around the yolk
until a little later, but if the hen has been brooding tight, you may see more than you
expect! The older the eggs, you may even see the chick moving - or opening and closing
it's beak! If you wait to candle beyond day 10, chances are you won't be able to see
anything but darkness filling the egg. This means the chick is growing and filling up most
of the egg.

Meadowlark Farms

Lady Gouldian Finches - You Have Eggs!!

Your Gouldian pair has chosen a nesting site and have begun to lay their eggs.
What do you do now???

An average clutch is usually 4 to 6 eggs, though I've had hens lay as many as
10. Unless you have an "exceptional" pair, the parent birds will not usually be
able to care for more than 6 chicks without detriment to the health of both
themselves and the chicks. I will usually remove eggs and foster them under
another Gould or society pair. The average egg size is between 17mm and
19mm.

The three eggs with white arrows are fertile. The two with red arrows are not. Notice how
much whiter and smoother looking the fertile eggs are. Up close they almost look solid as
compared to the infertile eggs that look nearly transparent with the yolks and air sacs
seen through the shells.

These eggs are being candled at 5 days.
Where the arrow is pointing, you can see
the red speck in the egg. Upon closer
inspection, very small blood vessels are
also seen. At this stage, you can see the
very tiny heart beat of the fetus. It is very
exciting!

WHEN TO CHECK THE NEST

If you know your pair has been courting and are now spending time in the nest, chances are the hen is laying eggs or
preparing to. In my aviary, five days after the first copulation she will begin to lay. She will usually start brooding after the
third egg is laid, though some of my hens will brood immediately and others will wait until the entire clutch is laid. Don't be
surprised if you see the cock sitting in the nest box with the hen! And don't be surprised if they don't brood until all eggs are
laid!

If you think your hen is brooding (sitting for long periods and not leaving the nest except to eat, drink and relieve herself),
check the nest for eggs. The best time to do this is usually first thing in the morning when the hen leaves the nest to take
care of her business! But don't peek too often! You don't want to upset the birds and have them abandon their nest!

AVERAGE CLUTCH & EGG SIZE

CANDLING & REMOVING INFERTILE EGGS

ABANDONED EGGS OR CHICKS & FOSTERING

Young parents, or those who have continually abandoned eggs, or tossed eggs and chicks, may require you to
foster out the eggs or young if you wish to raise additional birds. If you've chosen your pairs wisely this should
not happen. However, even parents who have never tossed or abandoned their nests may do so because of
stress, too much commotion in the bird room, too many fingers in the nest box (peeking in too often), improper
nutrition, etc. Follow these tips to fostering your eggs or young.

WHEN THEY HATCH

When the eggs are ready to hatch - somewhere between 15 and 18 days from the time the parents began to brood - the parents may begin to act
a little funny. They may be bopping about or jumping in and out of the nest. They may make enough noise to get your attention with their beeping
and calling. Or, they may do nothing more than sit tight in the nest.

My birds all act the same - they get weird! You see, they can hear the tiny chicks peeping from inside the egg and know it's time for them to hatch.
The parents may assist the chicks out of the eggs by pecking carefully at the shell. They will then toss the shell out of the nest or eat it. This is not
unusual. You need not intervene unless you suspect there is real trouble! Real trouble could be a chick in distress while trying to emerge from the
egg, or the parents pecking at the chick or even tossing it out of the nest! Unless you see signs of trouble, it is best to leave the parents alone to
take care of their chicks in peace. Personally, I never leave the house for more than a few hours if I think chicks are going to hatch. I want to be
available to assist, if necessary (another reason to keep good records and pay close attention!).

