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Chris, what temperature do you keep your shed in the middle of winter? Just built a large room for my finches in my garage and was wondering what is a good temperature to keep. Thanks
If I am breeding my birds I try to keep it between 70-75 degrees if I am not breeding in the winter then I will keep it to 55-60 degrees. I would caution if you keep your birds in the garage to not keep your cars in there as the exhaust fumes will easily kill your birds.
Hi Chris. I have a question about zebra finches.i have a male black cheek and white female zebra finch .i was about to breed them but i thought that i should know what will the colour of chicks when the grow up will or should be Thank you
Great question. It can depend on if your male is splits to CFW “Chestnut Flanked White” which is what your female zebra finch is. It can also depend of if your female is split to black cheek. If they aren’t split for anything then you’ll get normal grey males and females but they will all be split to black cheek and your males will be split to CFW as well. The CFW gene is sex linked so if I remember right you could get some white feathered chicks and they would all be females. Now if your parents are split to those colors then you could get a mix of white females/males and black cheek babies and normals. So could be fun to see what they produce.
I have a small aviary that I would like to house 2 pair of gouldians. 4 birds total. If one is not interested in having them breed, do I not put nests? Will they get aggressive if I don’t breed?
Blue back is a ressesive gene. What that means is if you breed a blue back to a green back all of those chicks will show visual green back but then they will be split to blue back “or they cart the blue back gene” if you take those chicks that are split to blue back and breed them back to another blue back gouldian then half of their chicks will be visually green back split to blue and the other half will be visual blue back. In general the blue back mutation is a weaker mutation and tend to get illness easier.
There are breeders throughout the U.S. I don’t have any available now but will next year. You can go on Facebook and ask if there’s any gouldian breeders in your local area or breeders that will ship these birds to you.
Thanks for the overview. I know you could fill a whole library just with books, so I am not expecting a huge bibliography. But you might have a few favourite book titles to share that you would always consult if you want to double check some of the information you find online or you cannot remember something, but you know that you read about it in the past.
I love your podcasts and the information you share however, Budgies eat freshly sprouted moist seeds and grains in the wild along with some vegetation, buds, flowers, insects and a small amount of fruit. In the dry season the seeds may be dryer, however it changes with the season. They don't eat dry polished seeds that sit in a bag and on the shelves for many months and even a year. Please inform your viewers that dry seeds can be part of their diet and to supplement with fresh sprouted seeds, grains, legumes and various vegetables. They love dark leafy greens daily. Budgies are prone to fatty liver disease on a seed only diet. I am not trying to be negative, just educational. We can agree to disagree 😂. Any research is best.
Right, don’t disagree either with this, but I am referring to a primarily seed and pellet diet vs a primarily veggie diet, which is not correct. A balanced diet with seeds, pellets and fresh egg food is best.
Instagram would be the best method and then maybe he can give you other options to better communicate with him. His Instagram account is @socalgouldian
I got my 2 from a pet store and I was pretty sure they're both female. Yesterday they started laying eggs in the food dish (I don't have a nest in there). Neither one is sitting on them (at least not yet). Do they know if they're infertile? Just trying to figure out if I was mistaken and actually have a male or not. Haha
Females can still lay eggs even without males in the cage. You can toss the eggs as they will not be fertile with it being two females in the cage together.
Hi Chris, Congrats on all your babies! My female Gouldian Finch I’ve had for almost 4 years now, so I guess she is close to 5 years old. Her wing feathers are sticking out and are not close to her body and they’ve been like this for a couple of weeks. She’s not fluffed up. What is causing this and what can I do to help her? Thanks
In my country you need a permission if you want a fix construction with a concrete fundament in your garden. So the best option for me is pavement on gravel and the aviary cannot be bigger than 8 squaremeters (the number is different from community to community). If the property was mine I would put a big aviary in my garden, where the birds could stay year round. Probably adding a greenhouse to let them enjoy plenty of sunlight during winter.
Interesting. I have never tried it, because I either serve them washed and fresh or pre-frozen with egg food. What’s the reason for wanting to use freeze dried?
@@thejayviary I freeze everything myself and then thaw it out but I've seen freeze dried vegetables being sold online so I was just curious. I'm assuming it's just easier and lasts longer than fresh/frozen but probably not as nutritious.
Great video. I have a question. You said it's hot in your shed. I'm currently building a large aviary in my garage for mixed finches. What is the temperature on a hot day in your aviary? How hot can finches tolerate? I noticed that my temperature went up to 84 degrees the other day. I have no finches in there yet, again in the building stage but was wondering hot it gets in your aviary. Do you use air conditioning ? Or is a fan good enough. Thanks again.
Great questions. I live in utah and our summer temos range from mid 80s to over 100 degrees F. Finches can tolerate the heat. There some important things that need to happen to help your birds to stay as cool as possible during 100 degree weather. First is make sure that at any point of the day your birds have access to shade so that they are not in direct sunlight all day. Second try to make sure that there is air flow in your shed/aviary through out the day as that will help the air to not be stagnant and too hot. I do put a window AC fan in my bird shed and program it to 90 during the hottest times of summer and that helps cool the shed down and to create some air flow through out the day. Lastly make sure their water is changed out daily so that it is fresh and cool and they have opportunities to bathe throughout the day.
