New Jersey Finch Quest - Gouldian (Lady) Finch

Chloebia gouldiae
(changing to Erythrura gouldiae)

Other common names: Lady Gould, Gouldian

Origin: Australia

Scientific name: Chloebia gouldiae, Poephila gouldian Learn more about the Gouldian "Family", the Estrildidae Finches.

Distribution: Gouldian Finches are found in Queensland and Northern and Northwest Australia.

Description: Gouldian Finches are 5.5" - 6"(14 -15 cm) with the females being a bit smaller. The males are the more colorful. The females are a bit duller, especially less intense in the breast color. Normal males have purple breasts, yellow bellies, and green bodies. The black-headed Gouldian is the most common in the wild, but about one out of four will have a red head and on a rare occasion, a yellow head. Breeders have developed a variety of color mutations including the white breasted, yellow-headed, rose breasted, blue breasted, blue bodied, and white bodied. The variations continue to grow.

Disposition: Relatively calm, quiet, and independent.

Physical descriptions: (including mutations) Three of the most common Goulds, which includes two mutations.

Red headed normal - Red mask, black outline around the mask, blue border around the black outline, green back, blue and black tail, purple breast, yellow abdomen. This is the "wild type" Gouldian.

Yellow headed normal - Has an orange ("yellow") mask instead of a red one. This mutation is rare in the wild.

Black headed normal - Has a black mask instead of a red one. This mutation is the most common in the wild.

Sexing: The hen is paler than the cock overall: the color of her back, breast,* and abdomen is less intense, and she has very little if any blue border around her mask. If she is yellow or red headed, she will likely have far more black feathering in her mask than the cock, who only has a thin black border around his mask. When in breeding condition, the hen's beak will become black (or red or yellow if she is yellow bodied). *A lilac breasted male may have a pale chest color like that seen in a normal hen, but normally the purple color of the cock's breast is far more intense than that of the hen. The cock generally has more vivid coloration on his back and abdomen as well, and has a larger blue border around his mask than the hen. When in breeding condition, the tip of his beak will become bright red or yellow. Although both cocks and hens can make simple shrill calling noises, ONLY cocks can sing.

Favorite Foods: Fresh food and water must be provided daily. A good finch seed mix will provide their everyday need of grass seeds and millets and is readily available at a pet store.

They will need a good supply of protein, especially when they are molting or egg laying. In a treat cup you can occasionally offer supplements of diced hard boiled eggs, sorghum, soft spinflex, cocatoo & golden beard grasses, other egg foods, and mealworms. Seed moistened with cod liver oil and powdered with yeast will provide a high fat protein and vitamin D.

In a separate cup supply green foods such as lettuce, spinach, celery tops, and chickweed. Finch treats of seed with honey, fruits and vegetables are fun for your bird too, as well as nutritious!

Grit with charcoal is essential to aid in digestion and it contains valuable minerals and trace elements. Grit should be provided in a special cup or sprinkled over the bottom of the cage floor. Provide a cuttlebone because the calcium it provides will give your bird a firm beak, strong eggshells when breeding, and will help prevent egg binding. The lime in the cuttlebone also aids in digestion.

Give your Gouldian Finch a bath daily or as often as possible. A bath dish that is 1" deep with a 1/2" of water, or a clip on bath house is very important as they love to bathe.

Their nails may occasionally need to be trimmed, but be careful never to clip into the vein as the bird can quickly bleed to death. Bird nail trimmers and styptic powder to stop the bleeding are available at pet shops.

Natural habitat: The savannahs and grasslands of subtropical Northern Australia.

Special considerations: Gouldians undergo a stressful, heavy molt where they lose many feathers at once, making the birds appear to have bald patches. Pin feathers will soon come in if the birds are fed a proper diet during molting. The picture at the left shows a Gouldian with pin feathers (he is a yellow headed, white breasted, normal cock). When Gouldians molt, they should be fed eggfood daily and kept in a fairly warm environment (at least 75?F, 24?C). A very common ailment in lady Gouldians is air sac mites. To prevent/cure air sac mites, administer a drop of SCATT or a properly diluted ivermectin solution to the back of the neck.

Breeding season: Australia is in the southern hemisphere, so its seasons are out of synch with those of North America & Europe. In Australia, wild Gouldians breed between March and September (the southern hemisphere's autumn through winter), which corresponds with the dry season. At this time, day length decreases and temperatures begin to drop, with a range between an average low of 66?F and an average high of 91?F. During the dry season, the birds move into wooded hilly areas, nest and reproduce in Eucalpytus trees, drink from water holes, and feast on abundant supplies of native sorghum. During the wet season, with its higher temperatures, longer days, and higher precipitation, no breeding takes place as the Gouldians move from the hills into the lowlands to molt, wait for seed availability to increase, and then feed on the fresh seed that arrives after the sorghum reserves have been exhausted. In North America & Europe, captive Gouldians tend to breed between September and March (the northern hemisphere's autumn through winter). Again, the Gouldians breed during the cooler months with the shorter day lengths.

For best results (breeding a single pair indoors), use a box-style breeding cage that is at least 30" long. Lighting should be provided by a full-spectrum fixture on a timer set for an 11 hour day length. Make sure the temperature in the bird room is at least 66?F (19 ?C), and that the cage is placed in a low-traffic environment to minimize disturbance to the birds. I recommend furnishing your breeding cage with a cuttle bone, externally-located "tube style" feeders and waterers (easier and less disturbing to the birds to refill), 2 perches placed at opposite ends of the cage, an water dish that the birds can bathe in.