ASSISTING THE CHICK OUT OF THE EGG

Occasionally, especially during the dry season for us humans (winter, when the furnace is running or summer, when the air is on), chicks may have
a difficult time getting out of their shells. This is usually caused by a lack of humidity. When the humidity levels are too low, the egg membranes
dry out too soon and do not allow the chick to "slide" out of the shell as it gets it cracked open. In most cases, the parents will assist the chick, but
on rare occasions you'll need to help. If this is the case, wash your hands thoroughly, get your handy dandy plastic tweezers out, remove the egg
from the nest and place it on a paper towel. Gently remove the egg shell from around the chick with the tweezers. Once the chick is out of the egg,
use warm, clean water and a cotton swab to remove any excess or dried membrane, then return the chick to the nest. If you have an experienced
pair of parent birds, returning the chick should not be an issue. If the parents toss the chick or abandon it, follow the directions for fostering or
hand feeding the chick.

A Note of Caution: It has been said that candling too often can injure the chick. Using a high intensity light can damage their eyes, or overheat
them and kill them in the shell. Therefore, once you have candled the eggs and know they are fertile, it is best not to candle them again unless you
suspect they are not going to hatch.

It is important that the foster parents be in the same "mode" as the Goulds. You must make sure the foster parents
have been fed the same diet as the Goulds and are in top breeding condition. Nutrition is just as important for your
foster parents as it is for your Goulds! Aside from proper nutrition, you want them used to the foods you want fed to
the Gouldian babies so that the young Goulds thrive, such as soaked seed, sprouts, egg food, etc.

You'll want to have set them up in a breeding cage and allow them to begin to lay (some never lay but will foster
anyway!). I'd like to point out that due to the nature of both Societies and Zebras, you should only keep one pair of
birds in the foster cage. Both these species will sleep in the nest as groups. I have had 11 Society finches cram
themselves into a small bamboo nest to sleep at night! You can imagine what could happen to a clutch of babies!
They could be squashed, or the eggs could be broken. In addition, Societies and Zebras are very curious by nature
and will constantly peek into the nest, distracting the foster parents from their job.

CHOOSING FOSTER PARENTS

Before you breed your Goulds, you will want to have a "safety net". This means keeping a pair of foster parents ready
in case of trouble.

In the case of eggs, you can foster them out to another pair of more experienced Goulds who are already brooding
(my first choice), or you can use foster parent birds of another species such as Society or Zebra finches. A Society or
Zebra pair could be your only hope of saving eggs or chicks if your Goulds continually toss chicks or abandon their
nest.

NUTRITION, CONDITION & HOUSING

You can either replace the foster parent eggs with the Gould eggs, or allow the chicks to hatch along side the Goulds. However, there is some
conflict concerning this topic. Some breeders say you should not allow the Societies to raise their own chicks with the Gould chicks, others say
they have not had any problems doing so. There will also be the occasional breeder who is totally against fostering altogether! Remember, the
choice is yours, not someone elses! If you'd prefer to have only parent raised Goulds, then don't foster. If you'd like to try to help the eggs or
chicks survive when tossed or abandoned, foster them out!

One reason for this debate is that young birds are directly influenced by the parent birds, meaning if the Societies act like Societies, the Goulds
could conceivably think they are Societies too! This is called "imprinting". Personally, I have never found this to be the case. If you remove the
young Goulds once they are independent and place them with other Goulds, they will be just fine and act like all your other Goulds. Some
breeders I know even place Gould eggs or babies in with an already hatched clutch of society chicks. The Societies act like "the more, the merrier"
and feed the Goulds or brood the eggs as they would their own.

It's also been said that a fostered Gould will not raise it's own babies. I have not found THIS to be true either, though I have not used Societies or
Zebras except in rare instances. This brings us back to the point of choosing your pairs wisely. Only breed well suited, well conditioned, mature
birds to help avoid this problem.

NOTE: If you need to foster your eggs or chicks to another species, be aware that Society and Zebra young fledge and are independent of their
parents well before Gouldian finch babies. If you notice that the Gouldian chicks are still begging but not being fed by the foster parents, remove
the hen and leave only the cock. He will then continue to feed the babies for as long as they beg.

At about 45-50 days, when the young are independent of the foster parents and eating and drinking on their own, move them to a large flight cage
so they can build their strength and get good exercise. They will also build their flight skills, go through their juvenile molt, and go on to be lovely
Gouldian adults!

Take a look at the "When the Chicks Hatch" and "Now What" pages for more on these topics!

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