Gouldian Babies

I got 2 pairs of Gouldians on June 7, 2011 from a lady on craigs list. They are all normal green backs, one pair are black heads and one pair red heads.

The black heads started a clutch on 7/21 and laid 5 eggs but they didn't sit and the parents tossed the eggs, one by one I would see them on the floor of the cage. There nest is a deep wicker basket that I cut the handles off of, I used this deep basket so they couldn't toss, I would really like to have seen how they got the egg out of the basket, do they pick it up in their claws or roll it up the side of the basket and over?

I also have another deep basket in there for the other two Gouldians, red heads, but it seemed that were not interested. But after I covered the tops in more greenery they liked it.

I saw eggs again in the black heads nest but this time they took turns sitting, so I kept trying to watch and try and catch both out of the nest for over 2 weeks but they didn't budge. The females sat at night while the male slept across the cage. I check the floor of the cage all the time to make sure I didn't see eggs or babies laying there. I kept thinking its been over two weeks if they were going to hatch they would by now.

Today I thought I would take a chance and peek and I got to see my first two fat gouldians in the nest.

Now I will be really worried and watching them constantly, they still have eggs in there and the babies looked like they were two days old, but it was a fast look so I can't be sure .

I have not peeked inside the red heads nest because the male is so protective of it, but I may try later today.

Heres hoping and that they all survive.

I just thought of something, if I peek, which means scaring a parent off the nest, to see if the chicks are being fed I run the risk of the parents not going back to the nest. If I don't peek how will I know the chicks are being fed?

All the reading I have done I should know this but at the moment I am having a "hatchling fog" from just seeing the two new ones.

The fog is clearing, since the two I saw in the nest look like there being fed, I should not worry as much until I see the parents staying out of the nest or see a tossling.

Comments are welcome.

I can not believe that I just saw a dead hatchling on the cage floor. After just writing that I saw the 2 babies and not 30 minutes later I see this one, it looked older than two days, it was a little smashed, this is so sad.

After I seen this I looked in the red pairs basket and saw tiny babies but I still couldn't see that good to see how many were in there. It didn't look like they were as big as the tossed one.

I thought I was being so smart in getting those deep baskets but they out smarted me.

The next ones I get will be the boxes that hang on the outside so I can look in better, and this is still the issue once you look you spook the parents no matter what kind of nest you get. But with these I could get a better idea of what's going on inside.

I just checked the red heads nest and there were so many I couldn't count them fast enough, they all had there mouths open looking up at my flash light. From the looks of it the tossed one had to be the black heads because it was bigger than the red heads. I didn't look long enough to see if their crops were full, the parents went back in as soon as I left from the cage.

Today I had to take the red head male gouldian out of the cage. For some reason this morning the female red head was chasing him out of their nest and chasing him all over the cage, but he would keep going back and she would come out charging at him. I kept watching them all morning and finally was afraid to leave him in the cage.

So he is in a cage by himself and she comes out to eat and then goes right back in the nest. I did get a better look this morning while she was out and it looks like 5 babies and all had their mouths open.

The black heads are ok but it looks like only baby that I could see and its bigger than the red's babies, there are eggs in there but judging from the size of the baby they will not hatch and I know this was there baby that was tossed yesterday..

My red head female gouldian is taking care of the hatchlings by herself. She comes out of the nest and eats fast then goes right back to feed the "kids" and I can hear them begging. There begging sounds different than my societies.

She took a bath on Sunday in the water dish, her whole body went in, up to her breast and went right back to the nest wet, that worried me with the babies getting wet when she went back in. Monday when she took her bath she at least took time to dry a little.

She seems to eat a lot of the collard greens and goes in the nest, wondering why she would just feed this to the hatchlings. Then her next trip maybe just seeds, then some oyster shells, than later in the day egg food. It looks like egg food is her last choice.

She doesn't seem to miss her mate and he isn't calling to her, yesterday she started chasing the black head male not sure why, maybe he got to close to her nest.

The black head female is fine with her male and they are taking turns in the nest but I think they only have two that I can see.

My black heads are a lot more calmer than the reds, the red male was always chasing somebody when he was in the bigger cage.

My red head gouldian would not sleep in the nest last night. The babies are about 6 days old, I do not know the exact day of hatching, but when I checked the nest they looked maybe a day old.

I removed the male on Sunday,10/30/11 and she has been feeding and sitting until last night.

Thoughts:

Will the babies be ok during the night?, they are in a flight cage in my house, I have the heat set at 65 in the house, I also have a towel hanging behind and on the side of the nest. This morning when lights came on she went in to feed them and I heard the babies, will this work even if she is not sitting at night?

Not sure why she would quit sitting, I heard her call to the male twice yesterday but she can't see him and he is in another room plus he did not call back.

Nothing has changed as far as food supply.

The black head is still sitting on her two babies and they are older, the male hardley goes in the nest the past few days, so she is probably on her own now.

I have a pair of societies in the same cage but they don't have a nest in there, after their last clutch I removed it. They don't go to the side of the cage where the gouldians nests are. How would I get the societies to take over if needed. Would I have to move the babies and their nest to the societies side in order to even get them to notice the babies? Would I have to take out the red head?

Would the black heads feed them even though their two babies are bigger?

I thought about putting the red head father back in but he doesn't sit in the nest at night, but he did sit during the day, or would this cause a bigger problem?