How long does it take for a Gouldian egg to hatch? Shouldn’t the hen be sitting on her eggs by now? Can I take the babies away from the mother after they fledge? Answers to these questions and more are in this handy little chart. Download and save it for reference. FREE FINCH FEEDING GUIDE…
I wrote an article in detail here about the sitting/hatching/fledging/breeding cycle. Today I made up this handy little chart for you to download and keep – because who can remember from one year to the next? How long for Gouldian eggs to hatch? About 18 days. If the hen begins sitting on egg #3, and incubation time…
We get asked often about why Gouldian finches are not breeding. Let’s address those issues today and see if we can help you figure it out. AGE Gouldians can breed by age 6-8 months (sometimes even while they’re still in juvenile feathers) but that doesn’t mean they should. Parent birds that are too young may…
What age should a Gouldian finch be before you breed it? This is a great question, and one that I get asked a lot. If you come from a background of zebra finches, you know that they’re wiling by age 3 months and can breed at 6 months! For Gouldian finches, this is not the…
I just had this question about Finch Eggs and viability come up during my “Ask Finchly” time. Someone wanted to get some finches (actually not Gouldians, but that’s okay). He didn’t know for sure whether they were male and female; in this particular species, it’s really difficult to tell. “When are the eggs viable?” he…
What to expect Many people breed their birds without having a clue what baby Gouldian finches are like, or how to care for them. So then they have these naked, squirmy things– with strange dots on their mouths, no less — and they’re clueless. ???? Here I’ll try to give a nice overview to help answer…
Yes there are several things you can do, but first let me lecture you about why you should have already been doing it for them. Gouldians are fairly hardy, but depending on the way you’ve been keeping them (called your husbandry skills) they may not be in the greatest shape right now. Laying eggs, sitting on them, and…
A lot of first-time Gouldian parents are disconcerted when they see the mouth markings, or nodules besides their babies’ mouths. “should I scrape them off?” “What are they??” “Do they hurt?” Mouth markings are simply nature’s way of taking care of the flock. If you look at other Estrildids’ mouth markings, theirs look weird too, although each…
I just typed this out for the billionth time on a forum, so I thought I’d post it here. The bird in question was a canary, but egg bound canaries and finches can be treated exactly the same way. Here you go. You’ve just found an egg bound hen. In other words, you found her…
From Part 1: When keeping animals, it’s always a question whether we’re going to follow the “in the wild” habitat as closely as possible, or are we going to do our own thing. After all, they are already being held in an artificial environment – so why not change it up to suit ourselves. Let’s…