Breeding/Reproduction: Gouldian Finches breed readily both in colonies and as a pair in a cage. Provide them with either open or covered nests. Nest boxes, larger than those used for Zebra or Society Finches, should be about 6"x 6"x 6" (15 x 15 x 15 cm) and mounted as high as possible. Both birds will build the nest and they will need nesting materials such as soft hay, sisal, and coconut fiber. Incandescent lighting tends to produce mostly males, while full-spectrum lighting helps produce a more equal number of males to females.

Provide soaked seed, egg foods and spray millet when breeding. Gouldian Finches need more protein than other finches to stay healthy and it is especially important when the female is laying eggs.

Females are prone to egg binding. This is thought to be caused by breeding too young, temperatures too low, or not in good shape. Some pairs will often keep breeding to exhaustion. They must be prevented from constant breeding in order to keep them healthy.

Your birds may prefer a deeper nest box, a nest box with a hole for an entrance (instead of half-open), and/or a nest with a "privacy porch." Place a little nesting material (coconut fiber works really well) inside the nest and the rest on the floor away from the perches. Give the pair all of the nesting material they want! If they run out, give them more until they stop adding to the nest. Never use nest hair, wood chips, hay, or synthetic threads like yarn for nesting material!

Potential Problems: Gouldian Finches, though not to hard to keep, are difficult to acclimate and will sometimes die for no apparent reason. They will suffer from metabolic problems if they don't get enough exercise, and can become ill after even a very short exposure to cold. Finches are fairly hardy birds and almost all illnesses can be traced to improper diet, dirty cages, and drafts. A balanced diet, being kept warm, and plenty of exercise will prevent most illnesses. Know your birds and watch for any changes as indications of illness.

Some signs of illness to be aware of are droppings that are not black and white, feathers that are fluffed and the bird tucks it's head under it's wing, lack of appetite, wheezing, and acting feeble and run down.

Some of the common illnesses and injuries your finch could contract are broken wings or legs, cuts and open wounds, overgrown beaks and nails, ingrown feathers, feather picking, metabolic problems from lack of exercise, weight loss, heat stroke, shock, concussion, egg binding, diarrhea, mites, colds, baldness, scaly legs, sore eyes, tumors, constipation, and diarrhea.

First you can try and isolate the bird in a hospital cage where you cover all but the front of the cage and add a light bulb or heating pad to keep the interior of the cage at a constant temperature of 85 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove all perches and put food and water dishes on the floor. If you don't see improvements within a few hours, take the bird to an avian veterinarian for diagnosis and treatment.

Breeding Tips: Feed your birds a high quality diet (pellets AND seed) supplemented with an egg mix. When the pair enters breeding condition, the tip of the male's beak will become intensely colored and he will sing often and try to court the hen. If the hen is in breeding condition, her beak will appear black (or red or yellow if she is yellow bodied), and if she is receptive to the cock, she will often imitate his courtship behavior. Pairs which are bonded often sit near each other, chase other birds away, and point their tails towards each other. Place the male in the breeding cage first and give him a few days to settle in. If he does not investigate the nest, try placing the light closer to the nest's entrance to illuminate the inside. After the cock has shown interest in the nest, add the hen. If all goes well, the hen will lay her clutch (one egg per day), and both birds will incubate and feed the young.

The young often hatch around the same time, often on the same day, and often within hours of each other. They hatch "naked" (without any feathers or down) and with blue, pearlescent (not "fluorescent") papillae or nodules at the corners of their beaks. These reflect light (as opposed to emitting their own light) and help the parents find the hungry mouths in the dark. It is very important that you do not disturb the pair excessively as doing so may cause them to toss or abandon their young or eggs. Keep nest checks to a minimum, and food provisions to a maximum.

The chicks grow rapidly. Within the first few days their skin darkens from light pink to grayish blue. They will begin to beg audibly at day 3, and grow louder as they grow older and stronger. Around day 9 their first pin feathers begin to erupt from the skin and their eyes begin to open. The parents usually stop brooding the chicks when they are about 8-10 days old, which is also the best age for close banding the chicks. By day 20-23, the chicks are fully feathered and ready to leave the nest. Young emerge from the nest with olive-gray plumage and may still have the blue nodules at the sides of their beaks (dilutes, yellows and silvers will emerge with lighter coloring, and blues will emerge with grayish-blue coloring). See the "life cycle" time table below for additional information about chick development. Continue feeding a high quality diet substituted with egg mix until the birds and their young finish their molt.

Life cycle:

Clutch size: 3-8 eggs (4-6 most common)
Incubation date: After all eggs are laid (some pairs begin incubating after 3 eggs)
Hatch date: After 14-16 days of incubation
Fledge date: At 20-23 days of age
Wean date: 6 weeks of age
Begin molt: 8-10 weeks of age
Complete molt: 5-6 months of age (sometimes as early as 14-16 weeks)

Sexual maturity: Although Gouldians may become sexually mature before they obtain their adult plumage, many breeders recommend waiting until the birds are at least 6-9 months of age before breeding them.

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