December
12. December – The end of the breeding season
December is the month to quit all breeding. Early in the month remove all the
left over nesting boxes as soon as any remaining baby birds leave the nest. This is the time to clean out your nest boxes and store them in a dry place for use next year.
As soon as any remaining young birds loose the spots on the outside of their beaks we separate our birds for the rest of the winter and early spring by sex. All the females together in separate cages from the males and all of the young birds in their own separate cages.
Continue making a separate dish of the Breeding Season/Winter Gouldian seed mix in addition to their year round special blend of our Gouldian finch mix. The winter mix has the canary, flax and rape seeds in it which are rich in oils to help the birds endure the cold winter months and help maintain their feathers in the cold. They also have the Japanese Millet and Hemp seed which are both very high in proteins to help them keep warm in the cold winter months if housed outside.
12 Steps to Success
We keep this additional mix available to the birds until the end of February and reintroduce it again for the beginning of the molting season in April as previously stated. Again, you could probably leave this mix in year round.
This may sound like a lot of work but it’s really not, don’t forget it’s over a period of a full year. If you follow these instructions you will have tremendous success breeding your Lady Gouldian Finches. They will be happy healthy Frisky Finches which will live to be a ripe old age.
Good luck and Enjoy!
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