Lady Gouldian Update

After successfully raising two clutches of eleven babies, they are now into home redecorating.


They keep adding more and more nesting material.

Mama has laid over 12 eggs that she sometimes deigns to sit on, but never at night when she's supposed to. Daddy Gouldian, who should warm them during the day, isn't bothering either.

What they are doing, is rearranging and nest building. Nothing satisfies them. They cover the eggs, which I've uncovered several times, then recover them. I thought for a while maybe they were trying to keep them warm with newspaper. Hah!

After candling the eggs, most appear to be fertile, but it seems unlikely any will hatch. I've considered bringing our homemade egg incubator up from the basement and putting it into use, but haven't done so yet. It may be too late and the Gouldian babies aren't as quick to sell, nor for as much, as the Bourke parakeets. A lot of work and risk for less gain, although the babies would be hand fed and tame.


Their second clutch of six healthy youngsters.

In earlier clutches, she stayed on the eggs if I peeked into the box. This time she leaves any time I open the lid.

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Later in day: Decided to count and candle her eggs. There are 15!



Only ten eggs showing, but as
of today there are 15 in total.

She has laid two clutches back to back after fledging a second clutch of healthy babies. By candling them I hoped to identify the good from the infertile or dead. What I learned is that I'm less sure of myself with small finch eggs than with larger Bourke eggs. Over half are definitely fertile, but only one had apparent movement.

As for seeing a heartbeat as expected in a Bourke egg...well, the little hearts are probably too small for me to recognize. One dark image inside an egg was certainly moving, but the others didn't seem to be. Yet, I'm not willing to risk throwing out a healthy little bird in the shell.

I put all 15 eggs back into the nest...those that were dark and those that looked like they were either infertile, or recently laid (there were no visible vessels). We shall wait and see what she does. The eggs were, by the way, all warm. How she keeps 15 eggs warm, I'm not sure, but they were, even though she seldom seems to be sitting on them and it's only 70 degrees in the house.

Peace & Blessings.