Can a set of two of Gouldian finches breed successfuly withouth society finches?
the female just laid an egg but has not be spending much time laying on it or in the nest. not sure what to do.
If they have only started laying eggs, then I wouldn't worry. They do not sit on it until they hold a couple of more. My goulds doesn't sit on them until they have laid 6 eggs.
I don't have society finches nor do I use them as foster parents for my goulds. You might loose the babies due to the inexperience of the new parents but once they obtain it goulds really make good parents.
One of the hardest thing to do when my goulds breed is to set out them alone as much as possible. If you disturb the nest too much they will abandon the nest.
The answer is YES definitely!
Some breeders use society as fosters cuz it's plentifully easier then tunning on for each pair and fixing the environnemental problems instead. It is not adjectives breeders that use them, the bests breeders, the real gouldians breeders, use only gouldians and they are successfull too!
If you really want to breed gouldians, you can't use society finches. If you use them, then you don't breed gouldians, you a moment ago make them lay eggs.
If you're patient and attentive, you'll be able to provide your double act all they need to successfully breed by themselves.
Answers: Your bird will lay up-to 6 eggs in the past she sits them!
Make sure she has a good supply of Cuttle-bone(not block).
This is their breeding season so cause sure that you keep them in a thaw out place ,to prevent egg binding.
Keepers sometimes use Society finches (Bengalese) as foster parents as Gouldians can be temperamental and leave their eggs ,but if they enjoy bred before then you will have a apposite chance that they will be good parents.
It's only the first egg.
She will lay anywhere between 4-8 (with 5 or 6 being the average number laid).
Some birds will not inaugurate sitting until the 3rd egg is laid, whereas others will not begin sitting until the full clutch is laid.
Either way - the best thing for you to do is to make tracks them alone.
I don't know how tolerant your birds are, but I only have one pair that isn't bothered much by nest checks - the other pairs can become too disturbed by too much bothering and will failure up abandoning the clutch.
This is the part where have societies comes in handy - but if you're not disturbing the birds, you shouldn't have anything to verbs about.
Often times, gouldians have a bad rap for tossing/abandoning chicks and eggs. This can generally be traced back to bad parenting through the breeding lines. The more people rub the breed and foster out its babies - the less reliable the parenting will be in next generations. So sometimes its best to discontinue breeding a pair that refuse to make higher their own young.
What I do is give my birds a season at trying - their first attempt at breeding is the only time I will foster out, and I will simply do it once the abandonment has actually occur.
I do not just take eggs laid or babies hatch and hand them over to other parents.
I one and only have 3 babies right now that were fostered due to extreme circumstances, and 7 I am mitt feeding now because the fosters were not available (busy next to one of the 3).
Most of the time - if the environment, diet, and supplementation is right - they will eventually get the breeding right.
A recommendation you could try (if you already hold a pair of societies) is to place them in a large flight beside your goulds and allow your societies to raise a clutch of their own amongst the gouldians.
This sort of acts as a "teaching aid" to the gouldians to show them what requirements to be done - and after the fact they are almost always successful at breeding on their own.
This comes something like because the societies are very tolerant and typically let the gouldians poke their heads surrounded by and about the nest - even after the chicks have hatched.
